Among
the leading pioneers of the eco-art movement, the collaborative team of
Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison (often referred to simply as "the
Harrisons") have worked for almost forty years with biologists,
ecologists, architects, urban planners and other artists to initiate
collaborative dialogues to uncover ideas and solutions which support
biodiversity and community development.
The Harrison's
concept of art embraces a breathtaking range of disciplines. They are
historians, diplomats, ecologists, investigators, emissaries and art
activists. Their work involves proposing solutions and involves not
only public discussion, but extensive mapping and documentation of
these proposals in an art context.
Past projects have
focused on watershed restoration, urban renewal, agriculture and
forestry issues among others. The Harrisons’ visionary projects have
often led to changes in governmental policy and have expanded dialogue
around previously unexplored issues leading to practical
implementations throughout the United States and Europe.
"Our
work begins when we perceive an anomaly in the environment that is the
result of opposing beliefs or contradictory metaphors. Moments when
reality no longer appears seamless and the cost of belief has become
outrageous offer the opportunity to create new spaces - first in the
mind and thereafter in everyday life."
By the early ‘90s, the
Harrisons perceived that every work they were doing either needed or
engendered a collaborative group. As a consequence, they formed the
Harrison Studio and Associates. It’s earliest manifestation was at the
Bauhaus Dessau in 1993 in a team that centered around Bauhaus personnel
with Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, Vera Westergaard and
Gabriel Harrison, working collectively on the Mulde River watershed.
Thereafter, the Harrison Studio has formed and reformed many times.
There was the Harrison Studio in Borna, South Leipzig. In Bonn, with
the Endangered Meadows. In Gouda, with Greenheart Vision. Most
recently, the Harrison Studio Britain and, as an offshoot, the Harrison
Studio Devon.
Their work process is singular. It begins with the
question, “How Big is Here?” Here may be a street corner, as in
California Wash or a sub-continent, such as Peninsula Europe. They only
do work that is the outcome of an invitation to engage a particular
place or situation. Typically, they agree to go to such a place to see,
think, speak, research and engage a broad spectrum of people and
groups. They will only take on a work if there is a general agreement
that their actual client is the environment itself. The agenda is
created by the artists in discourse with the larger community. Thus,
the Harrisons see themselves simultaneously as guests and co-workers.
They stay only as long as the invitation continues, or until they deem
that they have done all that is possible for them to do.
Newton & Helen Mayer Harrison
