Meaghan Harrison

Paradigm Shift: In Honor of Kingi Akagawa

2009-01-15T14:31:00.006-05:00

My Alma Mater, Minneapolis College of Art and Design is currently hosting an exhibition to honor the artist and faculty member Kingi Akagawa. In the show i am exhibiting the short stop-motion film that was made to document my characters trans-formative voyage and re-birth for my MFA thesis exhibition at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MFA '08). I am very excited to be showing this piece in relation to Kingi as well as its fitting subject matter. HOLD FAST was a Paradigm Shift in and of itself not only for myself as an artist, but a experience that was shared between me, my faithful wonderful camera man Mr. S and rescue dog earl. Who battled the freezing cold waters of Loch Raven on a very cold evening last February. Oh, yes and there was a full moon...

Thank you Kingi, you taught me how to take risks that are not always realised and materialised until after the fact. How to be true to ones self, to uphold your responsibility to your "IDEA" your audience and above all compassion for human-kind.

HOLD FAST is available for purchase to benefit the Kingi Akagawa Interdisciplinary Scholarship Fund. As well as the HOLD FAST stills. Please contact doug_nathan@mcad.edu if interested.
All photos shot by Shane Carpenter http://www.shanecarpenterphotography.com/

HOLD FAST

2009-01-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

Watch HOLD FAST

Stills from HOLD FAST

2009-01-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

Selected Stills from HOLD FAST

Photos: Shane Carpenter

NewOlddloweN

2008-12-23T09:26:00.002-05:00

Open Studio December 6th

2008-11-25T19:42:00.005-05:00

HELLO!!! I have another Open Studio December 6th from 11-4. located in the BROMO SELTZER TOWER... Stop by #603 and feast your eyes on some new collages, paintings, drawings and sculptures. I will also have some small items for sale for that special someone on your list who enjoys collages of animals, space, lottery tickets and jewels...or drawings of beauty queens!

For more info on the Bromo Seltzer tower visit:

http://www.bromoseltzertower.com/index.cfm

BROMO is located at: 21 south Eutaw Street, BMORE, MD

Hope to see you December 6th!

luv
meaghan

Detail of "Endangered Totem"

Collages, 10" x 10"

Available for sale at the Open Studio

Inspiration

2008-11-25T19:22:00.002-05:00

from a graveyard in Old San Juan Puerto Rico...

When I was a Painter...circa 2002-2005

2008-10-26T20:57:00.003-04:00

Hot 4 Truckers, 2'x2'
Everyone's An Artist Everyone's A Criminal
4' x 4'
Conceived in an Igloo, Born in a Tornado
4' x4
Suicide Pact of Two Disillusioned Trolls
2' x 2'
The Beauty Swarm
2' x2'
Soon The Workers Tears Will Fall From the Heavens
3' x 6'
and
Propeller-box Explosion for Love
3' x 6'
Family Saga
4' 8'
(sadly destroyed)
All paintings are on housing insulation foam. The recessed lines are created by using a wood router. The surfaces are then primed multiple times using a industrial latex primer. Then the process consists of pouring house paint on the surface to build up the layers and form new shapes and textures. Some paintings consist of other materials such as furniture batting, yarn, fabric, feathers, pins and resin. The end result is the evidence of the exploration and play between me and the painting.

Baltimore Open Studio Tour.... Obama! and The Day After.

2008-10-19T22:26:00.007-04:00

Open Studio Tour + BF visit from Chicago= Awesome weekend...Here are some later in the day open studio iphone shots. I especially like the late afternoon fall light on the liquor bottles. On our way back we noticed the intricate "trap" set-up in the flower planter outside the Bromo Seltzer Tower (above) HONK! Obama! Sparkles of light, a Natty Boh Pugilist and car coffins. Beautiful!!!

Its all in the details:

2008-10-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

Detail shots of studio collage pieces, installations and rose petals on the BMA bathroom floor at last Saturdays Franz West opening...

Last Nights Debate

2008-10-16T14:49:00.004-04:00

This image says it all...
Other images from the Campaign trail... These images are the base for my next drawing project...stay tuned!

OPEN STUDIO! Saturday October 18th Noon-5

2008-10-12T12:38:00.002-04:00

HELLO!!! You are invited to my studio located in the BROMO SELTZER TOWER this Saturday October 18th from NOON to FIVE O'CLOCK. Stop by #603 and see what i have been working on, enjoy some wine, hors d'oeuvres and art!

For more info on the Bromo Seltzer tower visit:

http://www.bromoseltzertower.com/index.cfm

BROMO is located at: 21 south Eutaw Street, BMORE, MD

Hope to see you Saturday!

luv
meaghan

ps there will be prizes!!!!!

Inspiration

2008-10-11T12:45:00.002-04:00

TRUST Opening Images

2008-10-10T12:55:00.002-04:00

Long over due images from the Trust Opening at School 33. Thank you to J for documenting the manicures, and the 8 willing souls that allowed me to touch, massage and paint their nails and to Ken at Mimi's Nails in Lexington market for teaching me how to give a proper manicure. So far i have given 19 free manicures. Could you be next?

How We Dwell

2008-09-17T13:40:00.015-04:00

How We Dwell: Opening Thursday September 18th 7-9pm at 2625 St. Paul Street #3
More information on the How We Dwell Project at: http://howwedwell.wordpress.com/

TRUST

2008-07-26T20:51:00.004-04:00

trust is a prediction of reliance...

2008-07-25T20:58:00.002-04:00

MEAGHAN HARRISON SOLO EXHIBITION: TRUST
INAUGURAL MEMBERS GALLERY EXHIBITION AT SCHOOL 33 ART CENTER

BALTIMORE, MD: Meaghan Harrison is pleased to announce the opening reception of her first solo exhibition in Baltimore, TRUST at School 33 Art Center, a project of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. An opening celebration takes place Saturday, August 23, 2008 from 6-9pm with a performance by the artist taking place from 7-8pm. The exhibition runs from August 7 through September 6, 2008. School 33 Art Center is located at 1427 Light Street Baltimore, MD 21230. The gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10am-4pm, with extended hours on Thursdays from 10am-7pm and Saturdays 12-4pm. This exhibition is free and open to the public.

Death, ceremony, human relations, economics and waste are the main themes that drive the current body of work by Meaghan Harrison. Which comes together in the form of sculptures (totemic memorials), collages and the performance piece Trust. As defined, trust is a prediction of reliance, an unwritten code of ethics that is based on what one party knows about the other. The work exhibited aims to communicate our blind faith in everyday confrontations from the state of our economy and beliefs, to our relationships and mortality.

Collected liquor bottles, lottery tickets, sewn crepe, dumpster-dived furniture and the odd dollar store item come together to create Harrison’s totemic memorials. Authentically aged, the totems come together though accumulation and are ceremoniously arranged. Not unlike paying homage to a deity or spirit that asks you to step into their sphere of exchange. In the Trust performance the artist invites one viewer at a time to enter a military parachute turned tent to receive a free manicure in exchange for conversation. This intimate experience within a gallery creates an environment for viewer and artist to engage in conversation.

ARCHIMAGE Opens 05-17-08

2008-05-13T13:06:00.000-04:00

Thesis Show Images

2008-04-11T10:51:00.002-04:00

Finally! Thesis show images!

Hold Fast began November 2007, finalized March 2008, erected in 7 days and destroyed in 2 (these were sad days indeed). But the time it was up and alive was incredible. Thank you to everyone who laboriously assisted me from the start to the end, the amazing responses, feedback and support. Especially S & J, i could not have done this without you guys.
Still working on posting the video. If you are interested i can email you the quicktime file. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Love,
meaghan

ps Unforgettable, everlasting, for all time gratitude to shane for taking ALL the photos. Mucho Amour...

Artist Statement 08

2008-03-18T22:38:00.003-04:00

Exploration and discovery is integral to my art making process. In my work I am a hunter and gatherer of both discarded materials and the ephemera of consumer society. I’m a pilgrim and voyager to mostly forgotten places in both the natural world and the fiercely domestic, and I appropriate these discoveries into my personal mythos. I’m also a builder, recreating these materials as new.

Using the model of an environmental sociologist I use my physicality to explore the material landscape. I collect and forage liquor bottles, lottery tickets, discarded packaging and cardboard and treasure the dumpster-dive jackpot. I strive for thoughtful repurposing of objects that were made to be thrown away. Like an anthropologist, I look for information that resides in the waste left behind, and through repurposing a new shape and character emerges. I don’t intend to elevate the consideration of garbage in a banal way.

Gathering a sense of place in a presumably tiny niche of global space is simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. I document these journeys with photographs, collected bits of ephemera, make notes, and sometimes talk to strangers. I’m fascinated by the amount of things thrown away, especially in light of elaborate recycling programs offered in most major cities. Environmentalism and “green” has made our society increasingly aware of our impact on nature, however, we still remain mostly disconnected. What I am most interested in is the relationship of our personal ecology inside of a highly material-based world.

In the studio, these journeys and collections build up to create sculptural narratives, performances, and photos. The installations strive to comment on ideas in a way that is sometimes offbeat and humorous, sometimes dark and contemplative.

My work is a continuous investigation of creating myths within environmentally sensitive spaces that held or hold promise as beautiful spaces for people to go to and that are often taken for granted. These spaces can be reservoirs, parks, graveyards, vacant lots, wooded areas surrounding golf courses and seemingly, innocuous ball fields. In my work pilgrimages, voyages and physical work are very important to building a relationship to the site. Most often it is a meditative process with hopes of discovery of a place that I find a personal connection with. The journey is vital to the building of a personal mythology to a specific place and helps to form a system of personal symbols. Much of this process is intuitive and has distinct ties to my personal history.

Meaghan Harrison
Spring 2008

Work 2007: The Three L's

2008-03-18T17:47:00.001-04:00

The Three L’s, 8’ x 4’ x 4’, collected/found, given and archived objects: awards medal, roses, table, plexi-glass light fixture, liquor bottles, birds with feathers, crystal sun-catchers, crepe paper and ribbon, 2007

detail

Memorial Fangs : Work 2007

2008-03-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

Memorial Fangs, 6’ x 3.5’, collaged diamonds and pencil on paper (meant to be wheat pasted to a brick wall as graffiti) 2006-07

Rolex Is King! Work : 2007

2008-03-18T14:44:00.002-04:00

Rolex is King!, 5’ x 3’, collaged watches from fashion magazines and catalogs.

Universal Tools : Work 2007

2008-03-18T14:38:00.001-04:00

Universal Tools, platform measures 3 feet at widest width, by 6 feet in length, 1 foot at smallest end by 5 inches high. fixture cord to wall, variable depending on space, packing Materials, fluorescent light fixture, scissors, Styrofoam box, oak platform.

With God...All Things are Possible : Work 2007

2008-03-18T14:27:00.002-04:00

With God, All Things are Possible, Dimensions Variable, found/given materials ranging from plastic shopping bag, holiday decorations, plastic birds and feathers, award ribbon, plastic "gem" containers and light fixture.

Deer Run

2008-03-18T13:25:00.000-04:00