Heather Hancock | image c T. Favarula 2023
ARTIST STATEMENT
What captures and holds our attention? This question drives my work, just as it once guided my career in healthcare. A decade in Chicago hospitals showed me how deeply our surroundings influence well-being—humans thrive in environments that engage both mind and senses. We’re naturally drawn to the intersection of structure and spontaneity, pattern and fluidity.
In my practice, I pair bold urban minimalism with biophilia—our innate connection to the natural world—creating work that balances the precision of the built environment with the organic energy of nature.
Glass is my primary medium because it transforms constantly, shifting with light and motion. When layered with concrete and metal, it produces a striking interplay of brilliance and opacity, fragility and strength. The result is a series of luminous, ever-evolving compositions that bring energy, depth, and dimension to contemporary spaces.
BIO
Heather Hancock is an interdisciplinary visual artist working between studios in Chicago and Denver. Heather's art integrates vibrant glass with matte concrete, balancing natural inspiration with urban minimalism to create dimensional, light-catching works that elevate contemporary spaces.
With a Master of Science and a previous career in healthcare, she brings a deep understanding of how environments shape well-being. A Master Class at Orsoni Studio in Venice refined her technical approach.
Her work is featured in private, corporate, healthcare, and government collections across North America and Asia.
EDUCATION + RESIDENCIES
2025. Lakeside Inn Art Residency | Lakeside, MI
2006. Architectural installations | Chicago Mosaic School, Chicago, IL
2005. Master Mosaic Class: History, Theory and Application | Venice, Italy
1993. MS in Speech Pathology and Audiology | University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
CHICAGO TRIBUNE Q&A
Evanston artist Heather Hancock has lived in the north suburb since 1993. She primarily works with glass.
Q: How did you get involved with glasswork?
A: I came to my art practice via a career in health care. I worked for more than a decade in physical rehabilitation. I was passionate about helping others “live well” but there was a limit to what we could do in the health care setting. I came to see how important our physical surroundings are to our well-being, that beauty matters.
Reflect 3.2 Curve | 48”x30” | handcut glass c Heather Hancock 2018 Corning Museum of Glass New Glass Now international survey through Jan 2020
“Heather Hancock uses glass inlay to re-create the geometries of mid-century modern architectural facades, capturing a sense of the ephemeral within their otherwise highly rational compositions.”
“It feels like I’m looking through a window into the city.”
“ If one of the challenges of an artist is to make viewers look in a new way at what is familiar to them, Ms. Hancock has presented a body of work that does that in an arresting and rewarding way.”
“I enjoy walking around the piece to see how the light changes it.”
“Heather’s incandescent images that were brought to mind as she responded to the fragrances of Proust’s world will encourage you to reflect on the open frontiers newly charted by science of mind.”
photo cred T. Favarula 2023