Artist
Writer
Communicator
Connector
Butt-shaker
Relentless optimist
Heather July Goguen likes to make art that over-communicates. Using bright colors, lights and words, her art eschews nuance or subtlety in favor of megaphone statements. July channels her apprehension over our current state of civic upheaval by encouraging viewers to be curious about their internal and external mechanisms, and not-so-gently urging a societal-level reunion with the concept of integrity.
We are living through a tumultuous and exciting era, where our relationship to reality can be altered according to whims of a social media feed, or by the news we choose to consume. As Americans, we love to tell stories, and we love to believe stories. If we are discomforted by alleged facts, or disconcerted over societal ills, we can now simply choose to believe alternate facts, like opening our closet and selecting a new outfit from a wardrobe of invisible clothes. Someone out there is willing to tell you whatever you want to hear, and isn’t it so much more soothing to believe lies we wish we were true?
As a nation, and as a society, our relationship to capital “R” Reality wafts and wains accordingly to our political stance, the narratives we choose to believe, and the effort we expend building and defending our individual fortresses. How much energy is wasted trying to reconcile our hard-fought notions against the ever-forward march of reality? Our unease must be someone’s fault, and America’s current pastime is the rush of cortisol seeking a culprit.
This space of societal unease is where July wishes to poke and prod. She prefers to make art that over-communicates, and wields subtlety and nuance like a cartoon baseball bat. July’s art examines our shifting sensibilities and encourages a viewer’s self-inquisitiveness. In this climate of civic upheaval, creating art with a message seems more urgent than making pretty objects that will match someone’s couch.
Without a doubt, July believes the best days for our society and community stretch before us into the future. We are the agents of this bright horizon, and as we seek integrity as individuals, it leads us all to truth and wholeness.
The way out is through.
Heather July Goguen lives in Astoria, Oregon with her husband David, and their twin eleven-year-old boys, in a 100 year old house that overlooks the Columbia River. She considers herself to be the luckiest person on the planet.
July’s work has been shown in the following fine establishments:
Astoria Visual Arts Gallery
Royal Nebeker Gallery, Clatsop Community College
Peter Pan Marketplace
Old Town Framing
Astoria Studio Collective