Nationally known artist Amy Moglia Heuerman has moved around a lot, and each locale has imparted its particular nuances of feeling and local color expressed in her work today. Without formal art training, she is one of those uber-talented people who can just put brush to canvas, and it works.

Tennessee-born and raised, she later moved to New Jersey, then majored in education at the University of Richmond, Virginia. She then relocated to Omaha, then to Bay Harbor on Lake Michigan and most recently to Naples. Always residing near water has cemented her love of water vistas and abstract seascapes.

Her art career kicked off with a 20-year foray into doing children’s art in pen and ink with a “tight watercolor,” as well as illustrations along the lines of hippos in tutus and other whimsical interpretations of animal-world figures. Her inborn talent has morphed into a curated collection of abstract impressionistic florals and seascapes, as well as her beloved “girl” series— original, animated stick-like expression-filled paintings that she says reflect the little girl within— and a newly launched figurative series from nature.

The artist cited her painting process as starting with a reason or a need that she feels warrants expression and that compels her to put that emotion on canvas.

“Whatever I feel like painting on any given day, I do it; I get a strong feeling and have to get it out. It takes on a life of its own; you have to slow down, float it and listen to it. You also have to believe in yourself and relax. If you feel like putting it there, do it, as you can go over it. I start everything with red cadmium— it might be circles or stripes, so I can start to feel where am I going to go with it,” Heuerman said.

“Then, the red could be a line that gets covered up and never seen again and ends up layered, or it may peek through—there’s a history there, there’s a life. It’s my starting point; then I see where the brush takes me. The confidence has to be there. I love doing it; it uplifts me and the customers and is just fun.”

She does not paint a scene but paints from a memory of it; especially for her waterscapes, it is the driving force in her art. Heuerman greatly admires the work of Massachusetts artist Anne Packard, best known for soft, serene, atmospheric seascape paintings depicting fog and a sense of quiet. She also paints abstract expressionism and is strongly influenced by artist J. Steven Manolis, who paints in both watercolor and acrylic on canvas.

“I walked into Quidley & Company Fine Art Gallery on Broad Street and saw a yellow painting on the far wall, and I couldn’t breathe. It was a Manolis; I am influenced by his gutsy use of color and how it is layered. Adding layers on layers gets a see-through luminosity; it is sometimes a challenge, which I like,” said Heuerman.

“I get it at a spot where I feel my work is uplifting and stop it in a place where I feel it can evoke serenity; even so, there’s usually tension and energy. I also like to paint abstract florals, but I don’t want to paint florals per se exactly. It’s like painting the memory of the floral— its essence.”

For the girls’ paintings, Heuerman calls on her inner childhood muse. She says she is again age 5 and recalls living a simple life in Tennessee that gave her a sense of protection and being loved.

“I have been fortunate to retain my childlike spirit and see the world wonderfully and joyfully. That has guided my creative journey. The inner five-year-old is fascinated with color and the organic shapes of the natural world. That is all reflected in my paintings, including the coastal, abstracts, florals and girls,” she said.

“When COVID first hit and everyone was fearful, and there was a lot of negativities, I painted a girl and let my inner 5-year-old come out. I get more comments on these paintings. People say they feel something so strongly when they view them; I reply that they are feeling the emotion,” said Heuerman.

Her latest paintings are figuracoffee tive. Wanting to keep her art fresh, clean and practiced, she is working on a series of jackrabbits whose inspiration comes from her days as an illustrator and which are, to her, alive and fun.

“I paint from emotion, so when somebody asks if I can do a piece and put a duck in it, I say no, because then the painting becomes concrete and is no longer abstract, and the spirit of the painting and painting from a feeling is lost,” said Heuerman.

Space to Create

“I have drawn my whole life, and I can draw anything. I know color, composition and drawing, and I had confidence in myself and learned how to run a business. I started my first small gallery in Bay Harbor, Michigan. It was a place to paint and didn’t have running water, but I had a blast,” she said.

“To my great surprise, I started selling my work, and things started to pop. I moved into a double-sized space with good front lighting and in a good location and I did some renovation, and it has done well. I still operate the gallery, which holds some 30-40 paintings.”

After a divorce and the itch to “start over,” Heuerman came to Naples in 2013 knowing only one girlfriend. She settled her business into a space in the Naples Design District on 10th Street South. However, as she began to gain national recognition and business flourished, she soon outgrew the gallery. She closed it in May after four years.

Today, she loves her new digs, Amy Art Gallery & Studio, which opened one block north in the Naples Design District in October. With 30-foot soaring ceilings and expansive windows flooding the gallery with natural light and black iron architectural trim, she says it is “lofty, edgy and luxurious.”

“This gallery is a dream come true; I could not wish for something better. I started looking all over Naples; there are very few really cool spaces. So, when I saw this, I knew I wanted it, even though the 1,500-squarefoot space was destroyed in the hurricane, and it needed work. It was a challenge because there were two walls of windows, and I had to make sure I had enough real estate to hang paintings,” Heuerman said.

“I had a crew of three men working five to six days a week through the summer for five months. They built hanging walls suspended from iron cables. Now I can display my paintings in the windows. There’s a 60-by-60-inch painting on each side of that hanging wall, and it’s very dramatic.”

She said she needed a movable wall but did not want to see the wheels. So, she built another one that holds a 72-by-60-inch painting.

“I added a salon area with sofas, tables and pillows—all high quality—so that if someone sits on the couch, they can view my art and get an idea of how it would feel in their home. Behind the sitting area is a working studio that has a drop cloth splattered with paint. You can usually find me at the easel with paint in my hair and on my clothes,” she said.

While not too keen on accepting commissions, she will entertain requests.

“Clients can suggest fabrics, colors or styles and whether they want an abstract or floral or a certain size, and often I can do it; I can get the eyepiece. However, because some of my abstracts come from somewhere deep, I may be unable to deliver on specific requests. My paintings will not be the same; they are real and sometimes take on a mind of their own,” said Heuerman.

Heuerman markets her work online—some 50 pieces are available— but does no art fairs and only a limited number of shows. She is represented by a gallery in the Miami District and one in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

She will be exhibiting a collection of paintings at the Lauderdale Yacht Club in February as one of 16 specially selected Florida artists. She is a featured artist in Bunnies & Beyond, a tribute to early Hunt Slonem, hosted by Manolis Projects Gallery in Miami, a kick-off to Miami Art Week that will run until April 2024. Heuerman also participated in Miami: Pastel Paradise, a juried exhibition of Florida abstract expressionist artists at Manolis Projects Gallery. In July, another Manolis Projects exhibition was held with artists asked to paint their visions of the American flag.

Defining success as an artist is a two-part process, which she described as a “fight’ between her and the piece and the recognition and admiration that hopefully follows.

“When I think I’ve nailed a painting, and when I put that brush down, I stand back and say, ‘Oh my God, I love this painting.’ I then step back and sometimes have to go home and sleep on it. Then come back to make sure. That is such a high for me, and it makes my blood boil; that’s the first part,” said Heuerman.

“The second is when someone else validates my feelings by purchasing or loving it. Yes, it comes down to dollars and cents; you know you’ve got it if you’re making a business out of it. When people walk in the gallery and say, ‘Oh my God, it’s so happy in here, and I could just hang out,’ and they ask about a painting, it’s so fun because they’re respecting what comes from your soul.”