An exhibition of contemporary quilts by the Auckland artist Malcolm Harrison opens at the Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga on Friday 16 August. Harrison is viewed as one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists and an important figure in the quilting movement. Harrison comments on his exhibition Echoes and Reflections - “The works in this exhibition are allegories, echoes and reflections of experiences in my life. The happenings remain obscure for I leave their interpretation in the hands of the viewer. Some pieces may hold a message or meaning according to one’s own experiences. Other will remain hidden in their decoration. There are no set rules... viewers are accountable for what they wish.”
Echoes and Reflections follows an impressive list of exhibitions held by the artist since the late 70s. He has completed a residency programme at Nelson Polytechnic in 1989 and previous to this has tutored at the 8th Biennial for the Australian Forum for Textile Arts at Woollongong. Val Cuthbert of Pacific Quilts Magazine describes Harrison’s approach to quiltmaking: “He sees his quilts as constructions, likening their making to the building industry that his father was involved in. He never knows just what the final work will be like, he no longer makes a sketch to begin with.”
Press
→ Landmarks in fibre art, New Zealand Herald, 05-09-1991
Ephemera
→ Malcom Harrison: Echoes and Reflections, 1991, poster