Mainly using drawing, sculpture or installation as a channel to bring her ideas to life, Jo Harrison explores form, space and the corporeal as central themes to her work, with an underlying subject matter of the body, our relationship to it and its surroundings.
What interests her whilst she is making art is the physicality of an object or thing, its materiality and the process of its making. Harrison regularly involves very tedious and painstaking techniques in order to maintain the value of process as an integral component of her work. Working in both large and small scale, she attempts to access an essence of sublimity in some pieces that can transcend our familiar senses. Adopting tactile and ephemeral materials such as latex, wax, wool, and hair, her work reminds us of the bodily, and sometimes crosses the boundaries between our attraction/repulsion to an object.
Often employing practices such as weaving, knitting, casting and performance, Harrison playfully reconstructs abstract perspectives on the human condition, though is also mindful to challenge stereotyping of the customs associated with traditional women’s labour by reframing methods such as weaving and knitting into a more contemporary and relevant context as well as asking questions about women’s credibility within the art world.
Exhibitions:
Curated:
GLOSS
Grey Area Gallery, Brighton
December 2011
Somerset College Student Collective at Stroud International Textiles Festival 2011
Stroud Town Centre and Kendrick Street Gallery
May 2011
Girls at Gold
The Gallery, Goldsmiths College, London
November 2009
New X Atlantic
The Old Police Station, Deptford, London
October 2009
Group Shows:
GLOSS
Grey Area Gallery, Brighton
December 2011
Girls at Camberwell
Arts Bar, Camberwell, London
April 2010
Girls at Gold
The Gallery, Goldsmiths College, London
November 2009
Discourses
North and South Gallery, Oakland, San Francisco
November 2009
New X Atlantic
The Old Police Station, Deptford, London
October 2009
Education:
BA Hons Degree, Fine Art Practice (2007-2010)
[Goldsmiths College, University of London]
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (2007)
[University of Gloucestershire]
