Lighting the Way | Vista 1.11

Children’s advocacy center
In collaboration with Emrose Projects

Lighting the Way was created to ground the space while complementing the adjacent seating area—offering a calm, integrated visual presence within a children’s advocacy training center.

Drawing | Lighting the Way c Heather Hancock 2026

WIP | Vista 1.11 c Heather Hancock 2026

WIP | Vista 1.11 c Heather Hancock 2026

WIP | Vista 1.11 c Heather Hancock 2026

The concept draws on abstract biophilic forms, using nature-inspired color and subtle shimmer to create an engaging palette that is connected to the environment. Themes of light and hope informed the direction, with light treated not as imagery, but as a material experience expressed through reflection and movement.

The installation consists of five vertical panels (72” x 30” each), combining abstracted foliage, an expansive sky, and random “flashes of light” inspired by the organization’s firefly motif. These flashes of light are realized in iridized glass, creating a soft shifting shimmer as viewers move past the work. The result is a refined, responsive installation that balances structure and atmosphere—designed to support the emotional tone of the space without overt narrative.

Lighting the Way Vista 1.11 5 @ 6’ x 2.5’ glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2026

detail | Lighting the Way Vista 1.11 5 @ 6’ x 2.5’ glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2026

Architectural abstraction | glinting sunlight

Happy with a recent architectural piece for a residential client.

REFLECT 4.17 Structural Pause. 33.5" x 33.5" This work focuses on a single intersection of the tower’s structure, transforming a monumental building into a human-scaled moment that highlights balance, rhythm, and quiet architectural beauty.

Digital Velocity | new commission

A new commission for a corporate/tech client extends ideas in the SCAN series into a consideration of the aesthetics of data systems. The creative brief called for a visualization of a data system with architectural framing/perspective. Additional complexity is layered in with hardware, stringer and reflected/refracted text elements.

Digital Velocity | 30” x 30” glass inlay + embossing c Heather Hancock 2026

Digital Velocity | 30” x 30” glass inlay + embossing c Heather Hancock 2026

Install images | Architectural artwork for corporate client

Loved getting this install image from a recent project created in collaboration with Meridian Art Consulting.

The clients selected two existing works inspired by architect Mies van der Rohe. REFLECT 1.34 (24” x 24”) distills the repeating rhythm of windows and mullions from a classic Mies façade, while REFLECT 1.35 (24” x 24”) offers an upward view where his iconic I-beams define the skyscraper’s vertical cadence.

To complete the grouping, a new companion piece REFLECT 4.16 Convergence (30” x 30”) was commissioned. This new piece was designed to feel open and bright, with strong diagonal light and shadow. Shifting window scales introduce depth and a sense of spatial interplay. Photo credit Meridian Art.

Approaches to architectural work

There are a number of ways to approach distilling architecture into intimate, abstracted moments—translating light, structure, and urban movement into glass compositions that reveal the emotional, spatial, and geometric rhythms of the city.

1. EVOKING EMOTION. Architectural Moodscapes.

Works that capture the emotional charge of architecture—looking upward into vertigo and aspiration, quiet nighttime grids, shifting shadows, and surface interplay that shapes how a place feels.

2. Offering SPATIAL EXPERIENCE

Layered Urban Views Pieces that present the city as layered space: reflections, overlapping visual fields, iconic buildings, and the structural rhythms that create depth, density, and a sense of place.

3. ABSTRACTING URBAN LOGIC

Geometry & Structure Compositions that push toward pure abstraction, revealing the beauty in engineering, geometry, materials, and the hidden logic of stairs, bridges, grids, and urban infrastructure.

4. TRANSLATING ARCHITECTURAL IDENTITY – Portfolio-Driven Compositions
Custom works developed from a specific architect’s or developer’s portfolio. Identifying defining lines, structural rhythms, and signature geometries, then abstracting them into compositions that reflect a distinct architectural language.

Fresh palettes...new ideas

Always love taking some time in Jan + Feb to explores new palettes and ideas.

Lots of experiments on the go. More soon.

RESILIENT 4.2 12” x 18” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock

prelim ideas about lakeview/shoreline… testing with materials

Philly inspired architectural installation | new ideas

REFLECT 4.13 distills downtown Philadelphia architecture into a four-part series exploring line, rhythm, and dimensional shift. Refracted light and urban texture balance abstraction with architectural precision, translating structure into tactile form.

REFLECT 4.13 | each 30” x 30” | glass inlay with concrete c Heather Hancock 2024

Working from site documentation, Google Street View, and client-provided imagery, I identified compelling architectural moments near the client’s offices and reinterpreted them in glass and concrete. The work operates at two levels: abstract geometry at a distance, architectural fragments revealed up close.

The project invites renewed attention to the overlooked lines, rhythms, and structural cadence of the built environment.

REFLECT 4.13 | each 30” x 30” | glass inlay with concrete c Heather Hancock 2024

REFLECT 4.13c refracted | 30” x 30” | glass inlay with concrete c Heather Hancock 2024

REFLECT 4.13d urban textures | 30” x 30” | glass inlay with concrete c Heather Hancock 2024

REFLECT 4.13 4 @ 30” x 30” c Heather Hancock | Photo credit Forrest Scott Group

REFLECT 4.13 4 @ 30” x 30” c Heather Hancock | Photo credit Forrest Scott Group

Designing with Art: New Work in Palm Springs

RESILIENT 3 @ 20” x 20”

Three works from the RESILIENT series were recently installed in a Palm Springs–area home, where sanded textures offer a subtle tactile counterpoint in the bedroom. Bold color and luminous accents introduce small bursts of energy within a neutral palette, creating a more layered and engaging visual experience.

The clients selected two existing pieces, and a third was created specifically to sit between them—bridging the composition and completing the rhythm across the wall. The textured surfaces echo the surrounding desert landscape, bringing a sense of place and a quiet material dialogue to the room.

RESILIENT 1.4, 1.8, 1.3 (palette: vibrant) | each 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.3 (palette: vibrant) | each 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.4 (palette: vibrant) | each 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.8 (palette: vibrant) | each 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.4, 1.8, 1.3 (palette: vibrant) | each 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

Art as a design element—adding color, light, and presence to contemporary homes.

RESILIENT 2 @ 12" x 18" in custom palettes

Commissioned pieces bring warmth and shimmer to a gray-and-white bathroom—an environment where art is often overlooked. Glass and concrete prove ideal for this setting, offering durable color, subtle reflectivity, and an unexpected sense of presence in a space typically inhospitable to artwork.

Resilient 4.1 (vibrant) @ 12” x 18” c Heather Hancock 2025

Resilient 4.2 (aqua) @ 12” x 18” c Heather Hancock 2025

room details…

RESILIENT 4.1 (vibrant) 12” x 18” glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 4.2 (aqua) 12” x 18” glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

Architectural Abstraction in Glass | New Commission inspired by Mies van der Rohe

Great recent project created in collaboration with Meridian Art Consulting.

The clients selected two existing works inspired by architect Mies van der Rohe. REFLECT 1.34 distills the repeating rhythm of windows and mullions from a classic Mies façade, while REFLECT 1.35 offers an upward view where his iconic I-beams define the skyscraper’s vertical cadence.

REFLECT 1.34 rhythm | 24” x 24” c Heather Hancock

REFLECT 1.35 cityview | 24” x 24” c Heather Hancock

To complete the grouping, a new companion piece was commissioned — designed to feel open and bright, with strong diagonal light and shadow. Shifting window scales introduce depth and a sense of spatial interplay.

REFLECT 4.16 Convergence | 30” x 30” edged panel | hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

detail REFLECT 4.16 Convergence | 30” x 30” edged panel | hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

VISTA: Desert Geometries

VISTA: Desert Geometries
2@ 32" x 32" | glass inlay + concrete textures

I’m excited to share a dipytch that has recently been installed in a healthcare facility in California.

rendering of hospital install | VISTA: desert 2 @ 32” x 32” c Heather Hancock 2025

The brief was to create a VISTA rooted in the client’s local landscape and native foliage. Drawing inspiration from the Empire Inland Desert region, the design features distinctive desert geometries shaped by clustered soapweed, hummingbird mint, and vibrant orange poppies.

A background of linework—created with fine glass stringers—suggests windblown grasses, while textured concrete hills layer and recede into the distance.

detail VISTA: Desert Geometries 2 @ 32” x 32” glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

I hope this work brings a moment of shimmer, movement, and visual interest for patients, staff, and visitors in a busy healthcare setting.

detail VISTA: Desert Geometries 2 @ 32” x 32” glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

VISTA: Desert Geometries 2 @ 32” x 32” glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

Concept for Exterior Healthcare Installation

My work explores how material, light, and movement can shape meaningful human experiences. With a first career in healthcare—including 13 years as a speech-language pathologist and program director specializing in brain injury and stroke care—I bring a unique perspective to projects for healing environments. This background informs my interest in what engages and activates the human mind.

rendering | THRIVE c Heather Hancock 2025

I create “human-activated art”—works that shimmer, shift, and transform as viewers move past. In this case, as viewers drive past. Glass is central to this vision: its luminous qualities catch light and create dynamic interactions that invite curiosity and calm. For exterior applications, I combine UV-stable glass inlay with architectural-grade concrete, producing installations that are both visually compelling and highly durable for public spaces. I see integration with architectural context in palette and vocabulary as a top priority.

My approach to concept development is to find clean geometric forms that abstract natural rhythms and connectivity. The result is art that is deeply rooted in attention and perception—a natural complement to the mission of a neuroscience care environment.

rendering | THRIVE c Heather Hancock 2025

I can envision a series of architecturally integrated panels spanning 50-foot exterior walls—an abstract visual language inspired by nature’s rhythm and neural connectivity. The design evolves across the surface, creating a sense of progression and movement as patients and families arrive. Inlaid glass elements catch and refract daylight, bringing shimmer and subtle motion for an engaging experience. Scaled and finished to complement the building’s architecture, the installation delivers visual calm, dynamic interaction, and a strong connection to the mission of this healthcare facility. 

Commissioned Contemporary Art for Corporate & Hospitality Spaces: Engaging, Site-Specific Design

In corporate and hospitality settings, people spend hours surrounded by flat screens and digital surfaces. That’s why site-specific artwork designed with tactile, dimensional materials can transform a workplace or lobby into an engaging, memorable space.

The contemporary art commissions I create in glass and concrete bring rhythm, texture, and a distinctly human touch to professional environments. Durable by design, the works can be experienced directly, without glass barriers—adding depth and authenticity to a space. Concrete, elevated from its everyday role in the city, becomes a fine art medium: precise yet natural, weathered yet refined.

Each commissioned artwork is built from fragments of urban life—architectural lines, textures, signals, and stylized botanicals—distilled into abstractions that energize and inspire. For companies and hospitality brands, site-specific artwork offers more than visual appeal: it shapes atmosphere, reflects values, and leaves a lasting impression on clients and guests.

The Role of Contemporary Art in Healing: Site-Specific, Tactile Commissions for Healthcare Spaces

In healthcare settings, every design choice impacts how patients, families, and staff feel in a space. Beyond color and layout, art plays a vital role in creating calm, uplifting environments. Tactile, dimensional works of contemporary art bring something especially valuable: a grounding, sensory connection in moments when people need it most.

VIEW: Folded Hills 3 @ 5’ x 2’ c Heather Hancock 2025

My commissioned artworks in glass and concrete are designed for healthcare spaces to balance resilience with beauty. These materials are incredibly durable, allowing pieces to hang without glass for an unmediated, calming experience of texture and rhythm. Weathered concrete surfaces recall both the precision of the cityscape and the textures of natural elements—sand, beaches, tiny stones—creating a point of stillness and connection.

Each site-specific artwork begins with understanding the surrounding environment—views, textures, information, foliage—transformed into fresh abstractions that feel both familiar and restorative. Commissioned artwork like this becomes more than décor: it’s part of the healing environment, supporting wellness through visual rhythm, touch, and human-scale design.

ENCODE Elevation | 3 @ 30” x 20” c Heather Hancock 2025

New Pairings: Playing with Color and Texture in Contemporary Glass + Concrete Art

I create glass and concrete works that distill the city into human-scaled moments of beauty. Each piece begins with fragments of urban life—architecture, textures, signals, and stylized botanicals—cropped, reduced, and recomposed into fresh abstractions. Together, these works form a visual lexicon of overlooked urban beauty: elegant, tactile, and alive with rhythm.

RESILIENT 1.6 (mixed greens) | RESILIENT 1.5 (vivid) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.9 (mixed greens) | RESILIENT 1.6 (mixed greens) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.9 (mixed greens) | RESILIENT 1.6 (mixed greens) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

ELEMENTAL 1.4 | RESILIENT 1.5 (vivid) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.8 (vivid)| + ENCODE 3.50 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.1 grayscale + REFLECT 6.8 (vivid)| 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.9 (mixed greens) | ENCODE 3.50 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

ELEMENTAL 1.4 | REFLECT 6.7 grays 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.4 vivid + REFLECT 6.8 (vivid)| | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.1 grayscale + ENCODE 3.50 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.10 blues + ENCODE 3.49 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.10 blues + RESILIENT 1.7 blues 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.7 grays + ENCODE 3.47 bloom 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.9 (mixed greens) | ELEMENTAL 1.4 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

REFLECT 6.7 grays + ENCODE 3.48 thrive 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.1 grayscale + RESILIENT 1.6 (mixed greens) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

Exploring Color Across Series: REFLECT, RESILIENT, ENCODE & ELEMENTAL

I’ve been experimenting with new pairings across series, and color is becoming a bigger part of the conversation. The REFLECT series, usually rooted in architectural rhythm, is taking on new color palettes that also show up in RESILIENT, creating some surprising harmonies. At the same time, the grayscale works in ENCODE and ELEMENTAL bring a minimalist, texture-forward counterpoint that grounds the bolder pieces. Seeing them side by side opens up fresh ways to think about balance, rhythm, and connection across the body of work.

ENCODE 3.44 + REFLECT 6.9 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

ENCODE 3.48 thrive + RESILIENT 1.5 vibrant | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

ENCODE 3.52 (aim) + RESILIENT 1.1 | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.5 vibrant + RESILIENT 1.6 mixed greens | 20” x 20” hand cut glass and concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

ENCODE 3.52 (aim) + RESILIENT 1.5 vibrant | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.2 mixed greens + ENCODE 3.45 (act) | 20” x 20” hand cut glass + concrete textures c Heather Hancock 2025

Summer work: ELEMENTAL

From the ELEMENTAL series: a study in tone, surface, and encoded structure. Glass inlay and textured embossing create quiet shifts across a restrained palette—part architecture, part bloom, part language.

ELEMENTAL 1.4 bloom | ELEMENTAL 1.5 flourish | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

ELEMENTAL 1.4 bloom | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

ELEMENTAL 1.5 flourish | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

ELEMENTAL 1.6 thrive | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

Summer work: RESILIENT

RESILIENT continues my exploration of nature through an urban lens—this time focusing on how organic life adapts, resists, and flourishes within the hardscape. Each piece merges textural concrete with hand-cut glass, vibrant palettes, and encoded language, creating abstract compositions that speak to endurance and renewal.

As a complement to the quiet minimalism of ELEMENTAL, RESILIENT offers a more dynamic, expressive interpretation—still rooted in the tension between order and wildness, structure and bloom.

“Biophilic abstraction” that aligns with contemporary material palettes.

RESILIENT 1.4 vibrant | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.3 vibrant | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

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RESILIENT 1.5 blies | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.1 grayscale | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.2 mixed greens | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

RESILIENT 1.1 and 1.2 | 20” x 20” | glass inlay + concrete c Heather Hancock 2025

Summer sketching: mountain wildflowers

Fitting in some sketching time…taking inspo from my CO hiking pix from May and June. I’m always interested in how to create layered grasses and wildflowers.

VISTA: mountain grasses c Heather Hancock 2025

VISTA: mountain grasses c Heather Hancock 2025

VISTA: mountain grasses c Heather Hancock 2025

VISTA: mountain grasses c Heather Hancock 2025