BIOGRAPHY
Heidi Rider is a visual and performing artist who uses the extreme comic character of the clown to channel both personal and cultural anxieties, working playfully within the dangerous realms of the unknown and the unpredictable. She always incorporates humor into her art, even when it isn’t funny.
Heidi is a professional clown who performs full-time in Las Vegas as Wanda Widdles in Spiegelworld’s Absinthe at Caesars Palace. She has made extended appearances as Pinky Special with Murray Hill in the Miss Behave Gameshow, and as an underworld clown in Cirque du Soleil’s One Night for One Drop. She also performs regularly with RADAR: an experimental performance art platform, where she publicly explores new works that investigate the melding of grotesquely comic characters and wearable sculptural “costumes”.
She was an invited Artist in Residence at the Z-Forge Performance Devising Residency at Drop Forge and Tool in Hudson, NY in 2018 and 2019 and an AiR at the inaugural Sedona Arts Colony in 2016. She was awarded a Kindle Project, LLC Carousel Grant for her collaborative performance, video, and installation project The Garbage Pile Babiez, which was featured in the 2019 Inaugural Bullfrog Biennial at the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Beatty, Nevada. In 2016, she served as the Artistic Director and Co-Curator of Small Space Fest at Emergency Arts in downtown Las Vegas.
Heidi holds a double BA in Art and Theatre from CUNY Hunter College in NYC and a Professional Actor Training certification from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada.
STATEMENT
I love me some losers—black teeth lady, saggy long titties, ugly toupee no-chin-man, white trash granny, big butt lady, balding fat belly man. These people make me want to cry. Losers need love too; I perform them with sincere affection, celebrating the deep beauty and tenderness of imperfection. Clowning allows us to be, feel, and do all the things we’re not supposed to. I like to get myself into trouble. Earn myself a spanking. I let myself get wild and nasty to invite people to be uncomfortable, laugh, or get angry. To feel something. I always incorporate humor into my art, even when it isn’t funny.
For an entire year in high school, I ate my lunch alone in a bathroom stall. I was never cool. And I was painfully shy. Not a good combination for a frizzy-haired, crooked-toothed teenager. I grew up as an outsider desperate for acceptance and friendship, but rarely finding it. Burgers alone in the bathroom was my answer then. Hell, I still hide in the bathroom even now.
I've moved more than 40 times in my life (so far). I’ve lived in seven different states, attended eleven different schools, and was home-schooled for three years. So, when starting over as the perpetual new girl became a regular and normalized part of my life, I learned how to make it work for me. I grew up afraid that people would stare at me- singling me out as a loser and a weirdo so they could laugh at me. Now, as an adult, I’m in charge. In my work, I deliberately place myself into those vulnerable, terrifying spaces and we all share it together. My live performative work is almost exclusively done in direct address, with constant and unmistakable eye contact with the viewer. No one hides. We all see each other.
I dream of a different world, where we celebrate emotional sensitivity as our most valued human strength. Clowning guides us toward the freedom we experience when we unconditionally accept our authentic, messy, vulnerable selves.
I use this rebellious, sensitive artform in all of my visual and performative work. I use the clown to challenge social and cultural “shoulds;” and to explore shame without taking on the suffering that inevitably comes with it. Clowns transform despair into delight. When we watch a clown experience pain, yet retain its optimism and resilience, we empathetically follow them into the black hole, through hell and back out again into cathartic laughter. HEHEHAHA!
Laugh at me- I love it.
C.V.
Download Full C.V.
Lives and works in Las Vegas, NV
EDUCATION
2013 BA Studio Art and Theatre (double major, with honors): Hunter College, New York, NY
2009 Professional Training Program (PTP): Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Blue Lake, CA
SOLO* AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Emotional Show: Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV
2021 Bullfrog Biennial- “BOSSMAN”: Goldwell Open Air Museum, Beatty, NV: performance and installation
2021 I Am Here: Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV
2021 A Drawing a Day Keeps the Pandemic Away: Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV
2021. Emotional Weather: Winchester Cultural Center, Las Vegas, NV
2020 * They’re All Gonna Laugh at You: Available Art Space Projects, Las Vegas, NV
2020 Les Femmes Fortes: Donna Beam Gallery- UNLV, Las Vegas, NV
2020 Neon Cornucopia: La Matadora Galery, Joshua Tree, CA
2020 Women’s Suffrage Centennial: Historic Fifth Street School, Las Vegas, NV
2020 Word Connect Image: Charleston Heights Art Center, Las Vegas, NV
2020 A Drawing a Day Keeps the Pandemic Away: Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV (online exhibition)
2019 Inaugural Bullfrog Biennial- “Garbage Pile Babiez”: Goldwell Open Air Museum, Beatty, NV: performance and installation
2018 12”of Sin VII Art Festival: Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV: performance
2018 The Norma Jean Kerr Show: Oasis Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2017 12”of Sin VI Art Festival: Sin City Gallery, Las Vegas, NV: performance
2017 Medusa Knows Your Fortune: Zero2Fierce Festival, Arcata, CA: performance and installation
2016 Debris Field: Satellite Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2022 Live in America with Fusebox Festival: “Las Vegas”, The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK
2020 New Monuments for a Future Las Vegas: with Adriana Chavez, Nevada Humanities Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2020 Into the Canyon: with R.A.D.A.R., Las Vegas, NV: performance (online video)
2020 Venus in the 12th House: with Pamela Dylag, Velveteen Rabbit, Las Vegas, NV: performance
2019 Future Historical: with Caitlin Baucom, Rogers Art Loft, Las Vegas, NV: performance
2019 Everyday-Birthday: with Pamela Dylag, Ferguson’s Motel, Las Vegas, NV: performance and installation
2018 RE:late(D): with Godmother of the Second Dress + The LAB LV, Las Vegas, NV: performance
2018 Cookies: with Godmother of the Second Dress, Las Vegas, NV: performance and installation
2017 Kegel Chorus: with Lou Watson, Zero2Fierce Festival, Arcata, CA: performance
2016 The Venetian Luxury Suite with a King Bed: with Daniel Bozhkov, The Cube, Las Vegas, NV
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2022 Live in America with Fusebox Festival, Co-Director and Co-Producer of the Las Vegas chapter,
The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK
2020 Long Distance RADAR, Online Video Art Series: Co-Curator + Co-Producer
2017 Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Gallery 250: Warhol’s Loft, Las Vegas, NV: Curator
2016 Small Space Fest, Emergency Arts, Las Vegas, NV: Artistic Director and Co-Curator + Co-Producer
THEATRE/CIRCUS PERFORMANCE (selected)
Absinthe: Wanda Widdles, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas NV, director: Voki Kalfayan
One Night For One Drop: Underworld Clown, The Bellagio, Las Vegas NV, Cirque du Soleil directors: Leah Moyer and Andre Kasten
MissBehave Gameshow: Pinky Special (w/ Murray Hill) Bally’s Casino, Las Vegas NV, director: Amy Saunders
Opium (understudy): Lieutenant Harriet, The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, NV, director: Julie Richardson
Believer Festival: La Frontera: Performer, Meow Wolf, Las Vegas, NV, director: Alexandra Renzo
Clowns with Gowns: Priscilla, NY Clown Theatre Festival, NYC, Ensemble Devised
The Painted Bird/Bastard: Ensemble Dancer, La Mama, etc. NYC, director/ choreographer: Pavel Zustiak
Sophie (staged reading): Sophie, Abingdon Theatre, NYC, director: Gwen Arment
Red Mask, Black Mask: Fire Spirit, Theatre for the New City, NYC, director: Crystal Field
Frankenstein: Elizabeth/Female Creature, Cockroach Theatre, Las Vegas, NV, director: Mindy Woodhead
Trump: Election Eve (puppet play): Donald J. Trump, St. Vitus Experiment, Las Vegas, NV, Ensemble Devised
Bicycle Noir (staged reading): Lou Perkins, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle, WA, director: David Nail
Los Payasos Mendigos Rise Again: Calavera, Dell’Arte Mad River Festival, Blue Lake, CA, director: Joe Diffenbacher
The Importance of Being Earnest: Cecily, Harlequin Productions, Olympia, WA, director: Linda Whitney
Dracula: Lucy, Harlequin Productions, Olympia, WA, director: Scot Whitney
The Lady’s Not for Burning: Alizon, Harlequin Productions, Olympia, WA, director: Scot Whitney
Sixteen Words for Water: Betsy, Harlequin Productions, Olympia, WA, director: Scot Whitney
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reed, C. Moon. “The Barrick Museum’s ‘I Am Here’ Lets the Artists Speak for Themselves”, Las Vegas Weekly, October 14, 2021
Karel, Janna. “‘Absinthe’ Clown Performs in Arts District Pop-Up”, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 29, 2021
Reed, C. Moon. “An Epic Group Art Show Creates ‘New Monuments For A Future Las Vegas”, Las Vegas Weekly, January 7, 2021
Glassberg, Josie. “Q&A With a Clown: Heidi Rider Acts a Fool”, DoubleScoop- Arts in Nevada, November 12, 2020
Dickensheets, Scott. “Serious Clowning”, Desert Companion: Fifth Street, September 17, 2020
Karal, Jana. “As Theaters Remain Closed, Performers Take to Rooftops, Drive-Thrus”, Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 29, 2020
Kveck, Wendy. “RADAR 5: Western Edition”, Settlers + Nomads, May 28, 2020
Sole, D.K. “RADAR”, Settlers + Nomads, March 18, 2020
Sole, D.K. “Bullfrog Biennial”, Settlers + Nomads, November 23, 2019
Fuentes, Ed. “Artist Portrait: Heidi Rider”, Paint This Desert, January 22, 2019
Carter, Geoff. “What Inspires ‘Absinthe’ Performer and Small Space Fest Co-Curator Heidi Rider?”, Las Vegas Weekly, October 18, 2018
Kyser, Heidi. “Ones to Watch”, Desert Companion Magazine, August 24, 2018
Russ, JK. “Small Space Fest Delivers Super-Sized Art Experience”, Huffington Post, June 27, 2016
Peterson, Kristen. “Size Doesn’t Matter: Small Space Fest Packs a Punch at Emergency Arts”,
Las Vegas Weekly, June 24, 2016
Schoenemann, Joe and Wasser, Fred. “Weaving Art at Emergency Arts”, Interview, -KNPR: State of Nevada, June 17, 2016
Peterson, Kristen. “The Artistically Boundless Small Space Fest Fills Emergency Arts”, Las Vegas Weekly, June 15, 2016
ARTIST COLLECTIVES
2018- current Collaborating Artist with RADAR: downtown performance art collective, Las Vegas NV
2015- 2016 Co-Founder of Weft in the Weave Collective: curated and produced Small Space Fest at Emergency Arts, Las Vegas NV
GRANTS/ AWARDS/ FELLOWSHIPS
2020 Voices of Contemporary Art (VoCA) fellowship: Artist Interview Training Workshop at LACMA
2019 Kindle Project, LLC: Carousel Award grantee, for Garbage Pile Babiez
2016 Best Art Curators: Small Space Fest, Vegas Seven Magazine “Best of the City” Award
2016 Nevada Arts Council: Project Grant (formerly the Jackpot Grant), Small Space Fest
2016 Wilhelm Family Foundation: Project Grant, Small Space Fest
2013 Kossak Painting Fellowship + Grant for ‘Excellence in Painting’
2013 Robert LoBianco Grant for ‘Excellence in Theatre’
RESIDENCIES
2019 Z Forge: Artist Residency for Devised Theatre and Performance, Hudson, NY: Invited Artist
2018 Z Forge: Artist Residency for Devised Theatre and Performance, Hudson, NY: Invited Artist
2016 Sedona Summer Colony, Sedona AZ: Inaugural Year Invited Fellow
GUEST LECTURES
2021 Guest Lecturer, Mason Gross School of Art: Rutgers University: Drawing III
2020 Guest Lecturer, UNLV: Advanced Sculpture
2020 Guest Lecturer, Emerson College: Physical Comedy- Clown Studies
2020 Guest Lecturer, UNLV: Special Topics: Las Vegas Seminar
PANELS/ JURIES
2021 Rogers Art Loft Artist in Residence Program, Las Vegas, NV: Advisory Board Member
2021. Goldwell Open Air Museum, Rhyolite, NV: Artistic Board Member
2020 Co-Lab: The Art of Collaboration- presented by Ralph Farris and Rogers Art Loft: Panelist
2020 Rogers Art Loft Artist in Residence Program, Las Vegas, NV: Panel Reviewer
2019 Desert Companion Magazine- Photo Showcase Exhibition, Las Vegas, NV: Judge