CV

BIO

Heather Molecke is an artist, academic, amateur archaeologist, and avid admirer of alliteration. She earned her MFA in Sculpture from Louisiana State University and has developed a robust teaching career, offering courses in Sculpture, Ceramics, Conceptual Art, and Design Foundations at institutions including Cleveland State University and Louisiana State University. A founding member and co-director of The Lost and Found, an artist-run collective and gallery in Cleveland, Ohio, Molecke remains deeply invested in creating creative communities while maintaining an active artistic and academic practice. She is currently based in Baton Rouge, where she is pursuing a Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation at LSU and teaching Design Foundations within the Interior Design department.

Her work operates at the intersection of material culture, memory, and preservation, engaging deeply with found objects and the narratives they carry. Drawing from overlooked or discarded materials, she considers how objects accumulate meaning, distort history, and negotiate value over time. Molecke’s artistic and scholarly investigations explore themes of outsider identity, social alienation, and the quiet authority of material agency. Through processes of discovery, collection, and careful repositioning, she transforms castoff objects into culturally resonant artifacts that question traditional hierarchies of value and authorship, contributing to broader conversations surrounding memory, community, and the ethics of care within material heritage.

ARTIST STATEMENT

From an early age, I was captivated by the allure of objects, particularly those that had been forgotten or discarded by others. My fascination with scavenging and garbage picking led me on countless childhood adventures through my neighborhood, where I eagerly discovered hidden “treasures” among the debris of everyday life. What began as a curiosity evolved into a creative impulse, one that now shapes my artistic practice and centers on the transformative potential of found objects.

Over the years, I have developed a sensitivity to the stories embedded within discarded items, seeing in each a unique narrative, a trace of its past, and a potential for a new future. This evolving fascination led me to experiment with found objects not only as materials in my art but as a means of cultural preservation. My work engages with the tension between memory and decay, echoing Walter Benjamin’s reflections on aura, ruin, and the fragile life of objects in modernity. I draw inspiration from the neglected debris of urban landscapes, transforming castoff items into reimagined artifacts that reveal fragments of history through a practice I consider to be a form of experimental preservation.

In my assemblage practice, I approach objects as collaborators rather than mere materials. By flattening the hierarchy between subject (human) and object, I listen for their quiet agency, a sensibility informed by Jane Bennett’s concept of Vibrant Matter and the idea that objects participate in shaping the world around us. Through attentive observation, handling, and careful arrangement, I allow the material presence of these objects to guide composition and meaning. By giving new life to the overlooked and abandoned, I explore how discarded things reveal cultural histories, expose systems of disposability, and invite viewers to reconsider the significance of everyday objects and the muffled power they hold.