The Art Of Heidi Hooper

After starting out as a metal sculptor, and then through dozens of operations and radiation treatments for cancer, now with this new permanent handicap, Heidi Hooper knew her days as a metal sculptor were over. She had received her Sculpture degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and had done Master’s work at UCLA in Long Beach and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston (where she also taught for some time). Her work had been seen in galleries around the country and her artistic metal armor pieces had won her many costuming awards, including at Science Fiction’s biggest convention, Worldcon.

She later tried sculpting in soft clays, making dolls of friends and famous people. This attracted coverage in some doll magazines and even got Peter Falk’s attention, who bought the one she had made of his character from “The Princess Bride.” Creating this artwork brought Heidi too much pain to accomplish on a regular basis.

Then she discovered dryer lint. An unusual medium to create with, for sure, but the artist within Heidi saw something worth trying to create something with it. The first work was quite primitive, but she persisted and taught herself how to make each piece more intricate than the previous. Galleries started to take notice, and it wasn’t long before Ripley’s Believe it or Not found her, featured her in one of their books, and bought her work to show in their museums around the world.