Heather Beardsley is an American visual artist that works with various media, using the aesthetics of science to play with semiotics and visual hierarchies.  She received her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015, and a BA in Studio Art from the University of Virginia in 2009. After graduating, she spent the 2015-2016 academic year  in Vienna, Austria on a Fulbright Scholarship for Installation Art. In 2016 she was awarded a twelve month International Artist Scholarship by the Ministry of Science and Culture for Lower Saxony, Germany. She has been awarded residencies at bartr in Budapest, Hungary,  KulturKontakt in Vienna, Austria, the Shangyuan Art Museum in Beijing, China, IZOLYATSIA in Kyiv, Ukraine, Rogers Art Loft in Las Vegas and Sirius Arts Centre in Ireland.