eCREATIVE
by Andrea Berry
n Iowa native, Heather
Wagner attended
Washington High School in
Cedar Rapids before starting
college at the University of Missouri.
Heather was planning to be a writer, but in
her sophomore year, she took a drawing
course as an elective. She had never
studied drawing, but that course would
change her life. “I was determined that
this was what I was going to do with my
life,” she said.
Then she struck out on her own as an
artist and designer, opening her business,
Paper Moon Originals.
Heather transferred to Iowa State
University’s College of Design in 1990
where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree in Art and Design and never looked
back. After college, she worked in
Houston, Texas and Salina, Kansas in
advertising as an artist for several years.
Today as the Eastern Iowa Arts
Academy’s Music and Arts Studio
Director, Wagner teaches art classes to
students and adults. The Academy also
offers programs for cancer survivors and
their families and art therapy classes for
Heather moved back to Cedar
Rapids in 2000 and for the next seven
years she received commissions to create
murals and other art work for businesses,
schools, and churches. She is especially
proud of the murals she has done for the
African American Museum.
(Continued on page 22)