Ms. Russell is a self-taught fine art photographer who specializes in capturing the intersection of elements and dimensions in our environs through full-frame, non-manipulated imagery - a visual archeologist. She is a native of Oxford, New York, and is currently based in New York City.

 

Since receiving her first camera at the age of 6, Russell has been impassioned by sharing her discoveries of daily life through photography.  As a Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Denmark at the age of 18 she had her first opportunity to see another country and culture through the lens.  She has been capturing the intricacies and the spirit of the cultural environs she explores worldwide ever since.

 

After graduating from Cornell University in 1988, she worked in the fields of advertising, business and human resource management, and fundraising, working at both Syracuse and Cornell Universities.  She was a board member of the Community School of Music and Arts and the President of the Ithaca-Cayuga Rotary Club while living in Ithaca, New York.

 

In 2004, Russell changed her career path to follow her passions in photography and international cultural exchange.  She studied at the Cornell University-in-Rome Program during summer 2004 and spent the fall semester with the Hellenic International Studies in the Arts, a small art school on the island of Paros in Greece.

 

After delving into being creative full-time in Europe, she moved to NYC in 2005 to continue to pursue her passions.  Since 2005, her work has been in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including her first solo exhibition held in May 2007 at NY Studio Gallery in NYC.  In 2006, she was chosen to participate in the Hungarian Multicultural Center’s Artist Residency in Budapest and was selected to exhibit work in the 8th International Festival of Artistic Photography held in Athens, Greece.  Russell was invited in April 2007 to sit on the Board of Directors for Hungarian Multicultural Center.  During the summer of 2009, she participated in a three-week certificate program held in Berlin through Transart Institute. Her entry into the NYC art world was as a volunteer for Cuchifritos, a community not-for-profit gallery project of Artists Alliance, Inc., located on the Lower East Side.  Heidi supports community-building/support projects with her photography and time.

 

In addition to founding the cross-disciplinary, International Women Artists’ Salon in 2008, Ms. Russell is an independent curator, having curated with Fresh Fruit Festival, Manhattan Theater Source, EstroGenius Festival, and the e-zine NY Optimist.

 

Russell is also spreading the wings of her creative outreach by establishing an indie publishing company that combines her passions, with the mission to publish works that utilize Art as a bridge for Cultural Understanding.