Interview with Heather Neilson
Date8 July 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 55 Minutes, 14 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Audio file of interview with Heather Neilson. She was interviewed by Samanthan Hass on 8 July 2025 in Winsted, Connecticut. (b) Photograph of Heather Neilson provided by Heather Neilson.
Heather Neilson was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Over the course of the interview, Heather describes her years-long journey as an artist. She explains that she had been creative since childhood but had not made the conscious decision to become a fulltime artist until well into her adult career. She found her corporate job in marketing to be tiring and not a great fit for her. It was an exhausting, taxing career, and it made her feel a discomfort that couldn’t really be placed.
Heather explains that in a moment of spontaneity she decided to attend a life drawing course at the Arts Students League of New York after work one day. That moment changed her life. It led her down the path of leaving the corporate world and becoming an artist in Litchfield County, CT.
Now, Heather teaches classes, paints, curates exhibits, and makes connections with artists from all walks of life. She uses a variety of materials to make abstract pieces with consistent and meaningful symbolism. Her work focuses primarily on the idea of the “inner landscape,” which refers to a landscape that does not exist in a physical space. Such landscapes reside internally, in the mind, and evoke certain feelings and memories.
In the interview, Heather explains that her choice to leave her old life behind and start anew as an artist was the best decision she could have made. She has made a point to go on multiple artist retreats in the past, where she sharpened valuable skills and met wonderful, talented people. Ultimately, Heather’s moment of change altered the course of her life for the better. She firmly believes that if someone wants something they can fully achieve it, no matter how long it takes.
Heather Neilson was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Over the course of the interview, Heather describes her years-long journey as an artist. She explains that she had been creative since childhood but had not made the conscious decision to become a fulltime artist until well into her adult career. She found her corporate job in marketing to be tiring and not a great fit for her. It was an exhausting, taxing career, and it made her feel a discomfort that couldn’t really be placed.
Heather explains that in a moment of spontaneity she decided to attend a life drawing course at the Arts Students League of New York after work one day. That moment changed her life. It led her down the path of leaving the corporate world and becoming an artist in Litchfield County, CT.
Now, Heather teaches classes, paints, curates exhibits, and makes connections with artists from all walks of life. She uses a variety of materials to make abstract pieces with consistent and meaningful symbolism. Her work focuses primarily on the idea of the “inner landscape,” which refers to a landscape that does not exist in a physical space. Such landscapes reside internally, in the mind, and evoke certain feelings and memories.
In the interview, Heather explains that her choice to leave her old life behind and start anew as an artist was the best decision she could have made. She has made a point to go on multiple artist retreats in the past, where she sharpened valuable skills and met wonderful, talented people. Ultimately, Heather’s moment of change altered the course of her life for the better. She firmly believes that if someone wants something they can fully achieve it, no matter how long it takes.
Object number2024.79.42a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
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