heather ujiie

War & Peace in the Time of Covid, 2022, digital inkjet-print on poly linen, 102” high x 432” wide (8.5 ft high x 36 ft wide)

Radical Sabbatical Exhibition, Moore College of Art & Design, Jan. 20th-March 27, 2023

War & Peace in the Time of Covid seeks to honor and embrace diverse cultural iconography from around the globe and create a narrative that speaks to the human condition. Three years in the making, with over 15 hand painted vignettes scanned into the composition it is a work that reflects our times. This expansive panoramic landscape, where covid flowers pervade as an invasive species, conveys a pivotal time in our shared history, where a devastating epidemic has brought the world into crisis. Living through the pandemic has been a conduit into which all our concerns for finding spiritual health, have risen to the surface: inequity, racism, diversity, gender identity, global warming, mass extinction of animal species, political instability and strife. My work seeks to use the beauty of nature as a catalyst for revealing the schisms between our quest for power, survival and love.

For this work, I would like to credit contextual research from Persian miniature paintings during the Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) as well as the illustrated story of Shahnameh, (Book of Kings) an epic poem written by poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi, between the 10th-11th century Iran. I would also like to acknowledge Japanese Shunga, during the Edo period (1600-1868) and Chinese erotic art from the Qing dynasty (18th century) as a source for provocative visual language that alludes to power, subjugation, passion and love.

Heather Ujiie: Terra Incognita /OPENING RECEPTION & GALLERY TALK: Thursday, September 13, 6:00-8:00 p.m. /Gallery Location: 301 High Street West/ Exhibition on View: September 4 – November 17, 2018

https://sites.rowan.edu/artgallery/_docs/catalogs/heather-ujiie-catalog.pdf 

 “The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted by Hieronymus Bosch (1490 – 1510) serves as Heather Ujiie’s point of departure for Terra Incognita, a monumental exhibition, displaying configurations of multiple mediums and other worldly surprises. Through diverse characteristics of making, such as painting, stitching, embroidery, large format digital inkjet printing, and multidimensional sculpture, Ujiie creates a transcendental experience, implicit in the metaphor of the garden paradise. Walking into the gallery space, evokes a myriad of potentially confusing emotions and reactions, which resonate within the dualities of life and death, beauty and ugliness, and the sacred and the profane, beckoning humans to ponder on their fragile relationship between biology and evolving culture.” Kelly Kirby Ph.D

Lost in Paradise, James Oliver Gallery, (JOG), Philadelphia June 17th-August 12th, 2023 integrates fiber, textiles, fashion, and visual art to create an otherworldly world that prompts us to ponder our shared visual histories and global mythologies. For this exhibition, I interpreted a selection of stories from Ferdowsi’s classic Iranian epic poem, Shahnameh. This masterpiece, written over 1,000 years ago, part legend and part history, contains magical birds and superhuman heroes in historic battles. I also designed a life-size tree of life, and imaginary landscapes inspired by scientific botanical studies, diverse racial identities, and hybrid creatures. All the visual language in my peices are originally hand painted with goauche, scanned and digitally manipulated and printed on velvet, poly canvas, and poly linen.

September 11, 2014 to November 30, 2014

Textile artist and designer Heather Ujiie incorporates many techniques — including hand painting, drawing, stitching, and printing with innovative large-format digital printing technology — to create a Utopia that she describes as “a celebration of the unconscious.” All textile repeats are custom hand-drawn/original designs.

As an otherworldly environment, the installation reflects her interests in biodiversity and the future of our environs. This is accomplished through the creation of a fantastical landscape of hybrid animals and plant forms influenced by early botanical and anatomical illustrations by artists such as Piero Fornasetti, Jean Cocteau, and Renaissance and Baroque iconography. This transcendental experience, using digitally created textile panels and upholstered furnishings, is completed by audio recordings of nature.

ENDANGERED SPECIES

2019, 96”high x 204” wide, digitally printed on poly linen

https://www.thesalonny.com/ November 14-18, 2019 Park Avenue Armory, NY, NY

About: Salon Art + Design returns for its eighth edition at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City from November 14 - 18, 2019. Presenting the world’s best design – vintage, modern and contemporary – enhanced by blue-chip 20th century and contemporary art, Salon will feature 56 leading art and design galleries (from 14 different countries), spotlighting the trends of collectible design. Salon has differentiated itself from other fairs by including a highly curated mixture of historic and contemporary collectible design and fine art. Just as top interior designers create eclectic homes for discerning clients, Salon exhibitors are encouraged to create immersive environments mirroring the way we live today. The success of Salon lies in the quality of its exhibiting galleries, the extremely international flavor of the material and an eclecticism that is highly sought by today’s collectors and taste makers.

The Art-Led Interior

September 18, 2025 - December 31, 2025
NEW YORK

In this unique, design-driven exhibition, we invited interior designer, Kati Curtis, to create a residential-inspired interior vignette centered around a significant collection of fine art from the gallery’s inventory. Rather than treating artwork as a finishing touch, this exhibition inverts that relationship— asking designers to start with a collection of fine art as their inspiration and then build a space around it using collectible furniture and objects by contemporary designers represented by Wexler Gallery.

Featured: Homo-Erotic Wallpaper, Heather Ujiie

Experimental material investigations with repurposed materials

Demon: Black Zip ties, rubber tubing, lace, vinyl tubing, wire, boning, mannequin

Fountain: Swim noodles, yarn, aquatic tubing, water pump, glass beads

Hybrid Warrior: Para-cord, multicolored felt, zip ties, vinyl screen mesh, mannequin, wire armatures, tree branches

Heather Ujiie’s art abounds with colorful mythical creatures and monsters spinning allegorical stories and fairytales. Ujiie’s large-scale digital prints present a unique blending of the classical and contemporary. Her solo exhibition, titled Heather Ujiie: Fairytales, Monsters and Hybrid Creatures, runs until Jan. 8, 2017. “Many of the pieces in this exhibition were inspired from a kind of ‘data’ mashing of both western and eastern world history and religion,” Ujiie said. “This past year, I have been fascinated by the Christian northern Renaissance paintings, as well as Persian and Indian miniature paintings, some of which depict polymorphic gods and demons.”Ujiie’s textile work is a synthesis of several processes, including hand painting, drawing, stitching, and printing with innovative large-format digital printing. “I love the visceral quality of paint and material investigations, but I also love technology,” she said. “Digital printing, laser cutting and smart textiles are all tools that interest me in creating more innovative work.” Conversely, Ujiie said she enjoys sitting in her studio painting with gouache, a heavy, opaque watercolor paint, which produces a less wet-appearing and more strongly colored picture than ordinary watercolor.

Heather Ujiie’s site-specific art installation Dark Forest transforms a formal dining room at the Hill-Physick House into an otherworldly banquet. Blending medical history and mysticism, Ujiie draws from 19th century anatomical illustrations and Victorian literature to create an immersive journey into the dark world of the subconscious. The installation centers on the house’s grand dining table, replacing conventional dinnerware with ceramics decorated with Ujiie’s paintings and surreal embellishments. Visitors will navigate a forest of twisting trees, vines, flowers, and otherworldly inhabitants inspired by speculative fiction. 

Dark Forest is curated by Heather Moqtaderi of Past Present Projects. This exhibition was made possible by an Edna W. Andrade Grant from The Philadelphia Foundation.Nov. 10th- Dec. 3rd, 2023, 321 S. 4th Street | Philadelphia PA, 19106

https://www.pastpresentprojects.org/heather-ujiie-dark-forest

https://youtu.be/IGafBYMhaDw?feature=shared

Polarity, 2022, Fiber Installation, faux crystals, acrylic bubbles, aquatic tubing, mixed media and fiber materials, @ 9 ft high x 8 ft x 6ft

Polarity is a figurative fiber & faux crystal installation, which speaks to the cycles of life, and ideas around the divine feminine in the female form. It is composed of repurposed materials, such as aquatic tubing, cosplay wigs, paracord, feathers, animal sculls and acrylic bubbles. Two figures stand facing each other attached by crystal strands, within a cage-like space. They represent polar opposites of a necessary dichotomy., which alludes to magic, power and mysticism of the eternal female mother and the fierce warrior archetype.

The Galleries at Moore on Friday, January 23 from 5–7pm to celebrate the opening of All In: 2026 Faculty Triennial. This exhibition presents over 75 works by 41 faculty members that demonstrate the ideas, issues and inquiries that Moore’s talented instructors are currently exploring in their professions.

Featured work: Evil Eye Totem Sculpture, Lady with Ermine Digitally printed fur-trimmed Quilt & original Gouache painting

The exhibition reinforces the College’s ongoing commitment to showcasing the diversity of work produced by its community and features new and recent projects (produced in the last three years) across all disciplines.

Participating Artists:

Gina Altadonna, Andrea Beizer, Justin Carey, Jen Cram, Jeff Dion, Elaine M Erne, Thomas Foley, Julianna Foster, Laura Frazure, Dorothy Funderwhite, Robert Goodman, Asuka Goto, Jacob Hammes, Richard Harrington, Shelley Hedlund, Doug Herren, Brigette Indelicato, James Johnson, Joe Kulka, Gigi McGee, Cecilia McKinnon, Joyce Millman, Cory Neale, Amanda Newman-Godfrey, Tim Oglin, Alice Oh, Lynn Palewicz, Gregory Paone, Robert Papp, Lisa Papp, Perry Santulli, Tad Sare, Ashley Smith, Lauren Stichter, Sarah Swanson, Emilee Taylor, Heather Ujiie, Sheri Watson, Stephen Wood, Jody Work, Ashley York

This immense digitally printed Toile de Jouy textile installation, was inspired by the original print by Andrea Mantegna, (Titled: Battle of The Sea Gods) which was created during the Renaissance. The entire vignette was all hand-drawn with pen and ink, and than digitally edited, and printed on a polyester micro-suede. It was scaled to fit a site-specific installation at the Racine Art Museum, in May 2014.(@ 126" x 250" )

http://www.ramart.org/content/once-upon-time-fairy-tales-fantasy-and-contemporary-art

In addition to my focus on large-scale textile installations, I am interested in traditional/digital printmaking on various papers and substrates. My digital prints are created by hand-painting and drawing, scanning, and digitally manipulating various images. All work is hand rendered and meticulously drawn and painted first, and then digitally printed on Somerset watercolor paper and range in sizes 30" x 40" and larger. I am also embellishing the surfaces with gold leaf and other media.

This community-curated Outlooks exhibition explores collaborative life-work partnerships. Heather Moqtaderi, Philadelphia-based curator and teacher, developed the concept for the exhibition and invited four artist couples—Gina Triplett and Matt Curtius, Shoko Teruyama and Matt Kelleher, Heather and Hitoshi Ujiie, and Trefny Dix and Bengt Hokanson—to create new works for Duality. Their paintings, ceramics, glass, and textiles reveal dual, and often complementary, artistic viewpoints and technical skills.

This collection of prints was inspired by my artist residency at The Winterthur Design Museum. Chinoiserie is a European decorative style from the 17th and 18th centuries that imitates Chinese and other East Asian motifs, primarily born from a Western fascination with the "exotic" East. While rooted in a appreciation for imported goods like porcelain and silk, the style is now viewed critically due to its role in cultural appropriation and perpetuating racial bias.  I have referenced many Asian & European inspired textile design as means of honoring both cultures, and lending my own interpretation to the cultural iconography of both worlds.

The Winterthur Design Museum features English Spode ceramics that were inspired by chinese pottery. Their Spode porcelain ware was a point of departure for the color and aesthetics of the collection.

https://spodeceramics.com/industry/origins-blue-printing-earthenware

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/chinese-blue-and-white-ceramics?srsltid=AfmBOopXHU-ZhmibM-LLTouOGzYIOD7GUT4ylDJG5iydFMePZm4wi_-N

This hand constructed and lined kimono was inspired by my digitally printed fabrications. I am interested in large scale engineered images, and dramatic simple silhouettes. This Kimono is digitally printed on micro-suede, and lined with red satin, and will be part of an ongoing collection of digitally printed high end kimonos for evening wear. I have also ventured into new digital technologies, with laser cutting. I laser cut black acrylic sheets, to make my erotic warrior garment from multiple triangular flat shapes. These were laser cut, and hand linked, and grommet together to construct an armor inspired fashion piece.

All fabrications are digitally inkjet printed on cotton sateen. Hand-rendered motifs were painted in gouache, and scanned and put in repeat in Photoshop.
Each wall panel: 108" x 48”: Textile installation 108” x 292” x 108”
Couch furniture designed by RJ Thornburg

Printed at: The Center for Excellence for Digital Inkjet Printing of Textiles, Philadelphia University

Hand painted hybrid creatures for this textile piece were inspired by homoerotic love. Figurative elements range from overt depictions of sexual acts to more subtle portrayals of intimacy, friendship, or shared experiences that resonate with same-sex desire. 

This costume was made possible by a collaborative effort with Benjamin Volta, Moore College of Art & Design, and the Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia. The Giant Neuron Costume was created with fun materials including, hoola-hoops, shimmer fabrics, swim noodles, digitally printed fabric designed by Benjamin Volta and the 5th grade class at the Russell Byers Charter school. I also integrated EL wires inside the body of the Nucleus, and the children also wove them into the tops of their bike helmets. We will create an educational performance, on January 21st, 2015 at The Franklin Science Institute in conjunction with the exhibit entitled: Your Brain.

https://www.fi.edu/exhibit/your-brain

Digital inkjet print on cotton sateen 72x192inches, Printed at: The Center for Excellence for Digital Inkjet Printing of Textiles, Philadelphia University.

This work was respectfully inspired by the “composite elephant”, a well known motif that represents philosophic & religious ideas in cultures from Persia to Southeast Asia. The figure of the elephant appears formed by other other kinds of animals, humans, plants, etc. Throughout history, the composite elephant represents the internal unity of all beings and things in the cosmos. This concept has been found through other philosophic ideas across Eurasia; such as Brahman in the Indic religions and Neoplatonism in the Abrahamic religions.

https://www.iias.asia/the-newsletter/article/composite-elephant-unseen-history-connected-asia-and-beyond

Resurrection, 2011/2012

Digital Inkjet Print, Edition: 1

Each of the 6 Panels: 120” x35 ”, cotton canvas, embellished with beads, sequins, threads, and buttons

Installation: @ 120” x216” Printed at:  The Center for Excellence for Digital Inkjet Printing of Textiles, Philadelphia University