Sheila Hecht
Biography
Born and raised in New York City, Hecht knew she was an artist from an early age. Her creative process began in childhood, developed in high school, and matured at Queens College where she studied with John Ferren and Louis Finkelstein and earned a B.A. in Fine Arts as well as a Master’s Degree.
For many years, Hecht taught studio art at the secondary level in the New York City school system. As a teacher, she gained great satisfaction from exposing students to their own creativity, and in return, their vitality, spontaneity, humor and energy stimulated her own growth as an artist.
Throughout her career as a visual artist, Hecht has had an uncompromising commitment to explore and develop her own unique creative process. Over the years, her paintings have evolved from tighter, denser compositions to freer, more expanded works.
Hecht’s abstract paintings and mixed-media constructions have been exhibited with increasing frequency in galleries, museums, and non-profit and corporate spaces.
EDUCATION
M.F.A. Queens College
B.A. Fine Arts Queens College
Studied with John Ferren and Louis Finkelstein
Artist Statement
My paintings give evidence of my passionate approach to finding visual correlates to strongly felt experience. My painterly textures are intensely visceral and the compositions are dynamic. Yet I aim for a rhythmic flow, an equilibrium between tumult and composure.
The act of painting is a sensual experience for me, and often produces surfaces that prominently display the actions of my hand. Procedures with brushes and palette knives include thick and thin strokes, layering hues and scraping some away to reveal underlying color.
My process includes both drawing upon spontaneous intuition and deliberate reworking. It is filled with a passionate energy and a volatile movement which has a life of its own these compositions incorporate space as a counterpoint to my dynamic gestures they serve a function akin to that between chords.
Beyond the painterly voluptuousness of a composition, my intention is to capture the mystery and spirituality of my abstractions. They reflect my desire to discover and communicate both visual and life experiences. I strive to convey a direct and pure response in a work that is at once stimulating and contemplative.
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2021
The New York Artists Circle, Lost & Found, (virtual/online)
Taller Boricua Gallery,Women On The Edge Of Time, (virtual/online)
NYSWA, Memory Online Exhibition
LIC-A Members Showcase
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Split Second Decisions
2020
Gallery&Studio Art Auction (virtual/online)
2019
Flatfile 8X8 (virtual/online)
PaintCan Open Studios, LIC, NY
2018
Guild Hall, East Hampton NY
Belskie Museum, Bergen County NJ, Freedom An Artistic Interpretation
Art League, Dix Hills, NY, Insight In Sight
The Village Center, Port Jefferson, NY, Form and Fantasy
Mikhail Zakin Gallery, Demarest, NJ, Art As Sanctuary 11
2017
Saint Peter’s Church, NYC, NY, Art As Sanctuary
Carriage Barn, New Canaan, CT, The Primacy Of Color 111
2016
George Billis Gallery, Chelsea, NY
Samuel J. Wood Library, NYC, NY, Rhapsody in Color
PaintCan Open Studios, LIC, NY
Sheila Hecht, page two
Group Exhibitions, continued
2015
PaintCan Open Studios, LIC, NY
2014
CitiGroup Showcases, LIC, NY, LIC-Artists Showcases
Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, Scene and Unseen
2012
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Be My Guest
2011
Hammond Museum, New Salem, NY, Heart of the Artist
PaintCan Open Studios, L.I.C., NY
10 Grace Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Five More
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, 6th Annual Auction
2011
St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY, The Art Spirit 2
2010
10 Grace Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Five @10 Grace
Johnson & Johnson Corporate Headquarters, New Brunswick, NJ,
The Heart: Center of Life
St Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY, The National League
Of American Pen Women, Inc.
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Primary Spirit, No Short-cuts
2009
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Annual Group Show
PaintCan Open Studios, L.I.C., NY
Broome St. Gallery, NYC, NY, Metropolitan Artists
2008
Pfizer Art Gallery, NYC, NY, New York Society of Women Artists
Andrews Art Museum, Andrews, NC
The Graphic Eye Gallery, Port Washington, NY, Artists Invite Artists
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Winter Solstice
The Berkeley Gallery, Berkeley College, NYC, NY
Galeria Nacional Museum, San Jose, Costa Rica, Pura Vida
2007
Broome Street Gallery, NYC, New York Society of Women Artists
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Summer Extravaganza
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Winter Solstice
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Too Hot (Or Not) To Handle
2006
Harriman Mason Gallery, Art Students League, NY, The Inner Eye
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, New Orleans In Chelsea
Hewlett-Woodmere Gallery, a satellite of Nassau County Museum of Art,
Artists Network of Great Neck, Hewlett, NY
Pleiades Gallery, NYC, New York, New York Society of Women Artists,
Nassau County Museum of Art, Hewlett, NY
2005
Carriage Barn Art Center, New Canaan, CT, Society of Women Artists 80th
Anniversary Exhibit
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, In The Heat Of The Summer
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Inside Out
2004
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Thinking In Red
Art Institute and Gallery, Salisbury, MD, Ivan Karp, juror and Ethan Karp,
judge, 13th Annual National Exhibition
Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, New York Society of Women Artists
Pleiades Gallery, NYC, NY, New York Society of Women Artists
Cork Gallery/Lincoln Center, NYC, New York Society of Women Artists
2003
Mount Kisko, NY, New York Society of Women Artists
Sheila Hecht, page three
Group Exhibitions, continued
The Stage Gallery, Merrick, NY, Phyllis Braff, juror, Abstraction 2003
Rudin Judaic Museum, Great Neck, NY
Pleiades Gallery, NYC, NY, New York Society of Women Artists,
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, On Ice Exhibition
Firehouse Gallery, Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY
Mary Lou Cohalan, juror, Juried Exhibit
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Through Thick and Thin
2002
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Manhattan Survey
Chung-Cheng Art Gallery, St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY, Eighth
Annual National Juried Art Exhibition
Dag Hammarskjold Tower, NYC, NY
The Lobby, Equity Properties, NYC, NY
2002
The Shelter Rock Art Gallery, Manhasset, NY, Artists Network of
Great Neck
Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA, Mark O’Grady, juror, The 29th Annual
Juried Competition
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY, curator Franklin Hill Perrell,
juror, Painting and Drawing Long Island
Rudin Judaic Museum, Great Neck, NY
2001
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, New Digs Exhibition
Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY, first place winner, Alexandra de
Luise, juror, Artists Network of Great Neck
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Anniversary Show
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Recent Paintings
2000
Noho Gallery, Chelsea, NY, Sightings/Sitings
Great Neck Art Center, Great Neck, NY, Bold Strokes
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Markings
1999
The Chelsea Center, Muttontown, NY, Eleventh Juried Fine Art Exhibit
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Abstract Allusions
1998
St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY, Catherine Valenza, juror,“5th Annual
National Art Exhibit
1997
The Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY, 15th Annual Juried
Exhibit
1996
Great Neck House, Great Neck, NY, Artist Network of Great Neck
1995
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Members Exhibition
1994
Juried Exhibit, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, New Work
1993
Citibank, Great Neck, NY, Great Neck Artists
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, In the Swing
1992
AIA Gallery, Great Neck, NY, Members Exhibition