Paintings by Heide E. Presse

Heide E. Presse was born in 1958 in Heidelberg , Germany, and grew up in Louisiana . Born with a natural artistic talent into a family with no other artistically inclined members, Presse had no formal art instruction until college. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches , Texas in 1980. She worked as a commercial artist in Texas , but now calls Florida home with her husband and son. In 1990, she decided to focus exclusively on painting, working in watercolor first, and more recently oil..

Presses’s paintings have been juried into the Top 100 of the Arts for the Parks exhibition in 1989, ’92, ’94, and 1996-2004. Arts for the Parks has awarded her the 2002 Mini 50 $10,000 Grand Prize, the 2002 Collector’s Choice Award, the 2001 Region I Award, the 2001 San Antonio Missions Purchase Award, the 1997 Founders Favorite Award, and the 1997 Collectors’ Choice Award.

Her work has been juried into many exhibitions including the American and National Watercolor Societies. She was invited to participate in the 2004 Western Visions, Miniatures and More Show at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole , Wyoming . The Miniature Artists of America society and the National Watercolor Society are among her signature memberships. She has been featured in a number of publications, being named artist to watch by Wildlife Art and US Art magazines.

An avid collector of vintage clothing and reproduction costumes, Presse particularly likes the white clothing of the late Victorian, early Edwardian eras. She has dozens of these beautiful garments that date from the 1890-1916 period stored in armoires in her studio. Friends and relatives usually dress in the antique clothing and pose for Heide. Along with the clothing, Heide also has a large collection of antique items which she uses as props in her paintings.particularly pitchers and bowls in yellow ware, ironstone, and graniteware. In her art, Heide depicts the simpler aspects of life…those moments most likely overlooked, but worth saving and remembering. Through her use of dramatic and interesting lighting, and rich color, Presse has a goal of painting scenes of simple beauty.