Erica Harris is the visual artist that Great Small Works has called on for several of its toy theatre festivals to create the unified visual outlook of the festival space by designing signs and hangings. After spending many hours in the studio with her, helping to paint and stencil endless reams of fabric, I learnt what it is about her practice and outlook that makes her such a valued and vital part of the Great Small Works festival operation.
Much of Erica's time as an artist is spent on residencies working with children around the world, particularly in developing countries. She says working with children has taught her the most in terms of her own creative development and understanding, and by her own admittance she has sometimes got so carried away by childrens' ideas that she has finally had to enforce some order and restraint due to safety reasons alone! It seems like this passion for encouraging creativity in others rather than hogging the limelight with her own work is what makes Erica so valued within the Great Small Works process. Restricted time and finances mean that Erica can only come into the studio for limited periods, and she is therefore called upon to create simple stencils and colour palettes for other volunteers to use at a later stage when she is not there. So although Erica only spent about ten hours in the studio in total, she set simple guidelines so that countless volunteers with varying abilities were able to follow on from where she left off and continue to make striking, unified wall hangings and signs for the festival space.
At an exhibition of Erica's collages in the ISE Cultural Space on Broadway, in Manhatten, it was also evident that a cherishing and reclaiming of objects and 'debris' from other countries, cultures and lives brings a strong parallel between Erica's work and the mentality behind much toy theatre work, which is often so visually rich, intricate and almost 'shrine-like'.
ericaharris.org
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