About the Artist

Michael's artistic practice uniquely blends visual and poetic language. Based in Atlanta, with a studio in Marietta, north of Atlanta, he explores contemporary and abstract landscapes and conceptual works. In June 2020, he began writing poetry to cope with the pandemic, drawing on childhood memories of growing up in Ireland. This practice evolved from a body of work rooted in his local environment and daily visits to the banks of the Chattahoochee River. This intense focus has shaped a practice that combines mark-making, visual expression, and storytelling. His contemporary landscape and abstract expression paintings often reflect themes from his writing. His strong interest in merging visual and poetic language is evident throughout his work, with the Chattahoochee River serving as his muse.

He is a keen plein air painter, capturing the mood and shifts in light across the landscape. His work is evocative and emotional, often serving as the basis for larger studio works. He visits his native home to paint outdoors as often as possible, and the Irish landscape is embedded in his work.

Michael Heffernan Fine Art Studio and outdoor sketching at the Chattahoochee River, Roswell, Georgia.

Experience

Since 2018, Michael has been represented by several galleries throughout the Southeastern Region, with his home gallery in Marietta, Georgia. His work has been sold throughout the Region and is part of several private collections. He is open to gallery representation in the metro Atlanta market and in key cities throughout the Region.

• 2018, juried exhibitor at The Atlanta Artist Center, Grandview Avenue Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
• November 2020 to year-end. Group show at the Mason Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
• Group exhibition at Sol Art Gallery in Dublin, Ireland; work also exhibited at the London Art Fair.
• Juried exhibitor at Metro Montage, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.
• January to March 2023, awarded a solo exhibition, "Wayfinding," at The Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, featuring his paintings and poetry. His painting "Glory Blooms," 72 x 60 inches, oil and cold wax on canvas, is part of the permanent collection at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art in Georgia. The painting and poem of the same title concern the war in Ukraine.
• June - September 2023: solo show at The Quinlan Visual Art Center in Gainesville, Georgia.
• September 2026: juried exhibitor, Grandview Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
• He published a large-format hardcover book of paintings and poetry titled The River Speaks; advance copies will be available in mid-September 2026, ahead of a March 2027 launch.
• November 2026, Muse & Co. Fine Art Gallery, Marietta, GA. Group exhibition (guest artist) featuring works from his River Speaks Collection.
• He is a member of The Atlanta Artist Center and Grandview Gallery in Atlanta.
• A member of The Atlanta Haiku Group, Samara.

Michael graduated from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin, Ireland, in 1974, and from Birmingham Polytechnic in Birmingham, England, in industrial and product design in 1976. After over a decade in industry in Ireland and as a lecturer at Waterford Institute of Technology, he moved to the United States with his family in 1989 as an award-winning product designer to pursue his career developing early-stage technologies in business services, healthcare, life sciences, and related fields. He has held many C-level positions and served on several boards.

Artist Statement

As I progress in my practice, landscape and abstract expressionism often converge. I build all my own substrata, exploit surface and texture, and often create a tactile quality and three-dimensionality on the surface, with built-in layers of color. Editing, removing, and adding elements is not unlike writing poetry and finding the right words or metaphors to express ideas with economy of language. A synthesis of language to connect and move, in all that's said and unsaid, is a conceptual driver.

The seamless expression excites me, as does the search for and expression of emotional connection, which offers just enough to invite participation, interpretation, and engagement with the work. I like to think I can draw one into the paintings, toward discovery through interesting passages. I strive for consistency in my visual vocabulary, and I continue to extrapolate and explore as I deepen my obsession with paint's materiality and its boundless possibilities.

Writing Poetry

Michael began writing poetry in the summer of 2020, during the pandemic. This new expression and exploration of his inner landscape and his relationship with nature have become the foundation for much of his painting. His poems draw on early memories of his native home, observations of nature, and social and environmental issues. Over the last six years, they have been meditations on life, the natural world, and the challenges of reinvention in a rapidly changing world.