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Meet the Artists

Seamus Heffernan '07

seamus

— Painting Major —

Seamus Heffernan is articulate and thoughtful as he explains why painting is his life’s work. A 27-year-old painting student at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Heffernan gives you the sense that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

“I never felt like anything was impossible,” Heffernan says. “If you want to do something you just make it happen. I was never discouraged.”

Heffernan grew up on the East Coast immersed in comic books and drawing, what he describes as “very serious business” for a four-year-old. Every Sunday he’d pour over the Sunday comics, inspired by Calvin and Hobbes, and he loved to doodle.

When he was just out of high school, Heffernan moved across the country to San Diego to pursue his dreams. Though his parents were divorced and unable to support his education financially, they encouraged him to pursue art. After a few years at a community college, Heffernan decided to attend the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Belgrade, Heffernan's the spring ‘06 travel journal.

“There’s an intimacy here,” he says of the small class size at PNCA. “I get great feedback from my fellow painting students and instructors. College is a way to advance oneself. You can practice art and read books, but the variety of opinions from teachers and students expands your ideas and techniques.”

For Heffernan, art is akin to breathing; it’s a necessity of life. He credits his financial aid award, including the Oregon Opportunity Grant, for making his education possible. “Without grants and scholarships, I wouldn’t even be in school,” he stresses. “If I worked full-time, saved up and paid for my education alone, I would have to wait until I was 40 and missed my prime development.”

Heffernan received PNCA’s Reiger travel award and also a painting scholarship from the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts in Greece to study there in 2006. Through his study abroad experience, Heffernan was better able to focus on his craft and perfect his technical skills. As a result, Heffernan created a stunning set of postcards that further build his portfolio. He believes that one form of education is not enough, that travel enhances artistic practice and broadens a student’s worldview.

More grant and scholarship opportunities should be available to more students, according to Heffernan.

“There needs to be a lot more in the way of grants, there’s a lot of opportunity lost out there,” Heffernan says about the lack of financial aid for students. “To fully benefit from an education, I believe you need to not work. I used to work 35 hours a week and go to school, and I missed out on so much.”

Right now, Heffernan smiles when describing his thesis as a “full-time job.” He’s focused on injecting fine art into popular culture through the creation of a painted comic book. His goal is to publish the book in an effort to reach a larger audience.

After talking with Heffernan, you get the sense that equal opportunity, creativity and integrity are at the heart of his artistic goals and practice. “Many people don’t have the opportunity to translate their experience and put it out into the world,” he says. “But I think that’s very important.”