Erica Harney's Page

Website

www.ericaharney.com

College / University

Alfred Univeristy '06, Penn State University '10

Program

BFA, MFA

Member type

Artist

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?

Painting

I am...

Erica Harney is a painter from the Albany/Saratoga Springs, NY area. She was born in Westchester County, NY in 1984 and received a BFA in Painting and a minor in Art History from the School of Art and Design/New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2006, Magna Cum Laude (Alfred, NY). She has also studied at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy. Harney will begin to pursue a Painting MFA at the Penn State University School of Visual Arts in August 2008 on a full scholarship while also teaching at the undergraduate level.
Solo exhibitions of her work have recently taken place at the VARGA Gallery (Woodstock, NY) and The Daily Grind Café (Troy, NY).
Her work has also appeared in various duet and group showings in such venues as Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts (New York, NY), Alfred University (Alfred, NY), SUNY Brockport (Brockport, NY), Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild, Inc. (Larchmont, NY), Bad As Art (Albany, NY), Eba Gallery (Albany, NY), the Eagle Crest Winery (Conesus, NY), the Manhattan Arts International Juried Online Gallery, among others.
International exposure includes the Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery (Ennistymon, County Clare, Ireland), and the Santa Reparata International School of Art (Florence, Italy).
Her work belongs to private collections in Alabama, California, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington, DC. Public collections include the Maria Fareri Medical Home at the Westchester Medical Center (Valhalla, NY), Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (Bennington, VT) and the Dental Offices of Lewis R. Morrison (Clifton Park, NY).
Erica Harney is a member of the Evolutionary Girls Club and two-time alumna/fellowship recipient of the Vermont Studio Center. Other major awards include but are not limited to: Pennsylvania State University School of Visual Arts Full Graduate Assistantship, Graham Endowed Fellowship, Pennsylvania State University Fund for Excellence in Graduate Recruitment, Best in Painting: ”Healing Power of Art 2007” Manhattan Arts International Juried Online Gallery, Daniel Joseph Murphy II Memorial Award for Creativity, Marlin Miller Outstanding Senior Award Finalist, Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, and the Alfred University Portfolio Scholarship.
Harney currently works at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY) as an Installation Assistant/Art Handler and Gallery Associate. She has spent three summers as a Teaching Assistant at the New York State Summer School of the Arts/Visual Arts, and also taught an Introduction to Drawing class for adults in spring 2008 as a part of the Community Education program in the Shenendehowa Central School District in Clifton Park, NY.

About my artwork

ARTIST STATEMENT
I manipulate and exploit the ideas of contrast, contradiction and dualism on the visual and conceptual levels to create kaleidoscopic paintings that are bursting with dramatic energy and ecstasy. In the spirit of kaleidoscopes and mosaics I use paradoxical combinations of patterns, colors, shapes, images and concepts that I am constantly collecting, editing/layering/fracturing/rearranging/elaborating upon. I then take these fragments of information, and, through the use of a variety of materials and handling, transform them into something entirely unique. In a sense, painting is the way in which I am able to “have it all.”
In doing so, I strive to create paintings that are simultaneously monumental and ethereal, as opposed to embracing the “everyday,” the “prosaic.” My focus is emotional, rather than intellectual. If I were painting music, I would paint operas.
NOTE ON SERIES
I am currently working on two bodies of work in series. One is a series of landscapes, based off of places I have traveled to. In my effort to create paintings that are passionate, emotionally powerful, and, in a sense, overwhelming, I have asked myself- “what has that kind of desired effect on ME?” Often times, it’s the landscape or fantastic weather events whose impacts are thoroughly penetrating. With my landscape series, I use the images of places I’ve been and experienced profoundly as a springboard for exciting new paintings.
The second series, entitled I Want It All, consists of eight-by-ten inch paintings. As my usual canvas measures three-by-five feet or more, the I Want It Alls are a dramatic change of scale. This series encompasses the idea of “wanting it all” on many levels: it allows me to explore many ideas and fulfill artistic simultaneously and relatively quickly, as opposed to laboring over a large piece for many months. They open up a new realm of exhibition opportunities: venues that were once off-limits because of size constraints are suddenly available. Finally, they are a way in which I am philosophically able to identify with and satisfy my own desires which are often scattered, broadly ranging, or conflicting.

Artists I like

Caravaggio, Duccio, Fish, Gammell, Goldberg, Gwyn, Kiefer, Kushner, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Tanguy, Tomaselli, van der Weyden.

My artreview.com URL:
http://www.artreview.com/profile/EricaHarney
You can use this URL in your email, on your website, or on your facebook profile.