Meet Heidi Leitzke | Artist, Associate Professor of Art and Director of Eckert Art Gallery, Millersville University of PA

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heidi Leitzke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heidi, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I have found that my balance between life and work has an ebb and flow rhythm. There are seasons of intense work, and seasons where personal, or family life requires more attention. I work as an artist in my studio, I am a professor of art at Millersville University, where I am the Director of the Eckert Art Gallery, and I have a family.

I am lucky to have had mentors, artists who showed me a path to have a life in which my art and career and family can all be in the mix. For example, I used to make large scale oil paintings. When my son was born I found that I could no longer spend long hours in my studio painting large canvases. The set-up, process and mess of oil painting was just too much. I turned back to the cherished format of hand-held embroidery, the basics of which I learned as a child, and found a process, which was perfect for that point in my life. Now, years later, I am thankful for the life change that altered the path of my work, because what I am making feels true and exciting. In other words, my artistic practice grew, and changed in ways I could not have imagined, because I had a child.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My process begins with drawing outside, observing and absorbing nature. I often feel like my eyes are getting a much-needed massage as I study the shifting light and shadows falling on the landscape. My goal has recently been to find and paint locations that are layered and complex, where the space can be stacked and compressed. The drawings become the source for thread paintings that I make in my studio with thin washes of acrylic paint and densely stitched cotton embroidery thread. The resulting thread paintings are a synthesis of my perception, a study of the details of a particular place, and a celebration of the renewing power of nature.

Some of my first paintings were made in Corciano, Italy while studying abroad for a semester through American University’s Art in Italy program. My desire to work from nature grew over the two summers spent painting in the landscape with Stanley Lewis at Chautauqua School of Art in western New York. I attended graduate school in the mountains of North Carolina, at Western Carolina University. The reasonably temperate weather, and lush landscape near Cullowhee, NC provided an ideal situation for painting outside. After earning my Master of Fine Art degree in Painting, in 2006, I moved to Lancaster, PA and with the recommendation of a friend, was hired as a gallery director at a local art college. I learned on the job, often times through trial and error.
After several years, and the birth of my son, I realized that I was being underpaid. Which I had tolerated because I thought I was being compensated with a flexible schedule to care for my child. However, with the encouragement of friends I went to the Dean, and asked for a raise in my salary. When he stalled a bit, I realized that I might need to look for another job if I wanted to be paid at a rate equal value I knew I was worth. With a couple of months, I applied for, and was hired as the Public Art Manager for the City of Lancaster. For the first time, I was paid a competitive salary and benefits package. This was a boost to my professional career, and confidence.
After a couple of years, a job posting was sent to me, for a job as a Professor and Gallery Director at Millersville University. I realized that I missed working with students and curating gallery exhibitions. I applied, was hired and started working at Millersville in the fall of 2017. Since that time I have been granted tenure and have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Through all these major career changes, I have maintained my studio practice. I am currently showing my work with Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a group of artists that I have been friends with since college. During covid we started meeting on zoom and drawing together. We have started informally calling ourselves the “Drawing Club”. I rely on them for support and feedback about life, art, family and career.

Website: www.heidileitzke.com

Instagram: @leitzke