Heidi Thompson (b. 1956) is a Canadian painter whose luminous abstract works explore perception, presence, and the subtle energies of nature and consciousness. Known for her meditative surfaces and intuitive technique, Thompson’s paintings merge art and awareness, creating visual experiences that radiate clarity, serenity, and internal depth.

Born in Vernon, British Columbia, Thompson moved to Europe in the 1970s to pursue formal studies in art and photography. She earned a Swiss Diploma in Professional Photography from the University of Art & Design Zürich, then went on to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nürnberg, Germany, and the Hungarian State Academy for Fine Art in Budapest. After returning to Canada in the early 1980s, she established a studio practice that evolved from photography and figurative painting to immersive abstraction informed by meditation and Buddhist philosophy.

Thompson’s work is distinguished by its quiet intensity and meticulous technique. Through repetitive gestures—layering fine lines, flicking pigment, and allowing color to build into optical fields—she creates paintings that evoke the interplay between matter and energy. Critics have likened her work to a visual form of sound or breath, drawing comparisons to Color Field painting, pointillism, and spiritual abstraction. Her compositions do not represent the world so much as resonate with it—functioning as mandalas or visual meditations on stillness, rhythm, and being.

Over the past four decades, Thompson has exhibited widely across Canada, the United States, and Europe, with solo shows at Galerie D’Avignon (Montreal), Alexander Salazar Fine Art (San Diego), Halde Galerie (Switzerland), and the Vernon Public Art Gallery, among many others. Her work is included in both private and public collections, including the Senvest Collection (Montreal), Galerie Samuel Lallouz, and corporate collections across North America.

In addition to her painting career, Thompson is also a writer and educator. She authored Calm Focus Joy: The Power of Breath Awareness, a guide to developing attention and creativity through meditative breathing, and previously created programs in mindfulness for children in British Columbia schools. Her ongoing artistic inquiry—whether through color, teaching, or text—centers on fostering clarity, attentiveness, and emotional vitality.

Education

• 1975–1979 – Vorkurs at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (now University of Art & Design Zürich), with a three-year concentration in photography; earned a Fahigkeitszeugnis (Swiss Diploma for Professional Photographer)

• 1978 – Selected photographer to document the Zürich Chamber Orchestra; 100-image exhibition published into anniversary edition book

• 1979 – Photographer documenting painter Robert Ryman during the opening of I.N.K. Gallery, Zürich

• 1979–1980 – Apprenticed with German painter Oskar Koller, Nürnberg, Germany

• 1981–1982 – Studied painting at Akademie für Bildenden Künste, Nürnberg, under Professor Ernst Weil; private study with Klaus Schmidt (student of Oskar Kokoschka)

• 1982 – Completed first year of five-year master’s art program at Hungarian Academy of Fine Art, Budapest, under Professor Kokas Ignacs

• 1983 – Returned to Vernon, B.C.; established studio and exhibited widely in British Columbia; member of Viridian Gallery, New York

• 1984 – Received British Columbia Cultural Grant for “Portraits of Artists” photography project

• 1986 – Private study with illuminist painter Leszek Forczek

• 1995 – Published Recapitulation – A Journey by Sveva Caetani

• 1997 – Created and taught “Advanced Attention Development,” a meditation course for children, featured in CBC’s Spilled Milk

• 2001 – Earned B.F.A., Open University of British Columbia

• 2002 – Completed Post-Secondary School Internship, University of Victoria; received British Columbia Teaching Certificate (BCCT)

• 2012 – Published Calm Focus Joy – The Power of Breath Awareness

• 2013 – Speaker at TEDx Kelowna

Selected Exhibitions

• 2021 – International Art Fair Zurich (Halde Galerie)

• 2019 – Peachland Art Gallery, The Light Within (Solo); Vernon Public Art Gallery (Solo); Halde Galerie, Switzerland, Aurora (Solo)

• 2018 – Arco Gallery, New York (Represented)

• 2017 – Interior Design Fair, Vancouver

• 2016 – Kelowna Airport/Kelowna Public Art Gallery, OK Sunshine

• 2016 – Headbones Gallery, Vernon, Okanagan Artists

• 2016 – The Cube Gallery, Ottawa, Blue – A Group Show

• 2015 – Lake Country Public Art Gallery, They Tell You Where to Go

• 2015 – Vancouver International Art Fair

• 2015 – Onessimo Art Gallery, Palm Beach Gardens (Represented)

• 2014 – Alexander Salazar Gallery, San Diego

• 2014 – Galerie Halde, Widen, Switzerland (Group)

• 2012 – Galerie D'Avignon, Montreal (Solo); Alexander Salazar Contemporary, La Jolla, CA (Solo)

• 2011 – Armstrong Public Art Gallery, Mind Space Energy (Solo); Gallery Nord, San Antonio, TX (Group); Alexander Salazar Art Gallery, San Diego (Solo)

• 2010 – Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Bloom: The New Abstraction (Group)

• 2009 – Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta; Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto (Group); Gallery Vertigo, Vernon (Solo); Varley Art Gallery, Toronto (Group); Lana Santorelli Gallery, New York (Group)

• 2008 – Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal (Group); Lana Santorelli Gallery, New York (Group); Grand Forks Art Gallery (Solo)

• 2007 – The Drawers, Headbones Gallery, Toronto (Represented)

• 2005 – Vernon Public Art Gallery (Group)

• 2000 – Howe Street Art Gallery, Vancouver (Represented)

• 1996 – Headbones Art Gallery, Vernon (Solo)

• 1994 – Simon Patrich Art Gallery, Vancouver (Represented)

• 1992 – Viridian Art Gallery, New York (Represented)

• 1991 – Kelowna City Hall (Solo); Festival of the Arts, Vancouver (Juried)

• 1989 – Robson Square Media Centre, Vancouver (Group); BC Women Artists, Community Arts Centre (Solo)

• 1987 – Topham Brown Public Art Gallery, Vernon (Solo)

• 1985 – Grand Forks Public Art Gallery (Solo); Kelowna Public Art Gallery (Solo)

• 1983 – BC Festival of the Arts, Vancouver (Juried)

• 1981 – Hungarian State University (Group)

• 1980 – Komm Youth Centre, Nürnberg (Solo)

Selected Collections

• 2012 – Senvest Canadian Collection

• 2007 – Samuel Lallouz Private Collection, Montreal

• 2006 – Mraz Collection, Toronto

• 2004 – Robert Keller Collection, USA

• 2006 – Benefit Plan Administrators Inc., Corporate Collection, Mississauga

Awards & Grants

• 1996 – VanCity Book of Excellence Award for Recapitulation

• 1984 – British Columbia Cultural Project Grant via Kelowna Art Gallery

Publications & Articles

• 2016 – “OK Sunshine Airport Exhibition,” Okanagan Life, Guillian Richards

• 2012 – Published Calm Focus Joy: The Power of Breath Awareness

• 2007 – Featured in Okanagan Life, photographs & interview

• 1995 – Published Recapitulation – A Journey, by Sveva Caetani

• 1992 – Featured Artist, Okanagan Life, by Charlotte Berglund

• 1989 – Published Little Bear Book, children's art journal

• 1989 – Drawings published in Galerie, Vancouver

• 1985 – Illustrated four books titled Reflections, by Brock Tulley

• 1980 – Photography featured in Professional Camera, Germany

• 1979 – Published 100 photographs in the Zürich Chamber Orchestra's 25-Year Anniversary book

I am a painter passionate about creating colorful light-filled paintings that inspire beauty, instill peace, and ignite optimism. I believe that my European art training, years practicing Vipassana, and holistic lifestyle have shaped who I am today. What an artist paints, mirrors his mind, emotions, and soul. Before I share my paintings with others, I must feel that they will generate positive energy. 

Art can be beautiful and this beauty resonates with one’s mind - elevating, uplifting, and enlightening.  I have been creating and selling art for more than 40 years. I work with designers, galleries, consultants, and private collectors. My paintings hang in homes and offices in Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, France, Canada, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates. Two commissions adorn a luxury yacht in the UK. One hangs in the foyer of a Wall Street corporation; another is in the collection of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia.