As a student growing up, she never enjoyed art classes. “The art teacher always told us what we should do and how we should do it,” Beth Vander Heiden said.
Today, the New Prague photographer is her own artist. She uses the earth and night sky as her pallets, creating images using a blend of a keen eye for light, shape and color and unshakable patience.
Vander Heiden knows what she’s looking for and is willing to wait for when the moment is just right. Vander Heiden blends her artistic talents with a willingness to wait Mother Nature out with technology to create images of landscapes and the night sky. Her work is on display at Sower Galley at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church at 145 Engler Blvd. (at Highway 41) in Chaska. The gallery is open by appointment. Call 952-448-3882 to schedule a visit to the gallery. The display “Moments Between Earth and Sky” – runs through Oct. 12, with an artists’ reception Sunday, Sept. 14, noon to 2 p.m.
Vander Heiden looks forward to the reception to meet people who want to know more about the locations and the conditions where her photographs were taken. There are people, she said, who have never seen the Milky Way.
Her night-scape images feature the Milky Way, auroras, Orion, the Andromeda galaxy and Pleiades. Her landscape photos oftentimes include waterfalls.
“I’m looking for things that have interesting detail,” Vander Heiden said. “I’m looking for something that isn’t what everybody else would take a photo of.”
Chris Hoffman, director of the Sower Gallery, is a fan of Vander Heiden’s work. She invited Vander Heiden to...
To see more on this story pick up the August 28, 2025 print editiion of The New Prague Times.