About the Artist
"Trash is simply a failure of imagination."
~Debra Kreck-Harnish~
Debra at her Crocker Art Museum trunk show
Debra Kreck-Harnish is a Northern California artist who has lived, worked, and traveled throughout the United States and Europe. She has worked as a web designer and a publisher’s representative.
Debra attended the Institut für Europäische Studien in Vienna, Austria. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Alfred University in New York. She is a lifelong creative recycler: “trash,” she believes, “is simply a failure of imagination.” Over the past fifteen years, Debra has put her imagination to work, building complex and eloquent mixed-media assemblages out of discarded objects.
This art journey began when Debra was a child. Like many children, art was her favorite subject. She loved fingerpainting (and the smell of the paint) and cutting and pasting (she used to eat the paste) and working with clay (didn’t eat THAT). At university Debra did what every insecure artist does: she studied science. It was Environmental Science, so she had a re-use thing even back then. Debra also embraced sewing, making all her clothes in high school. She continues to sew today, sometimes incorporating this talent into her art. Ask for one of her custom business cards.
Debra kick-started her art career by taking classes at community college. Originally these classes focused on software and how to design websites. Then Debra discovered the ART side of campus and never looked back. She explored all sorts of art forms: painting, collage, clay, digital, but assemblage felt like home. She’ll tell you, “There’s something special about working with objects that have a prior life. An earring becomes a hat or purse. A dented Jell-O mold becomes a skirt. I love figuring out how the discarded can be reused.”
She loves the challenge of finding a new use for a cast-off object. Something about its patina or shape will call out to her, asking to come home. Lately, Debra has been attracted to vintage kitchen objects. One fun part about working with spice tins of any age is that the scent of the spice never completely goes away. Some days her studio smells like a spice market – and what a heavenly fragrance. Debra is transported back to her childhood when she baked with her mom and cooked with her grandma. To this day, nutmeg reminds her of her mom and oregano reminds her of her grandma. Debra’s grandmother spoke little English, but communicated with gestures, pantomime, and a love of food. So, it’s no mystery that Debra builds sculptures that keep family close in her heart. Her dad, grandpa and great grandpa were all skillful tool users and Debra’s acorn fell close to those trees. Working in her studio, using her hands, she feels closest to her true self. Debra gets antsy if she can’t use her hands. Her studio is her happy place, allowing her to relax and dream up her next creation.
Most of the materials she uses come with a previous life and their own energy. In an assemblage, they create a new and different energy. It’s like making a cake: all the ingredients combine to make something new and completely different.
“I don’t set out to create a particular piece of art. Rather, it evolves over time and, on occasion, will completely surprise me. I am by nature an experimenter and tinkerer who always asks, 'What if I did this to that?' Major ingredients in my art are humor and whimsy, although I do have a serious side. When they look at my work, I want people to smile, but also to reflect.”
Click image to tour my studio.
