If you've ever wanted to see an embodied thought in action, Lux Art Institute in Encinitas is offering an opportunity for you to do just that. The artist-in-residence facility is hosting New York painter Julie Heffernan for the next two weeks, during which the public is invited to watch her bring her inner realities to light.

Heffernan will be creating the latest in a series of her large-scale, oil-on-canvas interpretations of the self-portrait as metaphor until April 19. When complete, the painting will remain on display at the institute through May 31.

The artist, who offers the viewer a glimpse of how her interior world relates to what it experiences in our exterior one, does so in a very complex and exquisitely rendered fashion. Her painterly technique strongly brings to mind the lushness of centuries of realistic European paintings, although Heffernan uses her brilliant brushwork to engage the spectator in a conversation about eternal and contemporary issues.

The artist, who did her undergraduate studies at U.C. Santa Cruz and her higher training at Yale, describes the process by which she arrived at her current approach: "At a certain point, I began to get spontaneous nonverbal thought bubbles, which felt like pictures of interiority. They came when I was falling asleep, unwilled but full of interesting images and visual information. They crept up on me and synthesized themselves into little bites. My job seemed to be to get to know them in their tiny selves as they grew and took on more and more metaphorical power."

As a result of these experiences, her work changed dramatically.

"It's not as though I am taking dictation, but more like a major hike into the wilderness, using whatever faculties I have to keep myself from getting lost as I continue to go deeper into the forest. I have to notice the images quickly, sneak up on them and capture them, trusting. The subconscious knows before the intellect knows. It's kind of like when we know we're afraid, but don't know why."

"It feels very honest and ungimmicky to paint this way," she added, "less intellectual and more intuitive. I keep hoping I won't hit a painter's block, but so far I haven't. Perhaps I won't, if I don't screw with it." Of her earlier work, Heffernan observed that she has destroyed much of it, and would even like to make a circus tent of the rolls of canvas she painted previous to this transition.

"It's almost as though it's about redeeming the chaos. I pray as I paint, although it is not directed to a 'god.' I feel connected and put out messages to whatever is out there," she said.

As to painting under the watchful eye of visitors, the artist noted, "I didn't know it was going to be this hard, being constantly observed. It's kind of unnerving. But I'm trying to turn this deficit into a virtue, because it's forcing me to think and to push my meditative mechanism into high gear. Here I don't have the luxury of sitting on the couch and just staring at the wall, but I have to really focus on the things that are coming out of my brain and just work. It certainly keeps me moving!"

Lux will host its monthly Lux@Night from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. The free cocktail hour will feature a question-and-answer session with Heffernan, studio tours, live entertainment and refreshments.

Julie Heffernan in Residence

When: 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; through April 19; Lux@Night free reception, 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday Where: Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas

Admission: $10 ticket good for two visits within same artist residency

Phone: (760) 436-6611

Web: www.luxartinstitute.org

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