Anne Harris
Tohawah, 1997
Painted steel, 11.5 metres high
In a very literal way, Anne Harris' sculpture represents a "fusion" of untamed strength and precise elegance. Splitting her time between the studio and the metal foundry, Harris complements the skill of her sculptor's vision with industrial tools like blowtorches, forklifts, electric buffers and sand blasters. Out of these fiery forces, she creates works of delicate balance and grace. Tohawah, named with a Native language word for swans, again displays this trademark duality.
The polished metallic surfaces and the magnificent height of this sculpture suggest that we are looking at a marvel of modern engineering, while the Native title and the purely elemental shape of the intertwining lines speak of a return to the natural subject and shape. In this representation, trends are reversed: nature is served by technology, allowing the sculptor to release an elemental idea into a form of massive size and scope.
About Anne Harris
Harris was born in Woodstock, Ontario, in 1928. She studied at Central Technical School and the Ontario College of Art. Her work has been featured in nearly 40 exhibitions across North America and is included in over 100 private and public collections including the Albright Knox Gallery, Outdoor Sculpture at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General of Canada, and the Chongquing Fine Art Museum in China.
Anne Harris has won Ontario Society of Artists awards on two different occasions and has exhibited her work throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.