#sparkchamber 121321 — Elyse Harrison
Hey D.C! looking for something to do Wednesday night? Need to fill in the blanks on your holiday shopping list … or better still … get yourself a well-earned something special? #sparkchamber alumna Elyse Harrison is part of a show opening that night at the Strongin Collection — a woman-owned art gallery based in Washington, D.C. With a philosophy that art should never be intimidating, elitist, or out of reach, Strongin Collection is a hybrid, offering gallery-quality art without all the stuffiness. A wonderful destination for those who are interested in exploring art — how to enjoy it, collect it, experience it, and share it with others.
The show, Finding Shibumi, features twelve of Elyse’s new AVIARY birds, and is a perfect venue for her work! Shibumi is a Zen concept without direct translation in Japanese, or definition in English. It is the height of personal excellence and total clarity, the ability to achieve the maximum effect with the minimum means. It is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity.
Get to know the artist a bit more, with a re-read of her thoughts on the creative process originally posted in July, 2020.
“I was fortunate to be born into a family that valued the arts. Every weekend our home was filled with the music that my dad played on his stereo — everything from Strauss to Art Tatum. One day, he bought “Wheels of Fire” by Cream. That seemed so extraordinary to me, it was the first and only time I heard him play rock and roll but it taught me the lesson of giving something a chance, opening your mind to the unfamiliar. I asked for a piano at age six and studied music seriously for the next ten years before my interests turned entirely towards the visual arts.
My grandmother lived with us and taught me how to sew on a Singer treadle sewing machine. She nurtured my love of pattern and taught me patience and how to value quality over quantity.
In school, I turned every book report, science report or history report into some kind of art; handmade board games, dioramas, puppets, collage, a rebus — anything I could think of that reinforced my knowledge of something by using visual content.
Today, after a lifetime of making, exhibiting, teaching, selling, writing and speaking about art, after 27 years of owning and running an art education program for children, owning and operating a regional gallery for 7 years, and hanging my first museum show this year in 2020, I can say with all the gratitude in the world that I am truly blessed to be the creative person I am. I have followed my bliss.
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Elyse’s work includes paintings and drawings, and also sculpture. Her online shop is a wondrous place, featuring small-scale, mixed-media wall sculptures of imaginary birds. “A love of object design was the source of inspiration for me in the early 1990’s when I began creating small sculptures that could be mounted on a wall. Bird imagery soon became an attractive theme since I could challenge myself consistently with ways to represent beaks, wings and legs. Eventually I tried drawing on the surfaces of these hand-built forms with ink, employing hatch marks commonly found in illustration. The result endured and has become a signature feature for all the birds.” See more of the flock and more of all of her work on Instagram.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
People ask me where my ideas come from all the time. I say, “It's like I am sitting in an apartment and the door opens without anyone knocking. The idea just walks right in and introduces itself to me.”
It’s also a lot like dreaming — the ideas rise through my subconscious and then move in different directions to achieve a result that makes sense to me. Afterwards, I can start to unpack where the idea came from and that of course becomes one huge psychoanalytical experience. But I have had to dive into that analysis for the sake of writing about my work. In the end I realize that everything I make is because I want to feel balanced, inspired, happy. I want my work to initiate those feelings in my audience too.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I can’t live each day without paying attention to creative ideas, either in my own mind or the ideas and projects of others. So that “itch” is daily. Fortunately, I can’t turn that off, it is how I am wired.
Here is a short list of things that motivate me:
textiles
ceramic tiles
swimming pools
distressed metal and wood
mid-century architecture
any fruit or vegetable
new wave cinema
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I’ve had many studios but these days I work from a home studio which I love because it has a door to our backyard garden. I work nearly everyday. I go from my easel to various work tables to my computer, around and around all day long. I listen to music or the news or podcasts while I work, but music is definitely the best for creative flow [no mystery there].
I love to wake up early in the day and feel the delicacy of a new morning. My mind is rested and clear and I can dive into my art with great energy. After 6-8 hours of producing work and allowing my skills and ideas to be the only focus, I decompress by walking. I live in a place where I can choose a path through the woods or a path through the city easily. I find I need that kind of variety. The impressions made in these environments are carried straight back to my studio.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
It’s like knowing when something is cooked; knowing the greatest impact a dish will have without overcooking.
I think in the past I chose to make art that was more crowded with color and shape, something I wouldn’t do today. But that’s an interesting thing because what it really says is that we have different ideas about when a work is done or balanced based on who we are at the time.
