FOREST CITY, IOWA, Oct. 12, 2018 – Waldorf University to host an artist reception for area photographer Chad Heggen on Thursday Oct. 25 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Waldorf University Gallery housed in the Campus Center located at 106 S. 6 St. Forest City, IA. 50436. An artist talk will begin at 7 p.m.
 
Chad Heggen specializes in abstract and landscape photography featuring rural Iowa elements. Born into a world of art with a father who was an artist and art teacher, Heggen attended many art shows and galleries throughout his adolescence. Heggen pursued a degree in Graphic Arts with a minor in Mass Communications and Photography at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. where he found his style impacted by the works of professor John Bowitz.
 
While earning his minor in photography, Heggen found that his subject matter was influenced by rural Iowa landscape and his father’s farm-based art. As a part of his senior exhibit, he began traveling rural, gravel roads around Sioux City where he captured landscape and farm images including detailed texture photography. 
 
Heggen’s abstract works began with a method created by using the noise of his camera to his benefit. He found inspiration in the textures and patterns created by the natural growth of foliage and erosion due to time of man-made objects. By applying abstraction to tractor photos, in combination with the textures found in images of weather worn items found around the farm, he was able to push the saturation in his images to unrealistic levels. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted. “By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of middle-class values, I investigate the dynamics of landscape, including the manipulation of its effects based on our assumptions of what landscape means to us,” Heggen wrote.  
 
Photography by Chad Heggen will be on display in the Waldorf University art gallery from Oct. 22 to Dec. 7. 
 
 
About Waldorf University
Founded in 1903, Waldorf University is a regionally-accredited liberal arts university located in the heart of Forest City, Iowa. Waldorf delivers engaging learning experiences through innovative residential and online instruction, providing its students associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees and certificates in the areas of business, communication, criminal justice administration, education, music, psychology, theatre and more. Visit Waldorf.edu to learn more.