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BIO

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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
 

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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

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