Ozark Mountain Artist, Rick Heller, Flute Maker and Sculpter

Artist's Bio

Since I was a teenager of 16, I have been a craftsman working with wood in a wide variety of ways. In 1969 I started building custom dulcimers with a partner at the Gate Hill Artists Cooperative in Stony Point, N.Y., along the Hudson River. It was a turning point for me, and ended up being the beginning of my artistic adventure. After that I moved to Arkansas to work with other artists that were blacksmiths, pottery workers, writers, musicians, basket weavers, and other woodworkers in an artist's cooperative.

My line of wildlife wood sculpture included Swans, Geese, Blue Herons, Egrets, Eagles, songbirds, Giraffes, Rocking horses and ducks, which I marketed through various gift catalogs, museum shops, art shows and direct mailings.The artwork I created was featured on the cover of three national catalogs and The Decorative Arts Museum in Little Rock selected one of my sculptures as part of their permanent collection.

I met a flute maker and struck up a very close friendship which continues today. For several years I worked with this man (Michael Allen of Coyote Oldman Music).Creating the Native American style cedar flute, Plains style flute, or as commonly called, Love flute, has been my pleasure since 1990. I've been creating Native American style flutes since that time, along with other flutes for recording artists and professional musicians around the country. Currently I am working on recording my own music and hope to offer it soon.