BIO

Heather ‘Bird’ Harris is an artist and history educator working in Atlanta and New Orleans. Through painting and social practice, she engages site-specific materials to explore the throughlines between land history and environmental crises, place and memory, as well as mothering in the face of climate change.
Harris received her B.S. in art history and studio art from Skidmore College and master’s degree in education leadership from Columbia University. Harris has served as principal of a turnaround school in New Orleans and has consulted with school leaders across the South to implement equitable learning practices and empowering history education. Her environmental art practice has been featured nationally on NPR and she has exhibited widely across the South including exhibitions at Art Fields, Wavelength Space, and her 2022 solo exhibition Where the Water Goes as part of her Arts New Orleans Residency. In the spring of 2023, Harris facilitated the first iteration of her community-based experience and installation The Land Memory Project as part of Science Gallery Atlanta’s JUSTICE exhibition season. The project will travel next to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art where Harris will work with New Orleans schools to create a collaborative painting to be installed in the museum. Harris was recently announced as one of 6 artists selected for Emory University's Arts & Social Justice Fellowship.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
2013 Columbia University, NY
M.A.in Education Leadership
2009 Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
B.S. in Art History, Minor: Studio Art
SOLO EXHIBITIONS + PROJECTS
2024 Solo exhibition, Spalding Nix, Atlanta, GA (forthcoming)
2023 Land Memory, Science Gallery, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
2022 Where the Water Goes, SALON Gallery, New Orleans, LA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Wild Pigment, New Mexico State University
Museum (curated by Marisa Sage) (forthcoming)
Sex Ecologies: Becoming Plastic, Wavelength
Space, Chattanooga, TN (curated by Leah Dalton) (forthcoming)
Small Changes, Decatur Arts Alliance, Decatur, GA (curated by Susan Bridges)
The Art of Water VII, James May Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
JUSTICE, Science Gallery, Emory University, Atlanta, GAArtFields, Lake City, SC (curated by Floyd Hall)
TRIO, Mont Art House, Houston, TX
Transient Bodies, Roaring Artist Gallery (curated by Inge Flinte)
ART PAPERS Art Auction, Atlanta, GA
Co-Create, Stay Home Gallery, Paris, TN (curated by Kaylan Buteyn and Jamie Smith)
2022 Ensemble, Spalding Nix Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Little Things, Swan Coach House, Atlanta, GA (curated by Jacob O’Kelley and Maria Bruckman)
Marks of Time, Fourth Wall, New Orleans, LA
SALON Residents Group Show, SALON Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2021 Anthropocene Epiphany, Orange County Center for
Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
Natural Pigments, Pigments Revealed Symposium
Restore Mother Earth, Longue Vue House and Gardens, New Orleans, LA
2020 Hear Us Roar, Roaring Artist Gallery, virtual
Art for Activism II, Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Art for Activism, Carroll Gallery, New Orleans, LA
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2024 American Roots, co-curation with Jennifer Williams,Echo Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA (forthcoming)
2022 Earth Body, co-curation with Erin Drakeford, Echo Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA
RESIDENCIES + FELLOWSHIPS
2023 Emory University Arts and Social Justice Fellowship,
Atlanta, GA
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Zero Foot Hills Residency, Durham, CT
Stay Home Gallery & Residency, Paris, TN
2022 SALON Residency + Gallery, Arts Council of New
Orleans
BIBLIOGRAPHY + MEDIA
2023 Creative Fuel. Anna Brones, “Using Dirt to Paint a
Larger Picture of Place and Memory,” April 21, 2023.
Wild Pigment Project. Tilke Elkins, “pied midden : issue no.40 : radical noticing : heather bird harris,” and,
“Lu Kaliksh Interview,” with Ashley Booth and Jeffery Darensbourg, March 3, 2023.
NPR. Halle Parker, “These artists have something to say about the environment. They're using Louisiana
dirt to do so,” WWNO New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and National Public Radios, January 18, 2023.
2022 Visionary Art Collective. “Heather Bird Harris: Creating
in the Face of Climate Change,” April 1, 2022.
Land Art Collective, Artist Feature
Artist/Mother Network, Artist Feature
“Land, Water, Color: In the Studio with Heather Bird Harris,” In Her Studio, May 2022. 120-126.
2021 Contemporary Creatives, Artist Feature
Carve Out Time for Art, Artist Feature