Heidi Wastweet is a name that is familiar to many collectors of modern coins and medals, especially those for whom the artistic aspect of coins is especially important.
Heidi is a California-based sculptor who specializes in bas-relief sculpture that includes coins and medals as well as public art monuments. Bas-relief involves carving a design into a surface so that figures and motifs project slightly from the background.
Like many celebrated coin designers of the past such as American legends like Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Adolph Weinman, her true métier is sculpture, which is reflected in her medallic work that often features designs rendered with deep relief.
Since 1987 she has sculpted over 1,000 models for coins and related objects and often also does the designing for those works. Those pieces frequently include male and female figures and birds and other animals as well as motifs that are rooted in history or symbolism, which she carefully researches before creating a design.
In 2019 Heidi joined the United States Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program of outside artists who submit designs for U.S. coins and medals and work with the Mint’s permanent staff of artists and medallic sculptors.
While Heidi Wastweet designed the 2021 National Law Enforcement Memorial commemorative half dollar, the coin was sculpted by Renata Gordon, a U.S. Mint medallic sculptor. Hover to zoom.
Her first design for a U.S. coin appears on the reverse side of the 2021 National Law Enforcement Memorial commemorative half dollar that depicts an eye enlarged by a magnifying glass poised over a fingerprint. It is intended to highlight the people behind the scenes of law enforcement.
Career and Background
Heidi served two four-year terms from 2010 to 2018 on the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee (advising the Treasury Secretary on U.S. coin and medal designs) as specialist in sculpture/medallic arts; currently serves as president of the American Medallic Sculpture Association; annually teaches a popular medallic sculpture workshop at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina (a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve that also offers programs to train sculptors); is also active in many other professional associations such as the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM) and the Medal Collectors of America (MCA), and is an elected member of the National Sculpture Association.
Her work has been exhibited at some of the world’s leading museums. Her Brookgreen Gardens medal collection was gifted to the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Numismatic Society for their permanent collections. A silver medal she created is at the Vatican and was produced by Sunshine Mint and gifted to Pope John Paul II on the occasion of his visit to Denver, Colorado, in 1993. And her art medals Abrev. Liberty and Liberty/Anarchy, were officially inducted into the Museum of Fine Art Boston late last year.
Heidi grew up in Idaho and became interested in art and drawing at a young age. She did not receive formal art training and learned from attending museums, reading about art, and spending time with artists.
Her professional career as an artist and sculptor began in 1987 at the Sunshine Mint where she performed a range of duties in all aspects of coin and medal creation (such as cutting and polishing dies and operating coin presses) and rose to the position of Chief Engraver there, where she continued to work for 11 years. In 1997 she became lead designer/sculptor for the Global Mint, and in 2001 she opened her own studio in Seattle and later relocated to the San Francisco area.
Since then, she has continued to work as a studio artist and commissioned sculptor with a focus on bas-relief bronze sculpture. She said that:
I love bas-relief for its harmonious marriage between the tactile nature of sculpture with the illusional qualities of drawing. It can depict effects such as shadow, transparency, and atmosphere which are not usually attributed to sculpture.
She added:
Symbolism and the human figure are featured prominently in my studio work. My style is contemporary and representational. It is inspired by classic Italian art, ancient Egyptian carvings, and heavily influenced by modern Polish sculpture, specifically in the juxtaposition of positive and negative spaces.
MCA Talk
On January 23 Heidi gave a presentation to the Medal Collectors of America via Zoom titled “Old Well, New Water” in which she discussed her approach to her work.
She began by noting that for her old and new are not in opposition to each other and that some key artists who influenced her include Italian Renaissance artist Pisandello, Laura Gardin Fraser (who designed the 1999 $5 gold commemorative of George Washington and was a sculptor), Adolph Weinman (who created the Mercury dime and Walking Liberty half dollar), and ancient Greek art. For her, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who was considered the greatest American artist in his day, is the benchmark for medallic design.
However, while those artists and others have influenced her approach to her work, she “prefers to be of her own era and style and to do something new” because she says she “can’t compete with the masters.” Besides, otherwise, it would simply be imitation. As her father used to tell her, if you do that, you will always only be second best.
She then addressed the issue of what is considered “modern” in medallic art and said there is no consensus. For her, it means “not imitating the past.” As she noted later in the talk, she likes the marriage of classic and new motifs, which is evident in her work.
Heidi also noted that when she works on coin and medal projects, she typically spends 25% of her time researching the subject matter first, then another 25% creating the design, and the remaining 50% sculpting it.
She illustrated her approach by discussing the process she followed when creating several recent works, including a medal for the Elizabethan Club of Yale University, the 45th annual medal for Brookgreen Gardens, and the 2020 medal for the MCA called “Raven Steals the Sun,” which was released earlier this year in bronze and silver versions that have received rave reviews from the society members who purchased them.
She also discussed a round she created for her former CCAC colleague Gary Marks that depicts Gary’s late wife Laura called “The Duchess of Marksova,” which Gary designed and Heidi sculpted. The two have worked together on several projects in recent years beginning with “Liberty’s Glory” in 2014.
She also mentioned her extremely popular Freedom Girl that has been issued in one, two, and five-ounce silver versions (both Uncirculated and Proof) and in copper, which Heidi estimates has been struck more than 100,000 times over the years. She said a gold version also exists that was struck in a very limited mintage.
Freedom Girl
Freedom Girl was inspired by Anthony de Francisci’s Peace dollar obverse design in which Liberty appears as a woman with free-flowing hair and rays extending outward. Freedom Girl shows a young woman with long, wavy hair that highlights her free-spirited nature.
In the March 13, 2013, issue of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society’s E-Sylum, Heidi said:
Freedom Girl was the brainchild of Chris Duane. He asked me to design a modern coin inspired by the Peace dollar Liberty Head, but instead of liberty he wanted to represent freedom, symbolized by flowing hair.
She added:
I chose a forward gesture combined with the wildly flowing hair for a sense of movement. A Trivium tattoo and simple hoop earring add to the modern feel. Her facial features also represent a more contemporary idealized beauty compared to the classic American Liberty Head.
While I’m humbled to have it compared to the Peace dollar, I’ve been floored at the overwhelming positive response to the Freedom Girl. It is an instant phenomenon.
During the Q&A session after her MCA talk, Heidi discussed negative space, noted that she loves it, and pointed out that it was used to great effect on ancient Greek coinage.
Asked about her future projects, Heidi said she plans to focus on improving quality, new creative territory, and larger pieces (i.e., monumental sculpture). Examples of the latter include her cast bronze set on the main entrance door of Saint Paul’s church in Pensacola, Florida that depicts the life of Saint Paul that is based on the 17th-century dome of the famous Saint Paul’s church in London. Another large sculpture is her cast bronze Birds and Strawberries located in Lebanon, Oregon.
Regarding the sometimes-confusing matter of which side is the obverse and which the reverse, Heidi noted that in the coin world the side with a portrait has traditionally been the obverse, and the side with a wreath the reverse. She explained that there are technical reasons for doing this, primarily having to do with how metal flows.
As for the increasing use of unusual materials in coins and medals, and the odd shapes in which some are made making them look more like sculptures, Heidi said that for her a medal “must have some resemblance to regular medal, i.e., have two sides and be round.”
Other Recent Works
Heidi’s most recently released work also includes the fifth design in her popular series of two-ounce, high-relief Egyptian silver rounds that depicts Osiris, the god of fertility and the afterlife. The obverse features his partially mummified remains, while the reverse shows his fully mummified remains in front of a pyramid tomb. Like the prior works in this series, the piece has such amazing relief that it looks like a small sculpture.
The first release in that series, Cleopatra, was especially popular and like so much of Heidi’s work it reflects her original style that marries old and new. Her Cleopatra is very attractive like many female figures that appear in Heidi’s work.
Ancient mythology is a recurring theme in her work. In 2014-2015 Provident Metals released a series of 12 silver rounds (plus some special Proof issues) called the “Twelve Labors of Hercules”, which Heidi designed and sculpted. And she also created a silver piece for Gainesville Coins that depicted the Nordic god Odin.
Heidi is what her fans and admirers might call “a medallic art rock star.” Her commercial success and widespread acclaim for her body of work is a result of her skill and extensive experience as an artist and sculptor; her understanding of the strengths and limitations of medallic art compared to other forms of art; her knowledge of the practical side of coin production; and her ability to use a wide range of motifs from the past and present to great effect on coins and medals.
Finally, while it is clearly the art that really matters to collectors of Heidi’s coins and medals, it should also be noted that many of them have been winners in the marketplace. Due to a combination of the popularity of her work and the often-limited mintages in which many of her pieces are made, works like those in the Egyptian series, Liberty’s Glory, Freedom Girl, and many others have seen a nice rise in value over the years.
❑
Leave a Reply