Heather Lara's elegant work in oil, pastel, pencil, and charcoal captures the physical and emotional textures of the untamed natural world. Heather also works in scratchboard, a technique in which the artist etches onto a thin layer of ink-coated clay--an ideal medium for capturing the soft details of fur, and the sparkle of feline eyes. Her pastels, pencils and watercolors beautifully highlight the play of sun and shadow on the folds of flower petals.

Heather's graphics work for the American Wilderness Experience, as well as her experience in scientific illustration have made her sensitive not only to the look of wildlife, but also to the moments in which her subject's character is revealed. Entire worlds are suggested by her dramatic rendering of an animal's muscles, eyes, and limbs as it surveys its realm. Heather Lara is conveying to us what she has observed: that a wasted gesture does not exist in the animal kingdom; she has captured that subtle yet important truth in her evocative and quietly powerful works.