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Alumni

Alumni Feature: Heidi Somsen

Heidi Somsen grew up in British Columbia, where she played regularly in the ocean and gathered items from along the coast. Her innate interest in the earth and materiality drove Somsen to become an artist, but it wasn’t until she took her first foundations class at BYU that she recognized her love for 3D mediums. When Somsen graduated with her BFA in 1995, her oldest child was three years old. Determined to keep making art in the midst of raising young children, Somsen created wherever she found space—“whether the kitchen table or my little basement studio”—and continued to participate in one or two shows each year. Years later, Somsen said her artwork is a form of spiritual practice, as well as a way for her to process life “and all the big ideas in our human existence.” Read the full story at art.byu.edu.