BIO
Heather Bird Harris (b. 1987, Manchester, CT) is a New Orleans-based artist, mother, and educator. She makes paint from handfuls of foraged, local earth pigments and mixes it with washes of water on canvas to recreate geologic processes. Her work explores the throughlines between land history and environmental crises, as well as mothering in the face of climate change.
Heather Bird Harris received her BA in Art History and Studio Art from Skidmore College in 2009 and master’s degree in education leadership from Columbia University in 2013. As an educator, Harris consults with school leaders and writes anti-racist history curriculum which is a lens that deeply informs her work. She has participated in multiple exhibitions in New York, Louisiana, and California including Anthropocene Epiphany at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and her 2022 solo exhibition Where the Water Goes. Harris was recently selected for the 2022 Arts New Orleans SALON Residency. She’s represented by Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana and Mont Art House in Houston, Texas.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
2014 Columbia University, NY
M.A.in Education Leadership
2009 Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
B.S. in Art History, Minor: Studio Art
2008 School for International Training: Art &
Culture, New Delhi, India
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Where the Water Goes, SALON Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2009 Come Together, Case Center Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Heather Bird Harris, Tyler Guinn, + Colt Seager, Mont Art House, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
2022 SALON Residents Group Show with Nic Brierre Aziz, Rosalie Smith, Candias Smith, Ifátùmínínú Bamgbàlà̀̀ Arẹ̀sà, Francisco Magellan, SALON Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2021 Anthropocene Epiphany, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
2021 Magnolia Ball, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
2021 Natural Pigments, Pigments Revealed Symposium
2021 Restore Mother Earth, Longue Vue House and Gardens, New Orleans, LA
2020 Hear Us Roar, Roaring Artist Gallery, virtual
2020 Art for Activism II, Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2020 Art for Activism, Carroll Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2009 Senior Showcase, Case Center Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
2009 Lines, Case Center Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
2008 Selected Student Exhibition, Schick Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
SELF RELEASES
2021 Land. Water. Color. Online collection release, sold out.
2021 Qualia. Online collection release, sold out.
2020 Control. Online collection release, sold out.
2020 Recreate. Online collection release, sold out.
AWARDS and RESIDENCIES
2022 Artist-in-Residence, SALON Residency +Gallery through Arts Council of New Orleans
2009 S. Michael Eigen ‘87 Prize in Art History, Skidmore College
AFFILIATIONS
Women Eco Artists Dialog, selected artist, 2021-present
Wild Pigment Project, selected artist, Pigment People: Paint, Mineral, + Waste Stream, 2021-present
Artists Commit, artist-led collective committed to a climate-conscious future, 2021 - present
Where Y’art, selected artist, 2020-present
Turnaround Arts, President Obama’s Committee on the Arts, John F. Kennedy Center, 2015-2017
PRESS and ARTIST TALKS
2022 Land Art Collective, Artist Feature (forthcoming)
2022 Visionary Art Collective, Artist Interview (forthcoming)
2022 Artist/Mother Network, Artist Talk (forthcoming)
2022 The Writer’s Wing, Artist Talk
2022 In Her Studio, ”Land, Water, Color: In the Studio with Heather Bird Harris”
2021 Contemporary Creatives, Artist Feature
2021 Carve Out Time for Art, Artist Feature
EXPERIENCE
2017 - present. Social Studies Curriculum Director + Writer for
several school networks in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA
2020 - present. Pigment collaboration with artist Hannah
Chalew, New Orleans, LA,
2008 - 20099 Collaboration with artist Oliver Herring, Skidmore
College, NY. Hosted two iterations of his relational works, “Task Parties,” including conceptualizing, production, leading community outreach, and facilitating an artist talk
2009 Apprenticeship with photographer Emma Dodge Hanson,
Saratoga Springs, NY
2008 Tibetan Iconography Fieldwork with Art Historian Rob
Linrothe in Ladakh, India
2007 Apprenticeship with artist RK Sharma, Kolkata, India
Miniature painting and traditional pigment processing
REPRESENTATION
Mont Art House, Houston, TX. Represented artist
Cole Pratt Gallery, New Orleans, LA. Represented artist
COLLECTIONS
Ochsner, New Orleans, LA