The Harrison Studio

The Harrison Studio

BornNationalityBased In
1932N/AN/A
Biography

The Harrison Studio consists of Newton Harrison (1932-2022) and Helen Mayer Harrison (1927-2018). Often simply referred to as “The Harrisons,” the husband-and-wife team were leading pioneers of the Ecological Art movement. Although contemporaries of other Land Artists such as Robert Smithson or Walter de Maria, a forthright activism sets The Harrison Studio apart. Their aim was really for their art to inspire change. During their prolific fifty-year career, the Harrisons produced work across a vast range of disciplines, working in collaboration with biologists, ecologists, historians, activists, architects, urban planners, and fellow artists to initiate dialogues and create works exploring biodiversity and community development. They worked across performance, photography, drawing and painting, shifting the parameters of each piece to best suit the needs of each project. Their earliest collaborative work Making Earth was created in 1970, where Newton performatively combined sand, clay, sewage, manure, leaves and worms to generate arable earth which he watered and turned over the course of four months. Helen documented this process and then used the soil to grow strawberries for her piece Making Strawberry Jam, 1972. This organic, responsive methodology was sustained throughout their career, as they continually championed the need to collaborate with nature as opposed to mastering it. ...

Selected Artworks
Green Heart Vision
Devil’s Gate: A Refugia for Pasadena
The Harrison Studio
Devil’s Gate: A Refugia for Pasadena, 1987
San Diego as the Center of a World
The Harrison Studio
San Diego as the Center of a World, 1974
Meditation on the Gabrieleno, Whose Name for Themselves is No Longer Remembered
The Harrison Studio
Meditation on the Gabrieleno, Whose Name for Themselves is No Longer Remembered, 1976
365.76 x 228.6cm
Survival Piece II: Notations on the Ecosystem of the Western Saltworks with the Inclusion of Brine Shrimp
The Harrison Studio
Survival Piece II: Notations on the Ecosystem of the Western Saltworks with the Inclusion of Brine Shrimp, 1972
Making Earth
Tibet is the High Ground Sketch 1
The Harrison Studio
Tibet is the High Ground Sketch 1
137.2 x 111.8cm
Survival Piece #2: Notations on the Ecosystem of the Great Western Salt Works
The Harrison Studio
Survival Piece #2: Notations on the Ecosystem of the Great Western Salt Works, 1971
60.96 x 91.44cm
Garden of Hot Winds and Warm Rains (A Prophesy)
The Harrison Studio
Garden of Hot Winds and Warm Rains (A Prophesy), 1996
52.07 x 142.24cm
Untitled (Outtake from Seventh Lagoon Cycle), Made
The Harrison Studio
Untitled (Outtake from Seventh Lagoon Cycle), Made, 1981
43.2 x 118.1cm
Making Earth (1970)
The Harrison Studio
Making Earth (1970), 1970
129.54 x 172.72cm
Composting in the Pentagon with Worm Tailings
The Harrison Studio
Composting in the Pentagon with Worm Tailings, 2017
237.49 x 248.92 x 58.42cm
You Have Been Weighted in the Scales, As Have We
The Harrison Studio
You Have Been Weighted in the Scales, As Have We, 2011
45.72 x 50.8cm
Gallery Representation
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