Debra Kreck-Harnish

Artist Statement

Debra Kreck-Harnish is a Northern California artist who has worked and traveled throughout the United States and Europe. She attended the Institut für Europäische Studien in Vienna and received her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Alfred University. She is a lifelong creative recycler: “trash,” she believes, “is simply a failure of imagination.” Debra has put her imagination to work, building complex and eloquent mixed-media assemblages out of handmade paper and discarded objects.

All 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.”