Karen Le Roy Harris

Karen Le Roy Harris

Jersey Karen Le Roy Harris Jersey, Jersey

Subject Animals Nature People

Medium Fabrics Paper Papier-mâché Wire

My work explores connection. Making always feels like a natural dialogue between my body and the material. I work with materials that move, that are supple and that have the ability to be physically transformed with my hands - we move together. This way of working reflects my interest in shifting boundaries and fluid forms that resist definition and that are often ‘between’ forms.

About Karen Le Roy Harris

Karen Le Roy Harris, born in Jersey, studied in Bristol and graduated from the University of the West of England with a First Class Honours in Drawing and Applied Arts and a Masters in Fine Art. She has spent the last 8 years in London where she lived on a narrowboat and worked as a freelance Curator, Producer, Educator and Technician before returning to Jersey in 2020.

In London, Karen curated the exhibition Magic Mirror with a collection of surrealist artist Claude Cahun and contemporary artist filmmaker Sarah Pucill as well as Raw Materials: Wood that explored the industrial heritage of the river lea through archival collections and commissioned contemporary interpretations by artist Silke Dettmers.

Over the last year, Karen has been part of an online international artist-led peer study group supported by an A-N bursary looking at the role of Art and Activism. During the first lockdown, she worked with Newham Council to produce a series of online stories and events with local community heroes for Newham Heritage Month. In general, she wants to work more in the community and thinking about art as a tool for change.

In 2019 Karen toured the exhibition Until You Became Me to Stroud and London with collaborator Miriam Sedacca, funded by the Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant. We also curated film screening and performance events inviting other artists. The exhibition has also gained support from ArtHouse Jersey and will tour to Jersey in 2021.

Karen Le Roy Harris has undergone many artists residencies including with Red Gate in Beijing in 2019 and an archaeology residency with Les Ateliers Intermédiaires & ArtHouse Jersey in 2015 taking part in archaeological digs, exploring the relationships between France and Jersey. She has previously been commissioned by Jersey Heritage and National Trust including a solo show of 10 site-specific art installations at Jersey Museum and 2 site-specific installations at Dunham Massey in Manchester.

She loves the archives and exploring history as it once again explores connection through our understanding of the past. Her current series of work looks at our relationship with nature, the interconnection and lack of definition; how we consume back into our bodies what we inflict. Karen is working on a series of papier-mâché and ceramic sculptures, installations and performance with film. Her most recent collaborative exhibition was working with historical water mills exploring the history of the buildings and our bodies’ connection to water.

Artworks by Karen Le Roy Harris

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