VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Local artist Honey Harrison will share the product of four years’ experimentation when her solo show opens Friday, March 6 at Canal Street Gallery. The exhibit, entitled Elusive, will run through March.

The public is invited to the opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at the gallery’s 2219 Canal Street location.

Harrison’s journey into photographic manipulation began four years ago when her brother-in-law bought her a tiny digital camera for Christmas. “It looked like something you’d get in a cereal box,” Harrison said. The small camera, however, proved to be a big inspiration. Harrison has been painting and drawing since she was a teenager.

She has worked in a variety or mediums. While mainly self-taught, she has also studied at the Glassell School of Art. She has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally. “I’ve been working for a long time,” she said. “The drawings are exacting and detailed. I just wanted to try a medium I’ve never worked in before to challenge myself. I discovered it’s a lot of fun – and a great source for ideas.” The result was a series of digital images, manipulated on the computer or on the drawing board with ink, acrylic paint or colored pencil.

The pieces range in size and subject, but Harrison says they have a common theme. “It’s the elusive quality of things, of nature. It’s the quality where words fail,” she said. “I like a quality of ambiguity and atmosphere.” Nature in various forms will be the focus of the work exhibited at Canal Street Gallery.

The work has also inspired Harrison to buy a “grown-up camera,” but the artist has not given up on drawing yet. “It was fun and liberating in a way too. Working with digital images can be like instant gratification,” she said, “but it won’t replace drawing or painting in my heart. The pleasure of making a mark on a piece of paper is more satisfying than pushing a button on a camera.”

For more information, visit www.canalstreetgallery.com .

About the Canal Street Gallery:
Located blocks away from Minute Maid Park, this downtown gallery features the original works of all 8 board members, as well as rotating work from resident and visiting artists. Canal Street Gallery also serves as a classroom, where current artists share their talents with students

Pictured:   Nomad, digital manipulation, 13 x 13 in.   Photos courtesy of Honey Harrison.