ENCINITAS, CA – February 8, 2008 – Lux Art Institute, San Diego’s most talked about interactive art destination, will welcome Julie Heffernan, known for her elaborate self-portraits, as the third resident artist.

Heffernan will move into Lux’s Artist Residence from April 3 to April 19, 2008, and create a large-scale 6’ x 7’ oil painting on canvas from start to finish. Visitors can “see art happen” while she is in the studio and view her completed work through May 31, 2008.

Heffernan’s highly detailed self-portraits combine layered imagery and a refined Renaissance technique. She herself is the centerpiece - a female goddess clothed in ballooning skirts of feathers, bubbles, flowers and animal skins.

Her paintings are icons for feminism, religious and gender issues, class structure and motherhood. Her ability to portray private and political issues within a self-portrait while cross-referencing centuries of history, has earned Heffernan star status in the contemporary art world.

“I’ve seen the evolution of Julie’s work go from still-life and landscapes to lush self-portraits,” said Lux Director, Reesey Shaw. “The process of watching her create a large-scale work will be amazing - like watching a dream evolve. She presents a theatrical drama of global scope with herself on the protagonist.”

Julie Heffernan is an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1985, and her BFA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1981.

Heffernan has been exhibiting her paintings throughout the United States since 1988. Her work has been reviewed in major publications including: The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Observer, The New York Sun. Artforum, Art in America, Art News, Flash Art, Harpers, The Chicago Tribune and Art and Auction.

About Lux Art Institute

Lux Art Institute, located in Encinitas, opened its doors to the public in November 2007, and is redefining the modern museum experience with its artist-in-residence program. Artists live and work on site, while producing a commissioned work of art.

Throughout the year, Lux will invite an array of artists to take up residency in the studio and encourage visitors from across the country to observe and engage with real-world working artists. This one-of-a-kind institution invites visitors to not only “see art” but also to “see art happen.”

Slated to be the first “green” (LEED certified) museum in California and located alongside one of Southern California’s few remaining coastal wetlands, Lux’s four-acre site overlooks the San Elijo Lagoon and is surrounded by a wildlife preserve that stretches to the Pacific Ocean. In an effort to seamlessly meld the conservation and restoration of art beyond the museum walls, an array of rare native plants blend naturally into the nearby preserve.

Santa Monica, California based Renzo Zecchetto, AIA – whose other significant architectural projects include the award-winning Church of the Nativity in Fairbanks Ranch, Calif. and the Alusa Printing Company in Santiago, Chile – designed the two-story building to natural light and recycled materials to preserve resources for future generations.

Lux Hours: Thursday and Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. $10 for two visits.

For further information about Lux Art Institute, please visit www.luxartinstitute.org or call 760.436.6611.