Priscilla Heep-Coll - Honored Member 2015

Priscilla Heep-Coll, a long time CLWAC board member and the current sculpture chair, is a strong advocate for sculptors.  Her quiet determination, leadership abilities, unique perspective, and the helpful energy that she brings to both the Annual and Members' exhibitions have endeared her to the artists that work with her.

Priscilla, a native New Yorker, grew up near Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, where she observed both the ever-changing colors and textures of woodlands and the adventures of small animals as they climbed or ran.  Her passionate love of nature led her to choose wood and stone to explore in her early sculptures.  Years later she would carve Styrofoam, layering it with fiberglass and epoxy, to make large, lightweight sculptures.

In 1970, needing additional work space, she moved to Soho and joined the first experimental living/working artist co-op in New York City.  Several years later, she wanted to exhibit her new series so she became a founding member of "Fourteen Sculptors," the first artist-run sculpture gallery in NYC.  Both of these decisions laid the foundation fo her adventurous and creative life.

Priscilla had been employed by the Board of Education teaching art in a vocational high school after attending the City College of New York.  In 1976 she undertook a rewarding new challenge: running the Educational Therapy Clinic in the N.Y. Veterans Administration Medical Center.  She took pottery classes at night and discovered that clay was the perfect medium for her. Her pots were included in two books: "The Best of Pottery" and "The contemporary Potter": A Collection of the Best Original Work in Earthenware, Porcelain and Stoneware", Both published by Rockport Publishers.

She further animated her forms; strange creatures emerged that delighted her.  William P. Daley, a leading figure in contemporary ceramics wrote that her pieces "are very engaging expositions of zoomorphic sculpture, wonderfully complicated, hovering on the edges of skeletal bone structure, creature and figure.....mysterious, dual identities suggesting metamorphosis."  Overjoyed by his response, Priscilla entered juried shows.  In 2006, her cat sculpture was selected by Joe Bova to be included in "500 ANIMALS IN CLAY" published by Lark Books. Gallery and Studio Magazine has commented on her work in eight of their articles reviewing CLWAC's national and member exhibitions.

Her marriage to John Earnest Coll in 2009 profoundly affected her work.  The content changed unexpectedly form single creatures to pairs.  "Loving" was the first in this series exploring her new relationship to John and was exhibited at the National Arts Club, Grounds for Scultpure, and the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery.  It won 2 awards and received high praise in the Trenton Times.  Another in this series of six titled "Touching Your Heart", was exhibited at the Whistler House Museum in Lowell, MA.  A third, "Please, Do Tell," was part of the National Sculpture Society's "Love, An Online Exhibition".

Priscilla's work has been widely exhibited in the tri state area.  Her sculptures have received many awards from the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the National Association of Women Artists, and the Council of American Artist Societies.  She is a lifetime member of the Art Students League.  More of her work can be seen at www.PriscillaHeep-Coll.com.

Priscilla Heep-Coll has served this organization and her fellow artists well with her time, energy, and devotion.  She was presented with the treasured Creative Hands Award in 2010 for her assistance.  She has created a body of significant, thoughtful work and is the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club's "Honored Member" of 2015.  Priscilla is very grateful, and indeed, most honored!.