Heather Pollington is an artist and designer who’s been involved in many key creative projects at The Symbolic World. After a Bachelor of Fine Art and a Masters Degree in Production Design, Heather spent twenty years working on some of the world’s most famous Hollywood movies and franchises. Working mainly as a Graphic Artist, Designer and Scenic Art Director, she designed key props, graphics, scenery and textiles for the likes of Harry Potter, James Bond, Mary Poppins, Hellboy, Pirates of The Caribbean and many others. She has been privileged to work with many Oscar and Bafta winners, has been recognised with numerous awards by the Art Director’s Guild and has been featured in exhibitions and publications.
This career came out of, and further instilled a deep love of storytelling, characterisation and the desire to transmit ideas to large audiences of ordinary people. The film industry provided a fertile training ground for Heather as it combined big picture thinking, a collaborative mindset, high craftsmanship, and exposure to many different historical expressions of art. Designing for many iconic characters, Heather learned the importance of understanding her audience and how to serve and conserve the legacy of many well-loved stories.
Working for Disney in 2017 on their live action fairy tale franchises, Heather discovered the medieval world of art with new eyes. It lead her back into church and on a path trying to understand the ‘strange fire’ that she saw burning in these mostly discarded medieval images. Along the path, she stumbled upon The Symbolic World podcast and was amazed to find a likeminded community online. In 2021, Heather contacted Jonathan Pageau, and was delighted to design The Symbolic World logo, website and branding. She then worked at the heart of the newly established Symbolic World Press, developing the brand identity for courses and publications. Most significantly she conceptualised and designed the visual world of ‘Tales for Once and Ever’, a fairy tale series of eight books written by Pageau, illustrating three of the books so far and holding Art Direction and Design credits on the others.
During this time, Heather has also been received in to the Orthodox Church and has studied under renowned iconographer, Aidan Hart on the icon course at the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London. Working alone and also collaborating with Aidan Hart, she is now looking to apply many of the things she’s learned throughout her career into the world of Liturgical Arts and Iconography. She has also recently collaborated with Dr. Martin Shaw on his project named ‘The Merrie.’
Heather’s special interest is how different types of art and designed environments affect consciousness, emotion, and our fundamental way of seeing the world. She sees a connection between the highly crafted world of film, and the vision of the Medieval and Byzantine church as both subtle and powerful ‘theatres of story.’ Whether she is designing a church interior, icon or fairytale Heather’s human centred approach seeks to illuminate the heart of the Christian story through traditional and modern visionary means.