Heather Gentleman is an encaustic symbolist painter who creates contemporary icons. She is astoryteller who explores mythology, stories and dream imagery that express a visual language of the soul. Her work is to convey a message, which is achieved through the use of symbolism and literary reference. The moniker hag, which she uses to sign and exhibit her work, is comprised of her initials. It embodies the meaning of the seer, which is evocative of the spiritual nature of her paintings and the role she has chosen as a conduit through which inspiration flows and connects with others.

The sumptuous and decorative surfaces of her work expresses a constant tension between light and dark, life and death, perception and reality. The stories and subject matter that characterize her paintings have the sensibility of an intimate conversation, and yet express universal and archetypal truths, that move beyond the personal.

Heather has earned an Honors BA in Fine Arts at the University of Guelph as well as studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) and the University of London, England. She has studied with David Wright, Don Bonham and Tony Scherman.