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Norton, Heidi

American, b. 1977

BiographyHeidi Norton creates photographs and sculptures using live plants, minerals, paint, panes of glass, silicone, and other materials. She documents vegetation between growth and decay by freezing some plants’ fleeting lifecycles while allowing others to dry out and die. Employing presentation strategies that emulate existing forms of display—from scientific specimens to home décor—Norton confronts ways we desire, study, and control the natural world. Ultimately, her works exhibit the passage of time and the inevitability of death, while also considering the degree to which photographs and other preservation techniques allow humans to arrest the movement of a lifecycle and achieve a semblance of immortality.
Heidi Norton completed an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2002) and a BFA from the University of Maryland (1999). Selected solo exhibitions have been held at the Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL (2014), Mark Wolfe Contemporary, San Francisco, CA (2013), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2012). She has been included in group exhibitions at the National Art School of Bourges, Bourges, France (2014), Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (2012), and Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL (2010), among others. Norton has taught at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.