Tracey Harnish

I find that the memories of childhood can be the clearest path to answering questions about who we are at the core of our nature, that which goes beyond social influences. Children do not always have words for what they feel yet their feelings are magnificently strong and unadulterated by decades of messages from the outside. A child’s inner world is still vibrant and unique. A child’s voice may not have a strong vocabulary but it speaks in a visceral and intuitive way that is all it’s own.

Abstract images imply and suggest intimate feelings, memories, scents, and tastes. Through texture, form and shape, I allude to atmospheres that a child experiences wordlessly. The forms I work with are childish yet sensual, organic yet surreal. Colors are exaggerated reflections and fantasies. In this work I create a series of “scapes,” denoting an extensive view of internal and nonverbal scenery.

Shows

Long Beach Arts, “California Open Exhibition”, First Prize Award winner, Max Presneill, Head Curator, Torrance Art Museum/juror, Long Beach 2011

City of Brea Art Gallery, “26th Annual Made in California”, Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne, Curator from the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Brea 2011

Topanga Canyon Gallery, “Juried Show Open”, Craig Krull/juror, Santa Monica 2011

Bleicher/Golightly Gallery, “Micro Gestalt Group Show”, 2010

Blythe Projects, “Masquerade Masks Project”, Culver City 2010

Otis College of Art and Design, “2nd Annual Mobius Group Show”, Los Angeles 2010

Education

Studied with Bonita Helmer

Otis College of Art and Design