Artist Statement

I applied to art school in 1992 primarily as a sculptor. In high school, my art was mostly large ceramic figures that I painted with acrylics after firing. Once in art school, I learned it’s hard to make a living as an artist, and even harder as a sculptor. After a year I stopped going to art school and took up painting.

I’ve always painted houses but it took a few years to figure out and refine the technique I use today. My texture is created through several layers - I cover my canvases with a thick coat of an acrylic polymer, then 'carve' the wet putty with paint scrapers, knives and brushes. A thin wash of brown gesso is applied as an undercoat and finally I finish it with oils. I like to mix my colours in large batches and fill my own tubes, allowing each series to share a common, consistent palette.

I never studied as a painter and I never learned how to paint. I don’t know how to create light or shadow or depth with colour and brushstrokes and I'm in awe of anyone that can. My paintings are a continuation of my 3D work; I focus on the form first and the colour afterwards, and hope when it's over that there’s some cooperation between the two.

Biography

Jennifer Harrison grew up in the 1970’s outside Hamilton, Ontario. A creative kid, she was into with dollhouses and lego and obsessed with historical architecture. At 20, she moved to Toronto and enrolled in the Communication & Design department at the Ontario College of Art hoping to pursue a career in advertising, and dropped out after less than two years. She subsequently worked in restaurants, a video store and for a couple of years owned an antique store on Queen St. West in Toronto.

Harrison’s painting career officially began somewhat accidentally in 1999 when a fledgling gallery in Toronto offered her space in a small group show. The show sold out so she kept making paintings. With a new sense of confidence, she closed the antique store and the fledgling gallery moved into her storefront.

Travelling around North America she participated in numerous art fairs and met a lot of great gallery folks. Within two years she was selling work in New York, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Jennifer hasn’t won any professional awards, grants or residencies. Her work is included in the corporate collections of Microsoft, TD Canada Trust, Remax, Royal LePage and Sub Pop Records and several major private collections.

In 2011 she moved from Toronto to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. She is heavily involved behind the scenes at the Lunenburg Art Gallery Society and the Lunenburg Art Map and volunteers on several local committees. She works from a studio in her home, open to the public by chance or appointment.