Office Hours: Heather Leier

As an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History, Heather Leier works across multiple spaces as both artist and instructor. One is her office, a welcoming room with high ceilings and full of light. Then, there are the three studios that house facilities and equipment required for printmaking, the field Leier primarily works in. Beyond that, there’s also Leier’s exhibit at the Nickle Galleries, titled Practice Pinny, which runs until April 30.

“Art engages us emotionally as well as intellectually, offering ways to interpret complex cultural problems and histories,” Leier says. “I think that art is so important at universities because it really fosters interdisciplinary knowledge. Our graduates pursue all kinds of different career opportunities and are really innovative.”

Printmaking has a history of resource sharing, from etching presses to power washers. Leier discussed how Alberta Printmakers are a Calgary organization where artists can rent space or studio time to share equipment. Similarly, at the university, the Art Department has shared print studios.

“Within the exhibition, I'm trying to bring that sense of community into the exhibition space,” she said. “It's an extension of my teaching and my artistic practice in a kind of different way through my what is called Drop-in Practice at the Nickle Galleries.”

These sessions take place weekly during Friday afternoons, engaging with the exhibition through shared activities that emphasize the hands-on, collaborative nature of Leier’s work. Two of the remaining sessions are entitled Sewing Circle and Visible Mending. 

In the exhibition itself is an illustrated guide of “rules”, drawn by one of Leier’s students, Joshua Seguin. It tells visitors that though they can’t touch anything in frames, they can sit on the pillows and play pickleball on the court in the exhibition.  

“Josh and I really collaborated and discussed how this illustration would develop,” she said. “[It’s] meant to help the audience understand how they could engage.”

During one of the Drop-in Sessions, with the theme of pickleball, a whole class came and was able to play a game on the court. 

Though Leier’s expertise is in printmaking, she believes there is a responsibility for educators to learn about all the different artistic disciplines taught within their departments.

“My exhibition [is] full of printmaking work, but it also really incorporates a ton of textile-based practices and sewing. I would never claim expertise over those, but that's also an important aspect of the methodology of my work to show that it’s about practice and so it's imperfect,” she said. 

The printmaking spaces where Leier creates most of her work are the etching studio, the lithography studio and the screen-printing studio. 

These are also spaces where students work, full of materials like copper plate etchings and woodblock reliefs as well as test prints. In the department’s lithography studio, there’s a stone library where drawings are created on the surface of the stones, reproduced and printed on paper for lithography presses.

“We’re lucky here at UCalgary. A lot of different institutions no longer have a stone library…[so it’s] really special to be able to carry on that kind of knowledge,” Leier said.    

Leier also noted the physicality of working in printmaking studios, which is sometimes difficult for disabled artists. She has been working with an undergraduate student, Misha Storkova, who has been leading a project on accessibility in printmaking, an outcome of which has been to create an adjustable printing station so that anyone who is interested in printmaking can participate.

Leier’s work has often come from a place of experiencing anxiety, something that the tactile process and experience of creation have assisted with. 

“Printmaking is fundamentally, for me, a community-oriented practice,” Leier said. “To create this work within the community, which happens to be here at the university amongst my students, I'm making work in the studio. They saw me create all this work for the show. That process of creation directly relates to [these] concepts.” 

Leier worked with Tracy Wormsbecker, the executive director at Alberta Printmakers, on an essay about her exhibition. 

“I knew that she would really be able to engage thoughtfully with the concepts of the exhibition. It was really beneficial for me as an artist and it turned out a really beautiful essay,” she said.

An illustrated catalogue with the essay is available at the gallery and online.

“With this show, I want people to feel compelled to look closer,” Leier said. “I want the work to be kind of enticing and bright and playful.”

This draws people in, through aspects of the exhibit like pink walls, but she explained that this represents what is almost a facade. Beneath are the realities of this labour, especially in how its material impacts affect women and marginalized people more than others. 

Visitors reflecting on these impacts is one of the most important things for Leier. 

“Ideally, someone will come and see my show, engage with the work and think about the ideas that I'm trying to convey and share through the work,” she said. “And they'll think about how it's applicable within their life in order to hopefully better understand people within their own life, and in this case, hopefully better understand the kinds of labours and the kinds of material consequences of those labours.”