Growing up surrounded by the beautiful mountains and lakes of Central Arkansas, Erselle Hiemstra began drawing and painting when she was in her early teens. Although she lived in Hot Springs, her inspiration came from rural areas, particularly the Ozark Mountains and the backwoods of Northern Arkansas where respect for life and art are reflected in culture. Using her work to communicate artistic expression, Erselle impresses the observer with a joy for life which can be found when common objects are viewed as works of art. Her eclectic styles include a depiction of nature from a larger than life perspective that gives the viewer a fresh approach to the representation of familiar subjects. An artist for more than 40 years, Hiemstra works primarily in oils and occasionally works in acrylic and watercolor. She believes that her art has been widely influenced by her love of natural surroundings and ordinary subjects such as bag of onions, a rope of garlic, or tomatoes on the vine. Her interest in stilllife eventually evolved into her current style that includes examining ordinary subjects from a microscopic viewpoint and painting them so that the viewer receives the full impact of the interplay of color, light, and shadow in the most common objects. Believing that art is an accessible vehicle in the means of communication, Hiemstra has also studied and developed an approach to teaching children an appreciation of art. Her method is taught in a stepbystep drawing process on a twohour video for children ages 410 which is produced and marketed by Hiemstra Educational Enterprises. She has been associated with various galleries in Hot Springs for the past seventeen years and is currently represented by the American Art Gallery.

Telephone: 501-321-2192
Website: http://buysellfind.net/erselle/