Julie Heffernan Self Portrait Sitting On A World Essay

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Julie Heffernan was born in 1956, in the city of Peoria, Illinois. Although Heffernan was born in Peoria, she was actually raised in San Francisco Bay Area. After spending most of her life in the bay area, she decided to branch out and go to school at the University of Columbia, where she graduated and received her BFA in Painting and Printmaking (Catherine Clark Gallery). After another four years, Heffernan was able to receive her Masters of Fine Art in Painting from the Yale School of Art, a major accomplishment in her life (Catherine Clark Gallery). Since Heffernan always displayed a grand interest in the artistic field, being able to accomplish a masters degree at an ivy league school demonstrated her true capacity. Once she received …show more content…

This painting consists of regular lines as well as implied lines. Some of the regular lines that have been included are flowing, curved lines, such as the Earth that the woman is sitting on top of. Additionally, the background is made of small scenes that have been outlined by a dotted line, which places emphasis on the scenes. Besides regular and visible lines, there are a few implied lines in this painting. For instance, the woman's eyes are looking forward, so there is an implied line to the audience. Additionally, another implied line would be the woman's right arm, which is pointed towards her headpiece, while her left arm is pointed towards the earth. Nonetheless, this painting is not intense; although it does have splashes of color, this painting does not have a bright saturation. Instead, this painting is slightly dull, which makes this painting appear vintage. Additionally, since this background is a dark color, it makes the rest of painting, especially the headpiece, stand out. Besides colors and lines, even though this is a painting and there is no physical texture, there is invented texture. Upon viewing this painting, underneath the earth where the woman is sitting on, there are roots as well as grass, which give texture and feeling to the painting. In the end, this painting consists of several elements of composition, …show more content…

What this means is that this woman has small breasts, some stomach fat, and legs and arms that are not defined. With this, it tells women to embrace themselves for who they truly are, and to remember that they are beautiful in their own natural manner. Additionally, the woman in this painting is sitting on top of a stretch of land that wraps around her body. This stretch of land is the earth, and it suggests that women are powerful and are essentially on top of this world. Although many woman have been degraded and looked down upon, this painting suggests to women around the world to be proud of who they are. Likewise, a website that agrees with this perspective, also suggests that the woman in this painting "exudes knowledge and power... the world is clearly a female construct" (Blouinartinfo.com). With this, it demonstrates that the world needs women, and without women the earth would not be the same, for women contribute intelligence and creative ideas. Additionally, this woman is wearing a headpiece filled with different shades of roses. These roses, each represent different aspects of a woman; red roses signify love and white roses represent purity. By wearing these flowers on her head, it demonstrates the values women be thinking about. In the end, this painting reflects women, and their importance to the

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