Heather Harris-Bergevin manages her life and that of several others from the front seat of a Prius. Sometimes she writes stuff (Lawless Women, BCC Press), usually poetry. She’s liable to break into showtunes at any time, and always simping over Tom Hiddleston’s voice. Her hobbies include avoiding vacuuming, fixing her sewing machine, and figuring out how to get resin and gold leafing off of her countertops. Heather knows a little bit about almost everything and always wants to know more. She lives in South Carolina with three kids, two cats, a dog, and just discovered magnolias are edible. Sometimes she’s funny.
Page Turner collects items of deep personal meaning to painstakingly create delicate objects that honor the feminine along with the desires, experiences and roles of women. Her powerful assemblages include found objects such as fur, wood, shells, paper, and bone that firmly position her work culturally and geographically in the Appalachian region. Turner stitches these objects together with family heirlooms, antique fabric, and other personal objects, by hand, to create delicate sculptural pieces infused with a new feminist aesthetic and a soulful reverence for her heritage. Raised as a devout Mormon in Southwestern Virginia, her work is informed by both her Mormon heritage and a feminist perspective. She looks to the religion and its complex history as inspiration, and explores the divide between righteousness within the faith and women’s personal power. With deep reverence, she pays homage to pioneer women of the Mormon faith, as well as the contemporary sisterhood and her Appalachian community’s pioneer sisters.