Misha Harrison, The Corner Store Gallery

Meet Misha Harrison

Misha Harrison is our newest exhibiting artist here at The Corner Store Gallery and my goodness I am so excited to have her! Misha's work is so incredibly unique, bold, and just plain funky! I did a Q & A with Misha (over email) so we could all learn a little more about her practice.

Misha Harrison explores materiality and process through intricately cut and assembled plywood artworks. Still life, portraiture, and abstraction are rethought and reimagined into contemporary formats. Each work comprising of carefully cut and layered plywood, painted with vibrant colours juxtaposed and highlighted with textile inlays and stitching.

Harrison transforms mundane materials like plywood and wool into vibrant assemblages of shapes and forms. Cutting, carving, sanding, painting, gluing, and stitching are some of the labour-intensive exercises involved in her process. The artist is forever developing her familiarisation with the plywood and textiles, allowing her to push these mediums further, challenging the boundaries of materiality.

Reminiscent of a jigsaw puzzle, every different piece of the artwork has been drawn onto the wood, painted, cut and finished to fit in its place. The woodblock artworks represent the journey coming together and aesthetics in the chaos.

Tell us about you and your journey as an artist.

I am a 31-year-old female artist from Wollongong, NSW. My journey as an artist began when I was very young, I was always very creative. I would sit in my room for hours colouring, drawing and even making little sculptures from things I’d found in the backyard.

Following high school where I majored in visual arts, I undertook further study at Wollongong TAFE, completing a Diploma of Fine Arts. Following TAFE I then undertook the Bachelor of Creative Arts at Wollongong University, majoring in sculpture and textiles. In 2016, I then completed an Honours degree, graduating in the first class. Throughout these years I was fortunate enough to win the NAVA Graduating Student Award, the Hazelhurst Artist in Residence, the Liz Jeneid Textile Prize and was selected to exhibit in the North Sydney Art Prize in 2017.

When I left university it was a really weird feeling, I guess this is where my journey as an artist really began. After years of study and years of developing skills I finally was ready to begin the path as a professional artist. After years of experimenting with different mediums I decided to fuse my passion for sculpture and painting by merging both practices- the style I have today.

Orchids by Misha Harrison, The Corner Store Gallery — *Orchids* by Misha Harrison, The Corner Store Gallery

Your work is so unique, how did you arrive at sculpture/assemblage as a medium?

Thank you! Since I was a little girl I was always interested in building and making things whether it be a cubby up a tree, sawing wood or even just creating little sculptures out of things I found in the backyard. I would follow my dad around and learn about different tools and what they did as he completed home projects. As long as I can remember I have been a very hands on, curious person. I always have been interested in the way things are built or how they work which naturally led me to working with power tools and sculpture.
I was actually up at my Hazlehurst art residency when I had the idea of cutting up a painting I had done on plywood then reassembling it in a different way. Once I completed the work my imagination ran wild. I got so lost in the process. I started looking at these paintings as sculptures and thinking how I can push the materiality of the wood further. Each artwork I created I would incorporate more techniques, like adding in textile inlays and stitching. The artworks started out as two dimensional, but as I started realising the possibilities they began turning into three-dimensional ‘wall sculptures’. My artwork was primarily abstract artworks, until I was posed with the brief for an upcoming ‘Still Life’ group exhibition at Sydney Road Gallery. This was an immense turning point in my style; I went from creating colourful abstracts to intricate three-dimensional still life artworks. The creation of these still life artworks really pushed my work, it challenged me to work more detailed and really push the boundaries of the materiality of the wood.

What is your favourite subject to depict at the moment?

Definitely still life, anything with flowers or plants. Nature really does create the most amazing shapes and patterns. I am forever inspired by what Mother Nature has to offer. I am also very drawn to any kind of pattern- tiles, pots and textiles. For me its all about patterns, texture, dimension and colour. These components are challenging to turn into a woodcut artwork.

Talk us through your process.

Although some of these steps vary depending on what I am creating the main foundation of each artwork is: drawing the initial subject onto a primed piece of plywood, cutting out the shapes/ components with a jigsaw, then really honing in on every detail- piece by piece. Each piece is cut out and depending on the detail I’m putting onto it- it is either traced onto more wood that is cut/ carved out or even has holes drilled through it to be hand stitched. There is actually a lot of problem solving that is part of my process. Plywood as a material is very brittle and when cut into small / thin pieces it is very delicate. Figuring out how to cut out small details without snapping the wood is all part of the fun and also the frustration!

Who are your favourite artists at the moment?

Gosh this is a big question! Some all time favs are: Jean Michel Basquiat, Gustav Klimt, Gordon Bennet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Frida Khalo, Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Lucas, Fiona Hall, (just a few from my huge list) also these artists have been recently on my radar, more commercial artists, I’m loving: Juz Kitson, Sally Bourke, George Raftopoulos, Karlee Mackie, Stanislas Piechaczek. To be honest I just love all art!

Bromeliad, Misha Harrison, The Corner Store Gallery — *Bromeliad*, Misha Harrison, The Corner Store Gallery