My Introduction

Hello, my name is Heather Behrendt. Like all the fellow students that are pursuing an education in art, I was always told I was a fantastic artist. I spent my school days doodling and striving to be like my grandpa. Though my grandpa is not a professional artist, he has and still is active in creating pieces for his own home decor or as a presents for family and friends. He paints classical landscapes and gardens, which I believe is where obtained the taste for detail and realism. I have always been reserved about my art, like most of us as we discussed in class. This caused me to stray from art in my middle school days. For high school I attended Hill-Murray. For those of you who don't know, it is a private catholic school, and one of the most important decisions I made in life so far. During my required art class the teacher encourage me to pursue art as a career. I told her I wanted to be an architect not realizing that the two could go hand and hand. From then on I concentrated on getting into an art school which brought me here, to UW-Stout. Since my first day, now halfway done with my sophomore year, I have played with many different ways of shaping my education. I am in the process of switching from art studios into interior design and I have just been accepted into the sustainable design minor. With this, my most recent plan is to renovate homes and save the environment one leap at a time. Though two months prior I was convinced I was going to be a botanist, so it is not set in stone.

The piece to the left is my first attempt of using colored chalk in drawing II. I think it is a great representation of what my style is like. Like I mention above, I tended to be strictly a realist. After my first couple years here at stout, teachers have challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and I'm liking the results. I have always been please with my work but I always admired the students who had the unique mark makings and strong styles. It was a challenge for me, and though I hated it at times, I am very thankful to those teachers and am always up to challenge myself more.

The picture about is my final for drawing I. The assignment was to address the mid line of the dip-dick and I used it as a chance to attempt using my realistic approach and trying out the abstract style. We also had to come up with a story line. Unfortunately mine ended up being cliche as the girl is struggling with her brother having a substance abuse. There are things I would change about this piece but I think it shows my struggle with abstract.


One thing I love about art is exploring new mediums. I find it completely challenging but refreshing creating art from nontraditional materials. The original image of the piece about was of a homeless guy and man's best friend. We had to take the photo and recreate it using pieces of black and white paper. I used all newspaper, more specifically the Stoutonia. I am excited for drawing III and look forward to the challenges to come!