I am an artist: Heilig’s Story

Name/where you're from/instagram handle:   Heilig is from Vermont. @Heilig_Art

Title/medium: Performance Illustration

Fun facts: Leo, Twisted Smoothie, Skating / One Wheel, "Skill Not Fame" / "Life is Water" 

How would you describe your artistic style to someone who can’t see your work?   

The work of @Heilig_Art is created live in front of music and crowds. It begins as empty space and becomes layered with inks applied through intentional, flowing brush gestures. The artist works in real time, responding to rhythm and energy while executing a planned or improvised composition.

If you couldn’t see it, you might think of it like this:
It’s like listening to a song that has been turned into texture, pressure, and motion. Some areas feel dense and deliberate, like strong beats or anchored notes. Other areas feel loose and drifting, like echoes or improvisation. There are moments of sharp direction, followed by soft diffusion—like sound moving through open space.

Each piece is a record of time passing in a specific place, with all its unpredictability preserved. And even though many works begin as performance, they aren’t about spectacle—they’re about capturing the feeling of being present inside something unfolding.

In the end, it’s not just an image. It’s an imprint of movement, music, and decision-making under pressure. What results in an artifcact that holds the memory of how it came into being.

What does your creative process feel like from the inside out?
It feels like controlled chaos that slowly locks into place. At the start, there’s pressure—noise, movement, expectation—but once I sync with the music, everything narrows into flow. The brush moves in rhythm as I clear my mind of chatter. It’s physically and mentally demanding, especially on stage or at festivals. The time constraints and setting create a rewarding challenge—pulling something precise and intentional out of a high-pressure, unpredictable environment.

Are there specific textures, materials, or techniques you gravitate toward?
I’m moistly drawn to fluid mediums—ink and watercolor— for the ability to work quickly and cover large areas with precision. Painting vertically on a flat surface during a live set adds another layer of difficulty. Gravity becomes part of the process, and controlling flow is everything. Someone once genuinely asked me how my ink “wicked upward,” thinking I had figured out how to defy gravity—that moment stuck with me. It reminded me how surreal the technique can look when it’s working right. That balance of control and surrender is what keeps me hooked.

How do you know when a piece is “finished”?
Live painting comes with built-in deadlines—the music ends, and so does the piece. I leave each work exactly as it exists at the end of the performance, almost like a timestamp of that moment. The only exception is when someone connects with a piece enough to take it home. Then I’ll spend a few more hours refining details, tightening edges, and bringing it to a true finish. Otherwise, the rawness is part of each work's identity.

What inspires your work beyond the visual world?
Music is the backbone—it drives everything. Beyond that, I pull from master craftsmen like Hokusai and Hiroshige, especially their sense of movement and mastery of negative space. Graphic design plays a big role in how I think about clarity and impact. My work is bold and unapologetically decorative. Hip hop and skateboard culture also influence the attitude behind the work—there’s a rawness, a rebellion, and a focus on style that shows up in how I approach both process and presentation.

What brings you joy in your art practice?
Seeing someone light up when they witness a piece come to life in real time—that’s the best part. There’s something powerful about sharing that moment with a crowd. 

How has your relationship with art evolved alongside your vision journey?   
I started out just wanting to paint beautiful images. Over time, I had experiences where people were brought to tears by my work, and they shared how deeply it affected them. That shifted everything. It opened my eyes to the responsibility that comes with creating in public and the impact art can have beyond aesthetics.

Do you feel your work helps others “see” in a different way?
A lot of my work is purely decorative, so that was never the primary intent. But by being honest with my touch, I think it offers a glimpse into a different perspective—a reminder that we all experience the world in wildly different yet strangely similar ways.

Can you share a moment where art surprised you?
I’m continually surprised by how often separate illustrations I’ve created end up fitting together. One year, I started painting from blank canvases, responding to music with free-flowing, abstract landscapes discovered through the movement of the brush. Eventually, I noticed some pieces naturally connected, so I began linking them in sets of three. Then some of those sets started merging as well. By the end of the year, I combined over 100 canvases into one continuous landscape—30 inches tall and stretching across the entire series. It felt like uncovering an alien world that existed within. Now the challenge is finding a space large enough to display the image correctly.

What does creativity feel like in your body?
Release.

If your art had a message or feeling it wants people to walk away with, what would it be?
"Style is the answer to everything" --Bukowski

Connection to the Cause (Prosthetic Eyes / Kids):

What does this fundraiser mean to you personally?  I have several close friends in Denver affected by vision loss as well as the majority of my extended family suffering from glaucoma.   (Did yall reach out to Laura McGowan?  She paints to keep her vision!) 

What would you want a child receiving a prosthetic eye to feel or know about themselves?
That nothing essential about them is missing. Their identity isn’t defined by how they appear but by how they move through the world and what they choose to create from it. 

How can art play a role in healing, identity, or confidence for kids going through this?
Art provides a path of self mastery. It’s a way to process, to express, and to reshape how you see yourself and the world. Art doesn’t require perfection—it rewards honesty and grit. I believe this can be one of the most powerful tools for building confidence and identity on your own terms.

What kind of support do you wish existed for children and families navigating vision loss?
Broadly speaking I think we could use more accessible support systems for everyone. Specifically we could do a much better job recognizing that we belong to a collective whole. We belong to each other and would better off if we acted accordingly.

What does accessibility in the art world look like to you?
It means addressing systems that prioritize access for a few while limiting opportunities for the many. Accessibility to success should not be a privilege —it’s a structural shift toward equity, where more people have the tools, space, and support to participate and grow. Unfortunately the system is not broken, it is working exactly as it was designed and its time for a change. 

What’s one change you’d love to see in how society supports visually impaired creatives?
A broader shift toward empathy and investment in people’s growth. Too often, support is minimal, reactive or reductive. I’d like to see a culture that actively nurtures creative potential for all—meeting people where they are and giving them real opportunities to develop.

How can people in this room better support artists with disabilities beyond this event?
Work toward meaningful, long-term systemic change to society. Support policies, platforms, and practices that create real access. You can’t grow flowers in poisoned soil—so focus on improving the environment we grow in.
I tend to see partial interventions as band-aids on a festering wound. We need to revolutionize critical components of how society is structured before any meaningful change can really take place. Term limits and public funding might be a starting place so we can create the conditions necessary for Currency and tax reform, voting reform, term limit reform, rolling back the loss of various liberties post 911, etc.  Basically, any meaningful change can only come about if we oust the PDF file class currently in power because they have no incentive to take any steps towards progress of social justice. Those in power have every incentive to delay progress, deny justice and defend oppressive systems. We have every right to oppose this through art and action.

If there’s one thing I’d want people to take with them: Anything worth doing is worth doing with love.

Interview conducted by Meghan Landry