Heather Brammeier is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist whose work continues the function of childhood play into adulthood. Through innovative use of materials and deceptively simple design, Brammeier creates visual puzzles that invite movement in and around the artwork. The artwork tests physical and perceptual boundaries, mirroring emotional and psychological limits.
Collaboration and connectivity play a key role in Brammeier’s life as an artist and professor. Past experience includes directing Backspace Collective NFP in Peoria. At Bradley University, Brammeier created an international artist exchange program that brought artists from London to Peoria, in turn giving graduate students a professional artist in residence experience in London. Brammeier created a large installation for Big Picture Peoria’s 2019 Street Festival which is still on view at 1212 SW Adams Street. She also created a collaborative mural for festival-goers that will travel the Peoria area and continue to involve the community.
Curator Alice Gray Stites recently selected Brammeier for Furies, Fairies, Visionaries at Pen and Brush Gallery in New York. Brammeier’s most recent award was Best in Show at the South Bend Museum of Art Biennial 29, selected by juror Miranda Lash. Brammeier also won first prize in the 2015 Rooftop Project Space Competition at Lillstreet Art Center (Chicago, IL). Brammeier has been selected for a variety of residency programs across the country and internationally, including Yaddo (NY), Spiro Arts (UT), The Hambidge Center (GA), The Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada), and Pontlevoy Creative Residencies (France). Most recently, Brammeier spent three months in residence at International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York (summer 2018 and 2019). Brammeier is a Professor of Art at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
