The prestigious Torpedo Factory Art Center selects
Heidi Mraz as one of their new Artist Pro Tems
Through a partnered exhibition (August 5-21) to feature the Torpedo Center’s recently-selected artists, Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia will showcase a Porsche 918 design titled “Deep Rooted Beauty” from Heidi Mraz’s Petal to the Metal portrait series.
An ultra-modern spin on botanical illustration that appeals to both our feminine and masculine tendencies, Heidi Mraz’s Petal to the Metal concept shows how supercars are both objects of beauty and engineering.
GREAT FALLS, VA (July 26, 2022) – Artist and documentarian Heidi Mraz recently participated in a highly-competitive selection process to join the ranks of the nation’s oldest continuously-operated community center for working artists under one roof, the renowned Torpedo Factory Art Center. Located in Alexandria, Virginia and overlooking the beautiful Potomac River, the Torpedo Factory issues Pro Tem Artist titles to visionary professionals who have proven a desire to create, grow and engage artistically with the art center and its surrounding communities. To be chosen as an Artist Pro Tem is a distinguished honor for any artist, and even more rare for someone specialized in the automotive community.
To celebrate the latest round of new artists in its community, the Torpedo Factory has partnered with Principle Gallery, an established and respected gallery also in Alexandria that will feature artwork from all of the new Torpedo Factory artists next month. For the occasion, Heidi’s Petal to the Metal series will make its gallery debut with the showing of her piece titled “Deep Rooted Beauty.” The portrait features the Porsche 918 in a Gorteria-inspired, automotive, floral design on brushed aluminum. The exhibit runs from August 5-21.
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“Petal to the Metal was inspired by a dilemma my friends faced in their own home, in which he wanted more automotive art and she preferred something that could go with their soft furnishings; it was the classic battle over masculine versus feminine design,” said Artist Heidi Mraz. “As an automotive artist who wants to reach non-automotive people, I set out to explore an idea of compromise, of how to create art that might appeal to both an engineering eye as well as a feminine lean for natural beauty. The eight botanical pieces I created for this series, each dedicated to an iconic supercar, are ironic and charming and at the same time rational and classic.”
Petal to the Metal
Inspired by the word play of a familiar idiom and the archetypal botanical print, Heidi handcrafted the semblance of exotic flowers out of layered paper cut from car magazines and images taken from her own camera and ‘rooted’ them to a bed of brushed aluminum sheet metal. These colorful, engineered ‘power plants’ are masterfully styled similar to a vintage floral print. Botanical descriptions are replaced with car statistics and black line drawings are made of the featured vehicles rather than flowers. A limited-number series comprised of eight unique super car designs ranging from Koenigsegg to Bugatti, Petal to the Metal conceptually reimagines automotive art and propagates the idea that beauty can be found in both nature and machine. As of September, limited-editions sized 24”x32” from this series will be available for purchase.
About the Principle Gallery
With locations in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and historic Charleston, South Carolina, Principle Gallery has been dedicated to exhibiting the best of American & European Contemporary Realism since opening in 1994. Focusing on paintings in oil and bronze sculpture, the gallery represents emerging, mid-career, and established artists with a distinct, personal approach to their work. Principle Gallery gains great exposure for its artists through solo exhibitions, selective group shows, and national art fairs. https://www.principlegallery.com.
About Torpedo Factory Art Center
Art Center is home to the nation’s largest collection of working-artists’ open studios under one roof. An Alexandria landmark for nearly 50 years, it’s the highlight of the Potomac Riverfront, attracting approximately 500,000 visitors annually. https://torpedofactory.org.
For more information or pricing on this series please contact hapmraz@msn.com.
About Heidi Mraz
Represented in both corporate and private collections, Heidi Mraz’s artwork is collected and exhibited internationally. Her clients include some of the world’s foremost automotive collectors, brands, and museums. In 2022, she unveiled “Move. Earth.”, a tribute to the modern-day version of Steve McQueen’s Baja Boot, and in 2021, she unveiled “Aerodynamics by Entomology” and “Shaped by the Wind” honoring Porsche’s 917 and 906, respectively. In 2019, she unveiled “Beneath the Surface: Bugatti of Lake Maggiore,” an automotive assemblage inspired by the Mullin Automotive Museum’s famed “Lady of the Lake” that had been submerged underwater for 75 years. A member of the Guild of Motoring Artists, Heidi is also an Artist Pro Tem for the prestigious Torpedo Factory Art Center in Virginia. She has been the official poster artist for Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance in North Carolina and for the Art in Motion Concours in New York, and was commissioned to paint the winning cars of the Amelia Island and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Heidi is a consulting curator for The White Collection in San Francisco and has judged several major American concours. Currently in production, a feature-length documentary entitled “AUTOMOTIVE ARTIFACTS” chronicles the behind-the-scenes work of Heidi’s history-inspired assemblages. Heidi Mraz Fine Art is based in the artist’s hometown of Great Falls, Virginia. www.heidimraz.com.
