HEATHER HARTLEY

E-mail: heather.hartley@gmail.com

PROFILE

Multidisciplinary Artist, Performer, Director, Community Leader

Summary: A native of Boone, North Carolina, I performed in over 30 productions and was leader in the creative community in Chicago for 25 years. In 2019, I returned to Mars Hill, NC to co-found Trillium Arts, an artist residency center that offers time and inspiration in a beautiful setting for artists working in a variety of disciplines to further their next great work.

SELECT PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Current: Choreographic development of various new projects including Nocturnal Creatures and Impermanence.  

2020: Launch of Trillium Arts and opening and curation of programs in the Red Barn Rehearsal Studio.

2019: A Silver Lining/Butterfly Project: Worked with high school students in Casey Murtaugh’s visual arts classes on the creation of handmade garlands and lapel pins/jewelry constructed of painted paper butterflies. The butterflies were installed in the rooms of a nursing home and the pins were worn by elderly patients.

 2013- 2019:   Moving Dialogs, director and curator of six part discussion series for seven years featuring leading dance artists and scholars in conversations about dance and its impact on issues of diversity and equity; Funded by the Illinois Humanities Council and produced in over twenty venues around the city of Chicago.   

 2012: GLOW, director, multimedia dance work exploring the concept of inspiration, presented as part of Dance Union (July) and self produced at Links Hall (October).

you can’t get there from here, collaborator in an ongoing movement investigation of boundaries and duration, most recently culminating with a 17.5 mile art walk from Hyde Park, IL to the Sidecar Art Gallery in Hammond, Indiana.

2011: Story Burn… Interactive performance exploring fire as a metaphor for release, produced as part of    Mischief Night at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago.

Migration, a roving performance between various galleries in the South Loop, presented by Columbia College Chicago Alumni Relations, Chicago.

Tell Me A Story…Nostalgia in the Digital Age, multi-disciplinary, multi-generational performance, selected and presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago as part of the Dance/USA Conference Showcase; expanded to a site specific version for the MCA plaza, the remount included a FLOCK – 14 community cast members ranging in age from 2-72.

The Questions Themselves, Performance and Live Art Installation, inspired by the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, co-created with Casey Murtaugh, Presented by the Tic Toc Festival, Columbia College, Chicago.

Fingerprint, multimedia/video installation, created and produced for Urban Gateways high school residency program annual festival, “Culture Fest’ – worked with 36 high school students for three weeks to create a collaborative installation about their imprint on society.

2010: A Story Told… Visual Installation in collaboration with Casey Murtaugh, part of Art Here Art Now, Presented by The Hyde Park Arts Alliance, Chicago.

Please & Thank You, an interactive gustatory performance presented by Food + Performance in a private home in the Pilsen neighborhood, Chicago.

Black+White+Pink, Performance Co-Created with Casey Murtaugh, Presented by Columbia College, Chicago at their Alumni Showcase.

Tell Me A Story…Nostalgia in the Digital Age, performance/installation, presented at Links Hall (September) and at the Chicago Cultural Center by Department of Cultural Affairs DanceBridge Residency program (April).  Co-created with Casey Murtaugh.

2009: O My Innocents, site-specific performance/installation, presented by Epiphany Dance Experiment, co- created with Casey Murtaugh, original sound by Sherry Antonini & Basil Abbott, Epiphany Episcopal Church.

garden, site-specific durational & interactive outdoor painting/performance, co-created with Casey Murtaugh, presented by Columbia College Chicago in Grant Park.

a patch of blue sky, site-specific installation/performance, co-created with Casey Murtaugh presented by Tic-Toc Festival, Columbia College Chicago & Insider Art Gallery.

 2008: Ophelia’s Seeds, site-specific installation/performance, co-created with Casey Murtaugh presented by Tic-Toc Festival, Columbia College & the first annual performance festival, Finch Gallery. Served as festival co-curator.

Fragment, physical theater performance for Collaboraction Theater’s Sketchbook Festival, directed by Ann Boyd, Steppenwolf Theater Garage.

2007: Six Stories Up, performer, Tellin’ Tales Theater, directed by Tekki Lommicki, Viaduct Theater.

Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art, opening night performance, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

The Road, site specific durational performance on the streets of the South Loop, created with Casey Murtaugh, presented by Tic-Toc Performance Art Festival & Columbia College Chicago.

Skeleton Garden, multi-media solo performance, Columbia College Chicago (M.A. Thesis).

2006: We Make the Road by Walking, interdisciplinary performance/installation co-created with Casey Murtaugh presented at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art & Tjaden Experimental Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY & in a storefront window at C33 Gallery, Chicago.

2005: Alice in Wonderland, performed as Alice in progressive installation performance at multiple venues including Los Manos Art Gallery, produced by the NeoFuturists.

2004: SNIPS Festival, three-week interdisciplinary festival, Links Hall- co-curator, choreographer.

Drink Me, Equity theatre show, Seanachi Theater Company, Prop Theater – movement director.

In Between, interdisciplinary performance merging dance with large scale action painting, Links Hall, & a warehouse in the West Loop, Chicago – director / choreographer.

2003: Lysistrata, performed the title role, at Viaduct Theater produced by Running With Scissors.

2002: Breathing Underwater, actor / dancer, equity interdisciplinary production, at Gallery 37 & Theater on the Lake, produced by Running With Scissors.

2000: The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon, actor, interdisciplinary theater performance, Griffin  Theatre, produced by Running With Scissors.

1999: The Dance COLEctive, choreography by Margi Cole, Chicago – dancer.

1998-'00:   Redmoon Theater’s All Hallow’s Eve Ritual & Spectacle, performer/assistant movement director for 3  seasons, annual site-specific outdoor spectacle with 60+ performers in Daley Plaza & Logan Square.

1998: Missing Angel Juan, ensemble performer, produced by Rivendell Theater, Theatro Vista.

1997: Summer, dancer, choreographed by Wally Cardona, Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

Hamlet, ensemble performer, produced by Rivendell Theater at Zebra Crossing.

1996: The Old Man & the Sea, performer, physical /puppet theater adaptation of the classic novel, directed by Steve Pickering, Next Theatre, Evanston, IL.

1993-'96:  Perceptual Motion, dance company member, led by artistic director Lin Shook – dancer and outreach program coordinator for the company’s performances for Urban Gateways and the public schools.

1991-'94:  North/South Dance Co, dance company member, performances at various venues in New York City, including the Merce Cunningham Studio & St. Mark’s, New York, NY

EDUCATION:

2007 – Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL - MA in Interdisciplinary Arts

1992 – University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC - BFA in Dance, cum laude

AWARDS:          

  • Virginia Moumau Scholarship for excellence, University of North Carolina

  • American Dance Festival Scholarship, Duke University, North Carolina

  • DanceBridge Residency, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs

  • Columbia College Chicago Graduate Student Alumni Residency

  • CAAP Grant, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs

  • 4 Time Recipient of “Cultural Leader” award presented by New City Magazine            

 ADDITIONAL SKILLS/HISTORY:

  • Founding Member of equity interdisciplinary theater company Running With Scissors. From 1999-2005, RWS produced 6 works garnering 2 Joseph Jefferson awards, 2 After Dark Awards, & 11 nominations.

  • Extensive physical training in improvisation, puppetry & stage combat

  • Video/sound editing and multi-media production credits include work for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Live Bait Theater, and a window for Macy’s on State Street

  • Voiceover artist who has recorded sound for TV commercials, children’s audio books and corporate industrials.

  • Basic spoken Spanish; Lived and studied in Madrid, Spain for 8 months

  • Extensive teaching experience for a variety of organizations including Columbia College Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre Arts Exchange, Tellin’ Tales Theater, and the Chicago Public Schools

  • 18 years experience as an Arts Administrator in Chicago. Executive Director for eight years of Audience Architects, a service organization for over 200 dance organizations.

  • Co-Founder and Vice President of Trillium Arts, an artist residency center in Mars Hill, NC.