Hello
Driven by curiosity, juxtaposition is the backbone of Heather’s creative practice. In downtown Las Vegas, within the severity and the beauty of the Mojave Desert, she creates ceramics and writes stories and poems.
Author & Artist
She served as the 2019-2021 Clark County, Nevada Poet Laureate and a 2022 Nevada Arts Council Literary Arts Fellow. Her debut collection, Gathering Broken Light, won the 2022 NYC Big Book Award in Poetry: Social/Political. Her second book, Firefall, won the Independent Press Award in Poetry: The Natural & Creative World. Both were written with the support of Nevada Arts Council grants. She is the Black Fox Literary Magazine Poetry Editor-at-Large and on editorial staff with Raleigh Review. She teaches Creative Writing at Nevada State University. Heather is a former studio assistant for Clay Arts Vegas. Her ceramics have been included in exhibitions at Las Vegas City Hall, the Clark County Wetlands, Charleston Heights Arts Center, Casper Wyoming's Art 321, and elsewhere.
Current Exhibition
A Day at the Library
During the Spring 2025 semester, UNLV students wrote original children’s stories inspired by real or imagined experiences in the library. They developed characters, crafted full narratives, and then partnered with local artists to bring their stories to life through visual illustration.
On exhibit at West Las Vegas Library from April 30 through July 12, 2026. Curated by Chad Scott, PhD, the exhibit features the stories Magical Maisie’s Day at the Library (with artist Q’shaundra James), Oakey the Okapi’s Day at the Library, Once Upon a Genre (with artist Joseph Watson), and 3D artworks created by artist Heather Lang‑Cassera.
A Day at the Library is a collaborative project created by University of Nevada, Las Vegas art education students and local artists, sponsored by the Art Education Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning and the Gayle A. Zeiter Literacy Center.
Recent Exhibition
In early 2026, Heather's series, Dinosaur Dreams, was on display at Art 321 in Casper, Wyoming. Listen to her talk about some of her work through the gallery's QuickTales, and read her written interview on their blog.
Dinosaur Dreams lean into contrasts like deep time and domestic tenderness, shaping moments in which even the ancient feels intimate. Although playful, Heather's work acknowledges, subtly, the dark as comfort items sit with catastrophe, bath time meets extinction, and a time traveler yearns to save the dinosaurs.