Hello!
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to visit my site.
Fun Fact ... Did you know I used to be an art teacher? I also used to write a blog for parents, teachers, and caregivers of young children called Pink and Green Mama. I spend my time here now, making art in my studio and sharing my work with the world, but I would like to invite you to look at my Art Lesson Ebooks in my shop if you have young children in your life and want to share art and creative experiences with them. They are packed with all kinds of hands-on ways you can CREATE, PLAY, and EXPLORE with them!
xoxo MaryLea
I am so excited to announce our summer show this year. I'm showing at Sunriver Resort Lodge in the Betty Gray Gallery with two of my dear friends, Karen Ruane and JM Brodrick. The exhibit will run from July 22, 2017- September 9, 2017. The Opening reception will be held 4:30-6pm on Saturday July 22. If you'll be in the area this summer, I hope you'll stop by.
I was so happy to have my family in town for the show opening this year! So grateful for their love and support.
This was my third year displaying art for Simplicity Homes as their featured artist in their tour home for the COBA Tour of Homes. This year's model was located in the new Shevlin Landing Neighborhood near Shevlin Park in Bend. This year's designer Karrie Bomstad of Staging Spaces and Design was so amazing to work with. She did such a great job with the house and my paintings went perfectly with her accessories. We got a lot of people through the house this year and it was really fun to see and hear their reactions to the floor plan, artwork and incredible design work.
I love the big easels at Bend Premier Realty, they're such a bold (and EASY!) way to show work!
I'm was excited to show my work at First Friday Art Walk night downtown this month at Bend Premier Realty. My good friend, Bren Menzel, of Living the Bend Life fame is hosting me for this event. We had a great turn out and it was nice to meet so many locals.
I was honored to be asked to participate in the art show for TEDxBend again this year. This year we were each given a wooden post to create a piece of art with for the stage. A totem if you will for this year's theme of "US Humans" I created a milepost marker with a map on it - a part of my Map Series. Below is the statement from the show.
Local contemporary artist, MaryLea Harris, specializes in mixed media and painting.
Her abstract work features brightly colored backgrounds created by layering paint and
scraping it away with plastic gift cards. These cards are wonderful tools not only for
scraping paint but also serve as a reminder of our consumer-driven society and how
quickly we replace nature with man-made materials. Her latest Map Series is meant to
explore our relationships between physical place, connection, belonging, and our
collective personal journeys. Authenticity > Perfection. The layers in her work
analogize the interplay between positives and negatives in space and life. She focuses
on the interplay of space as she reflects on her own positive and negative growth
experiences in the past few years.
“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen
“This Place Called Home” explores what the concept of home means to you.
Is it the structure in which you sleep? Where you grew up? This Town? Our planet?
We are all connected as global citizens with shared experiences.
The maps of our lives are one of the many ways we are joined together as humans.
This post serves as a mile marker. A pause on your map.
A reminder to reflect on your journey, where you’ve been and where you are headed next.
I'm showing a few pieces at the North Soles shop in downtown Bend March - May 2017. Stop by if you're in the area and check them out. "Art" our local statue was checking his wallet to see if he could support some other local artists.
First Friday was another chilly whirlwind this month with a great political first friday art show at Franklin Crossing curated and hosted by Billye Turner. Local artists expressed our heartfelt concerns about the United States and it was a very powerful evening. I also got a chance to make it over the see my friend Valerie Winterholler's new show at the Peterson Roth Gallery downtown.
L-R MaryLea Harris, Valerie Winterholler, Karen Ruane
Was also super excited to see the February issue of Cascade A&E magazine with my Love Wins hearts on the cover! What a night!
Very excited to be showing my work with JM Brodrick and Kelly Thiel at Franklin Crossing for the January First Friday Art Walk hosted by Billye Turner. It was icy, snowy and chilly but we had a great turnout and really apprecaited everyone who braved the cold weather and stopped by to support our show. I even sold two of my paintings "A Beautiful Mess" went to a collector here in Bend and my painting "The Color of Joy" went to a collector in Georgia.
L-R MaryLea Harris, JM Brodrick, Kelly Thiel, Billye Turner
A few of my paintings in the show!
First Friday reception at Cascade Sotheby's -- thanks for having me!
Super excited to be showing my work at Cascade Sotheby's Realty this month. I had a great opening reception and met a lot of really nice people and only one heckling troll woman who heckled me and my art. She was just a sad, broken, angry human. Oh well... Minus her, the whole thing was super fun and we went out for a great dinner after my reception with two old friends at our favorite, The Blacksmith (get the Manhattan Flight and the Brussel Sprouts and Fried Polenta appetizers!) That was the icing on the cake!
Our friend Caleb, sampling the wine!
Good turn out for first friday -- troll not pictured here!
HDAL group show up at St. Charles Bend Hospital for October - December 2016
My fellow High Desert Art League members and myself were honored to show our work in a group show this fall/winter at the St. Charles Hospital Bend location. We hope that our work brought some comfort and light to the patients and staff there. Our show was located in the hallways around the cafeteria and got lots of traffic.
My painting Summer Pond fit perfectly in the big hallways! 48"x60" $2200 Available.
"Wherever You Are" MaryLea Harris 48" x60" $2200 Available.
Saying Hello to my big painting at Franklin Crossing. Does this painting make me look short?
It was a beautiful First Friday art walk in downtown Bend this month. I was a busy bee visiting my art in three different locations downtown and making the rounds to see the work of all of my local artist friends! Geoff and I started with my First Friday show at Sage Gallery and Framing downtown by the Tower Theater. I was part of a group show there with the High Desert Art League. Then we made it over to see my big painting hanging up at Franklin Crossing for Art in the Atrium hosted by Billye Turner a local Bend art manager and legend. I just adore her!
We had a nice turn out at Sage!
Hanging with my High Desert Art League lady friends at our reception! L-R Joren Traveller, Vivian Olsen, Pat Clark, Barbara Slater, JM Brodrick, MaryLea Harris
A few of my paintings up at Feather's Edge Finery on Minnesota Avenue in Bend.
Then we made it over to Feather's Edge Finery a locally owned business that my friend Stephanie owns - her shop is so cute and loaded with awesome PNW goodies. It's my go-to spot to find unique, local gifts for birthdays and holidays. After visiting other shows we went to our regular, favorite date spot, The Blacksmith restaurant and ended the evening at the grocery store picking up a few necessities for the weekend with our kids and really what date night is complete without a stop at Fred Meyer?!
First Friday date conclusion at Fred Meyer!
I'm so excited about my upcoming show at Natural Edge Furniture in Bend.
“Layers & Edges” Art show will have it's opening reception this Friday, July 29th from 5-7 pm at Natural Edge Furniture (135 NE Norton Ave in the Maker’s District in Bend.)
Drinks, Food, Music, and all new art by MaryLea Harris will be on display.
Plus gorgeous furniture made here in Bend! Win. win.
The show will be up through late September.
The reception on Friday will have a free hands on craft (maker station) for the kids. Because I have a background in arts education, I enjoy providing hands on art opportunities for kids at my art shows. Sharing art experiences with our children is such a great way to make memories. The lack of arts programs in our public schools makes exposing kids to local artists, art shows, and cultural events even more important. I was an elementary art teacher before I decided to focus on my art career, I have a passion for sharing the arts with kids and developing their taste for art museums and cultural institutions.
A sneak peek at my Natural Edge Furniture Show in Bend...now thru September in the Maker's District.
Hard at work installing my work at Natural Edge earlier this month!
"Wherever You Are" 2016, MaryLea Harris 48" x 60"
Artist's Statement from my latest solo show:
Local contemporary artist, MaryLea Harris, specializes in mixed media and painting. Her whimsical and colorful images of leaves and trees are outlined in creams and whites to analogize the interplay between positives and negatives in space and life. Her abstract work features brightly colored backgrounds created by layering paint and scraping it away with disposable plastic gift cards. While useful tools, the plastic cards also symbolize our consumer-driven society polluted with man-made waste. From this ironic use of waste comes her light-filled and whimsical imagery, emphasizing the beauty of “nature in its still state. Her latest Map Series is meant to explore our relationship between physical place, connection, belonging, and our collective personal journeys.
"Summer Pond" 2016, MaryLea Harris 48" x 60"
The Journey Home by MaryLea Harris, 2016
The Tour of Homes was a huge success with tons of foot traffic both tour weekends. The Simplicity Model in Shevlin Estates that I displayed my painting in won 7 out of 8 awards in it's category. You can view photos of the home here.
The feedback about my painting, "The Journey Home" has been very positive and I'm honored to have been asked to participate again this year.
This is the largest painting in my new Map Series so far. With the map series I'm exploring our relationships with physical place, connection, belonging, and our collective personal journeys. You can find more of my map series and watch it evolve on Instagram with the hashtag #mapseries16.
Close-Up from "Inner Awesome Tribe" portrait by MaryLea Harris, 2016.
" I have been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do. " - Georgia O'Keeffe
I showed a mixed media, life size, self portrait piece entitled "Inner Awesome Tribe" at the MUSE Art Show during the 2016 MUSE Conference in Bend Oregon, March 4-6 at the Jenny Green Gallery in downtown Bend. The juried show featured the work of 24 female artists from across the Pacific Northwest.
This was a very personal and powerful piece for me to create. I opened myself up to vulnerability and truth telling with this piece and explored my own "Inner Awesome Tribe" of female MUSES who have made me the artist that I am today.
"inner Awesome Tribe" in progress in my art studio in Bend, by MaryLea Harris 2016.
MUSES | Georgia O’Keeffe b. 1887, Frida Kahlo b. 1907, Louise Nevelson b. 1899,
Clarice Tomlinson b. 1913, Cleo Martin b. 1922, Jill Martin b. 1950
Lisa Soong b. 1965, Alena Henessy b. 1977,
Emma Harris b. 2003, Claire Harris b. 2007
How Does Your Muse Inspire You? |
My tribe consists of powerful feminist women artists who have helped cultivate my creative life and who have encouraged my daring adventures in painting and motherhood. Each member has influenced my work in different ways and can be seen in everything I create. Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and Louise Nevelson became my role models during art history classes at my all-women college. They inspired me to stand up for myself as a woman artist. My Grandma Clarice painted flowers, sewed, traveled fearlessly, and danced her way into her late 90’s. My Grandma Cleo is a gardener, lover of nature, and a staunch feminist; we got our driver’s licenses on the same day. My mother, Jill, paints flowers and nature scenes, volunteers selflessly, and taught me unconditional love. Alena Henessy inspired me to combine my mixed media and painting styles with layers of personal symbols in brave intuitive paintings. Lisa Soong, was my best mommy friend; she had a wicked sense of humor and was one of the kindest women I have ever met. She broke my heart when she died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 47. She taught me my mantra, “We Can Do Hard Things.” My own daughters, Emma and Claire make their own art. Every day they demonstrate limitless creativity and imagination; they inspire me to make art that is vulnerable and honest.
