Lisa Harrington

Contact Information

Education

Artist's Statement

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My work is essentially an exploration of what it is to be a woman, now and throughout time. When I’m planning a new project, I ask myself questions about women and womanhood, such as: What is the female experience in a certain prototypical situation? What does it mean to love one’s self? Why is it that so many women are drowning in self-hatred? What is beauty? What is ageing? What is motherhood? What is it like to grow up in a female body? What is sexuality? What is life like for women in other cultures or other times? What is it to be loved?
I often take inspiration from themes in my own life, or themes from literature or mythology. Certain feelings, experiences or stories haunt me, and I find that working them out in clay can be a very cleansing experience. Sometimes a simple gesture can express so much deep emotion, anger, grief, ambivalence, joy. When I capture such a moment and can preserve it forever in bronze or clay, I can tap into the heart of the viewer, and she or he can have the opportunity to explore her own experiences in the common history of women, or to better know the hearts and minds of those he loves.
Sometimes my work is simply about beauty. The curve of an ear or the heaviness of a breast is justification enough to create art. God is in these things, in His infinite creativity. To create art is to feel the presence of God working His creativity through me, and it is a great honor to pay tribute to His genius by continuing His work in some small way, to bring beauty to light where it may be taken for granted or go unnoticed. Not all art is or should be about beauty, but all beauty is worthy of art, and I seek to find it and bring it to the world.

Selected Exhibitions/Awards
2005
Le Reve Gallery Featured Artist exhibition opened February 19
2004
Le Reve Gallery ongoing exhibition opened November 20
Artsbridge Gallery Juried (no awards) Exhibition "Skin and Bones"
2003
Montclair Fine Art Intertnational Juried Exhibition
Members' Show, Morris County Art Association - Second Merit Award
Members' Show, NJ Center for the Visual Arts - Honorable Mention
Juried Exhibition, Morris County Art Association - Merit Award
1998
Port Murray Emporium Group Show
1996
Gallery of Fine Art (Boonton, NJ) Group Show

Selected Commissions
1990 - Parsippany, NJ UNICO, Bust of Christopher Columbus, diplayed at Parsippany Municipal Building
2001 - Ray and Elena Rice, Portrait of Jade Rice
2004 - Ray and Elena Rice, Portrait of Maribel

Selected Collections
Ray and Elena Rice, Long Valley, NJ
Dr. Rowena Francisco, Chester, NJ

Gallery Representation
Le Reve Gallery, Chester, NJ (Sculpture)
Midnight Owl, Chester, NJ (Jewelry)
Geneva Gallery, Morristown, NJ

Dubious Distinction
In 2003 the sculpture "Aphrodite" was stolen from the gallery at which it was being displayed! It has not been recovered.

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