The ThunderBlogs

Painter. Writer. Thinker. Gabryel Harrison is an artist in the truest sense of the word. After spending nearly 18 years seeking solitude and quiet alongside the banks of the Fraser River in Southlands, she is ready to share that silence with those that wish to listen.

The old wharf had been home to a Japanese fishing fleet. Harrison transformed the building into a studio and an overall creative space. Canvases were arranged on the East facing wall in preparation for her upcoming show and a wood burning stove glowed bright orange, pulsing warmth and energy throughout the studio on a soggy Friday afternoon.

“I didn’t really want to be found,” admitted Harrison.

She said she had always felt that this space would be shared by many, but she had not always known exactly how. Growing to understand the importance of meditation in her creative process as well her every day life, Harrison began to wonder if others shared this “hunger for quiet and silence.” She decided to find out.

“I made the choice to make myself more visible,” said Harrison. She created a website with samples of her writings, paintings and outlining a creative workshop of sorts that she called, The Intuitive Path.

Harrison describes the series on her website as “a process and a practice to bring us into deeper relation with our own essential nature…mind, heart and hands explore these interrelations with brush, pen, spade, camera or clay.”

She now sees her studio as a space that she can offer to others, a space where they can begin their own journey into their own creative self. “I provide a container for that conversation to happen in,” she explained.

That container has produced a new collection of art for Harrison, blending her poetry with her painting. Her most recent collection contains pieces in which verses of her writing have been translated into braille and affixed onto canvases. A combination of gold leaf and oil paints massage the tablets and bring the words to life. In 2008, Harrison donated a similar gold leaf, braille piece that fetched $26,000 at a UNICEF Canada fundraiser.

Describing her motivation to get involved with UNICEF, Harrison said, “It’s what I can give back for the gift of being here.”

Gabryel Harrison’s upcoming exhibit opens November 4, 2010, at Winsor Gallery, 3025 Granville St. See the artist’s website at gabryel.com/index.html for details on upcoming series and shows.