Rebecca Heyl
She/Her
Multi-Media Artist
Rebecca's Story
Rebecca Heyl is an artist, author and educator. She received a Master of Fine Arts from Tufts University and has taught photography and photojournalism courses at several universities. After completing an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Rebecca studied documentary photography at the International Center of Photography in New York.
She began working as a newspaper photographer in the 1990s and continues to do freelance work. However, in recent years Rebecca has become involved in the use of photography for pedagogical documentation in early childhood and primary school settings.
In 2008 her first book, Windows in the Wall (Skira/Rizzoli) was published. In both her own art practice as well as the studio work, she creates spaces in which children’s dialogue and artistic modes of expression can flourish.
The work I do with students centres around building a sense of belonging and community through collaborative processes and using art as a means of exploring the issues that impact a student’s life and world.
The Process
In recent years I have been working with communities around the arts, democracy and ways of living well together as the focus of my research based art practice.
I am currently an Artist-in-Residence working with teachers and elementary school aged children within the public school system. Much of the work I do with students centres around building a sense of belonging and community through collaborative processes and using art as a means of exploring the issues that impact a student’s life and world.
In opening art studios in schools, I seek to create spaces that are welcoming and invite a sense of wonder. I see the studio as a site of dialogue in which students are both seen and heard. In the studio children are able to develop a sense of agency as they share their ideas and theories about the world. I am inspired and influenced by the work that has been done in Reggio Emilia, Italy with children in school settings for over fifty years taking up notions of democracy and social justice.
In addition to working with children, I often collaborate with local community organizations creating intergenerational art projects that bring people together, allowing space for dialogue as well as a way to give voice to the underrepresented and often marginalized communities.