November 2018 - The Artist's Portfolio

Aisha Harrison: How it's Held

Exhibition running: September 24 - November 8, 2018
Artist Talk and Reception: November 8, noon to 1 p.m.

Aisha Harrison has roots in Olympia, WA going back four generations. She studied abroad in Spain during high school, prompting her to be a Spanish major as an undergraduate. She loved studying Latin American literature because of the ways in which the Indigenous people used Spanish stories and images, subverting them and intertwining them with their own to ensure that Indigenous peoples, images and stories survived. These camouflaged acts of resistance reminded her of ways that she navigates being of African American and European American mixed heritage in predominantly European American spaces. Her work today, as both an artist and arts educator, attempts to navigate the spaces between, centering through making things with your hands, to create personal symbolic imagery, and to encourage others to subvert dominant narratives by telling their stories in hidden and/or overt ways.

^{Through |wood, ink | 2017 | 12"x18"}

^{Privilege | paper, ink | 2017 | 6"x8"}

^{Through II | ceramic, embroidery floss, graphite | 2018 | 15"x18"x10"}

The Artist's Portfolio: Light and The Rain

November 20 - December 6, 2018 Closing Reception: Thursday, December 6, noon - 1 p.m.

Students in the Artist’s Portfolio exhibition represent the capstone class in visual arts (Art 180) and the Helen S. Smith Gallery is exceptionally proud to present their individual work. Art students at Green River College work through the visual arts program studying drawing, painting, ceramics, photography and design. Serious art students in the program traditionally take Art 180 in the fall to learn how to package and present their work professionally as a cumulative body. Through their studies they have created a professional portfolio of visual work ripe for applications to university art programs, entry level employment, internships and exhibition opportunities. Many of these upper level students obtain their Associates in Fine Art upon graduation in addition to their AA degree. The Artists’ Portfolio Class leads students through the process of polishing a body of artwork. Through discussions, critiques and hard work, they curate their own work into individual exhibitions at the end of their studies for the public to enjoy.