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Bridget Cherie Harper, daughter of an artist, left her childhood home in Tennessee and attended Arizona State University. Following one elective ceramics class, the young artist discovered a natural talent and love for ceramics and quickly switched her major. She has since studied and worked in Thailand and Italy. She has also consulted on public arts projects and is respected ceramics instructor.
While on assignment as a artist on a team creating sculptures for Princess Cruises, Harper traveled to Italy, where her embryonic interest in classical sculpture matured. Harper drew on her appreciation for the ancient, broken figures of classical sculpture as inspiration for the forms her sculptures take. A basket filled with vials of china paints, purchased at an antique mall, inspired Harper’s surface design. Her lush, detailed paintings, often depicting the human form and botanical or zoological images have broad meanings in themselves, and also showcase the elegance of the sculptural form.
Today, Harper is perfecting her technique of china painting on porcelain. In 2009 alone, she has had work exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum and "Contemporary Beijing". Recently, her evocative piece, "Entwined", was awarded First Place at the Northern Arizona University Art Museum's Ceramics Exhibition. In April of 2009, she had a very successful solo exhibition, "Unbound", at Paul Scott Gallery in Scottsdale. Her work has been featured in multiple publications.
Harper lives and works in Tempe, Arizona.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"Like all artists, people frequently ask me how and why I do what I do. I am a sculptor and a painter. My porcelain sculptures become a canvas, and the surface a visual diary. My surrealistic paintings on classical forms are a byproduct of my life. They come from dreams, relationships and everyday encounters. In addition to the physical human form, behavior and psychology also fascinate me. This tendency is evident in the paintings I put on my sculpture: detailed, painstakingly rendered images that have broad meanings in themselves while simultaneously showcasing the sculptural form as well as the complex relationship between the sculpture and painting."
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