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To the extent that it means anything in this context, "heirloom" tells me that, at a minimum, the artist has used top-grade, archival materials, so that the painting can be passed on to the next generation, intact, without any more degradation than has to simply be accepted in the transient, fugitive nature of the substances. We all turn to dust, or mud, eventually, and probably a lot sooner than our paintings will! But let's face it, we're taking all that archival stuff on trust, too. If it's hokey, we'll all be dead before the markers -- and the lawyers -- are called in.
The term also suggests to me a one-of-a-kind, very personal creative artifact. Years after my dad's death, I learned of the existence of a journal he'd written in high school, and I recently reprinted it and, having been interested for a long time in fine bookbinding, I hand bound it in hard-cover (the cover alone was fifteen separate pieces of bookboard, fabric, and linen tape). Unfortunately, I was living overseas and didn't have access to the materials to ensure archival quality of the paper itself, or the printing process. But I decided to go ahead. I was the only one who was going to do it, and I might drive my motorcycle into a stone wall tomorrow. (I did that recently, so it's on my mind.) Is it "heirloom"? Well, possibly. Archival? Nope. Valuable? I think so. But if so, someone two generations down from me will have to revive it. I'm sure a computer will be involved, though I wish that weren't the case.
But all you have to do is ask the artist what he or she means by "heirloom".
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