I’m Jackie Lawlor Heenan, an artist based in Philadelphia. My work considers the history of painting and abstraction — I’m endlessly curious about materials, what a painting can be, and how far you can push the medium before it becomes something else entirely.

A lot of what drives my practice is color — specifically color in its artificial, designed, commercial forms. The color of packaging, of products, of our landscapes around us. I’m interested in how that kind of color satisfies us, and what happens when it moves into paint. Outside the studio, I’m finishing my Masters in Art Education at Tyler School of Art, and teaching is a big part of how I think about image-making and why it matters. When I’m not painting, I’m cooking, walking my two dogs, and getting out to see as much art as I can.