Meet Carol Harris…

Today we spend time with brilliant Detroit Visual Artist Carole Harris, a lifelong Detroiter and graduate of Wayne State University, who describes her life’s passion this way…

“My work relies on improvisation. I am fascinated with hue and pattern, often drawing inspiration from the color, energy, and movement. It’s like the rhythms of ethnographic rituals as well as jazz, blues, and gospel music that I have learned growing up in Detroit. ”

Introduced to needle arts at an early age, her years working as an interior designer and her extensive world travels, have all influenced her journey to becoming the eminent mixed media textile artist she is today.

Carole has described her herself as a “fiber artist, working primarily in the art quilt tradition,” and quilts they are … but not in that traditional square of stitched together fabrics you curl up with in front of a fire. In her work we can see an abstract painting, the colors, lines, shapes, intricately layered, sewn constructed to evoke a feeling, a memory, telling the story of time, place and people.

Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian, the Museum of Art and Design and the Detroit Institute of Art. In 2015, she was named as a prestigious Kresge Art Fellow.

Carol Harris describes her works in her own words – In Fall 2019 Carole Harris was one of the artists who collaborated on the grand opening of the new Carr Center Gallery, lending pieces of her work to our inaugural exhibition “Beyond Space.” Curated by Carrie Mae Weems and Anita Bateman, Beyond Space explored the concept of space and spaces, investigating multiple themes including architecture, technology, memory and queering.”

Carr Center Gallery Curator. Erin Falker-Obichigha narrates a video tour of our inaugural exhibition, “Beyond Space”. Carole Harris, you and your work are an inspiration to us all and we look forward to working with you again soon!