Katherine Heigl, known for her roles in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Firefly Lane,” launched her first solo art exhibition, “Mother Nature,” at Gallery MAR in Park City on May 31.
The exhibit offered a journey into the natural world, showcasing Heigl’s mixed media portraits of animals and people immersed in nature.
Heigl’s husband, musician and songwriter Josh Kelley, also displayed his leatherwork art, featuring pieces such as a saddle and animal portraits.
According to Gallery MAR, the exhibition’s proceeds benefitted the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2008 by Heigl and her mother, Nancy, to end animal cruelty.
Katherine Heigl said her gallery was ‘pretty terrifying’
Both Heigl and Kelley attended the premiere, which was free to the public.
A significant crowd lined Park City’s Main Street before the exhibition opened, with attendees patiently waiting their turn to enter due to the small gallery’s capacity limits.
Inside, visitors viewed and purchased artwork, contributing to the foundation’s cause.
Reflecting on the night, Heigl told the Deseret News, “It’s been an incredible night. It was pretty terrifying, I’m not gonna lie. I’m super nervous.
“I woke up like two days ago, and the first thought in my head is, what if no one comes and no one buys anything?” she explained. “But it’s turned out to be such a wonderful evening. It’s such a great group of people that have come out tonight, and things are selling.”
Katherine Heigl expresses her love for animals in ‘Mother Nature’
“Mother Nature” highlights Heigl’s respect and admiration for animals and nature. She credits her love for animals with giving her the courage to debut her art.
“It was really the idea of doing (the exhibition) for the foundation that gave me the courage to put myself out there in this way,” she said in an interview with Gallery MAR. “It’s a deep, deep passion and purpose for me.”
Advocacy for animals has suffused many aspects of her life, such as with her charity foundation. Even her entrepreneurial endeavors with Badlands Ranch, which is a premium dog food brand, reflects this. “Mother Nature” brings this purpose into stark awareness.
Many paintings included handwritten notes from Heigl, sharing her thoughts on the artwork.
One such piece, which attendees were introduced to upon entering the gallery, was called, “Morning Light.” It depicted a solitary bear in the winter woods and was accompanied by a note reflecting on nature’s interconnectedness.
Heigl credited living in Utah with deepening her connection to nature.
During the night of her exhibition, when asked what inspires her, she said, “The choice my husband and I made to come and live full time in Utah, and to be in this sort of secluded part of the woods and the mountains, it has me in a constant state of connection to nature and its purposefulness and its meaningfulness in our lives.
“It took that to remind me of how important it is, this thing that we all take so for granted,” Heigl continued. “All the time in my art studio I’m looking out at all this beauty, I’m watching all the life around me, so I just wanted to paint it.”
When did Katherine Heigl become an artist?
Art has been a lifelong passion for Heigl, according to Gallery MAR.
She was developing her artistic expression as far back as when she worked on “Grey’s Anatomy” and would sketch and draw between takes.
However, she didn’t truly begin pursuing her passion until she bought a Christmas gift of art supplies for her niece that went unused.
“She didn’t end up using them, so I did,” Heigl said told Gallery MAR. “Suddenly I was knee deep in the world of art again and playing with more than just a pencil and blending tools. It’s just evolved from there.”
Heigl shared her creative struggles and process at the exhibition, noting how she is in a continual state of learning due to how she constantly switches mediums in her artwork.
“My piece ‘The Vanishing,’ it’s a woman and a stag, and I think I’ve been working on it for probably five months,” she said. “I just couldn’t get where I wanted it to go. And then really it was just last week that I finished it and finally got it to a place I felt comfortable showing it and putting it out there.”
She concluded by saying, “The animals, honestly, are the easiest, they came the most effortlessly and happened with the least amount of struggle.”