Lee Ann Harrison    

Artist Career Statement  

 

My professional art path includes fine arts education, with an emphasis on painting; working in "Corporate America" to pay for school;  and re-emerging as a fine arts painter, potter, and commissioned muralist.  I create murals, pottery, landscape and abstract paintings, mosaics, public art installations, performance art, and other private commissions through two businesses:  Art4Babies, Inc. (children's artwork and murals) and ArtView Studio, Inc. (art commissions and painting/pottery lines).  With my passionate motivation to create art, I share this enthusiasm through teaching and volunteerism in our art community.   

  

Artistic Process

As a ceramics artist, my artistic process includes pairing my painting repertoire with my skills in pottery.  My focus in the process is successfully combining clay's 3-dimensional opportunities with my painting techniques and imaginative surface decoration.  Specifically, I create hand-painted serving pieces, wheel-thrown pottery highlighting brushwork techniques and new glazes, and other functional and decorative pieces.   I lean towards an Asian aesthetic with the pottery forms' lines and

glaze application.   As much as I love creating sets for dinnerware and function, I enjoy responding to the clay's form with one-of-a-kind art pieces. 

 

Artist Statement

 

I enjoy pursuing organic shapes and lines found in nature, especially in The Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.  The sunsets, sunrises, mountain ridges, foliage and textures inspire me.   

 

My paintings explore textures, multiple layers of paint, color washes, sgraffito, and surprises of contrasting and complimenting color.  

 

My collection of pottery reveals this painterly style in a different medium.  Many of my paintings are reflected in the pottery pieces created in the same time frame and the resulting art could sit side-by-side.  I am also exploring nature's organic lines by carving and through glaze application and form. 

I define myself as an abstract painter because I disappear into my paintings (I call it a painter’s “flow”) during the process as I am consumed with the brushstrokes and the feel of the paint and water moving through the canvas.   I am less aware of the representational object used for

inspiration and merge more with my ideals within the painted images. 

 

I think that I cannot ever find a canvas too large and I truly enjoy claiming the gessoed white canvases with my own images and the expressive moods of nature that I want to capture and interpret for the viewer.   My paintings serve as this resting spot of the fleeting moments of sunlight and moods.

 

My confession:  I am obsessed with pottery - the tactile aspect is enthralling.  My current artistic goal as a potter is to travel through my repertoire of painting techniques to blend the two mediums (painting and pottery) in a successful union of expressive, detailed surfaces.   I am learning that both mediums reflect but do not substitute for one another.  Each is necessary in completing my artistic vision.

Art Education and Art Memberships

I continuously work to further my artistic endeavors by seeking new techniques and aesthetics to ensure my artwork's vitality.   My formal education includes Penland School of Crafts, Montgomery Community College's Professional

Crafts Clay Program, Central Piedmont Community College's Ceramics Program,  a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens University, a Fine Arts and painting education through Winthrop University, and attending numerous national workshops to study and apprentice with master artists. 

 

I am a member of the Boone Chamber of Commerce, Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, Lake Norman Art League, Carolina ClayMatters Pottery Guild, The Sawtooth Center for Visual Arts,  The Potters Council, NCECA (National Council of Education for the Ceramic Arts), and Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, Inc.  I also currently serve as the Student Board Member for the Potters Council to represent ceramic students and emerging artists nationwide. 

 

ArtView Studio Information

http://www.artviewstudio.com

 

ArtView Studio is in two locations: 

  • The Lake Norman area, outside of Charlotte, NC.

  • The Boone / High Country area of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.