Dana Harris

Artist Statement:

Growing up with a twin sister, we always lived in a world of our own. Often this alienated the people around us, being unable to enter this world. My work is an attempt to communicate the struggle I have with knowing where I end and another begins. I want viewers to relate to this dichotomy of clarity and obscurity; to explore themselves, as I have, the ideas of memory, childhood and the cyclical nature of life.

By visually layering objects from my childhood beside those from a more distant past, I can spark memories in my viewers of their personal history in an enigmatic way. Rather than spelling out literally what I am attempting to reveal, my imagery is painted, drawn and printed in a way that creates a mysterious aura around the objects, leaving it up to the viewer to determine how the story fits together. The space around the objects then comes to the forefront. The empty areas become the link from the past to the present, from the objective to the ethereal. The flattened space heightens the sense of floating, of not being on solid ground.

Dana Harris grew up in El Granada California. She has an identical twin sister who resides in Seattle Washington, and who plays in important role in her artwork. She has been making art all her life and works primarily in two dimensional media, although currently is experimenting in book arts, relief sculpture and installation. She received her BA in Painting from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. Dana received her MFA from San Jose State University this spring in Pictorial art. She has exhibited work nation wide and won several awards for her work. She currently resides in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Ben Lomond, California.