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| Daesha Devón Harris |
Sitka’s residency program provides artists, writers and ecologists the gift of time and space needed to focus on creative pursuits and research. Daesha will be in residence for four weeks at Sitka Center, surrounded by the natural environment of Cascade Head on the central Oregon coast. In addition to lodging and a work studio at Sitka Center, Daesha will receive a stipend from The Kinsman Foundation.
Sitka Center Executive Director Alison Dennis commented, “We are really excited to be expanding our residency program to include more photographers. Through journalism, personal memoir and fine art practice, photography is a powerfully creative medium that offers a conduit for transmitting a deeper understanding and appreciation for the environment and our experience in the world.”
Daesha was chosen from a pool of Blue Sky exhibition and Drawers alumnx — the largest application pool to date for this residency. Blue Sky Executive Director Lisa DeGrace reflects, “Daesha’s exhibition at Blue Sky in June 2018 was deeply rooted in the waters and lands of her home in upstate New York. We are thrilled to see how the rich environment of Sitka Center feeds her ongoing work.”
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| Daesha Devón Harris, 2016, You bid me hold my peace, And dry my fruitless tears, Forgetting that I bear, A pain beyond my years |
About the Artist
Daesha Devón Harris is a Saratoga Springs, New York native, artist and photographer who has spent time in Buffalo, NY and San Francisco, CA. She credits her parents for always fostering her creativity and fueling her interest in stories and history, but most importantly for teaching her the importance of community.
Both her multi-cultural family and the unexpected death of her young father have greatly shaped her life. She holds a BFA in Studio Art from the College Of Saint Rose and a MFA in Visual Art from The University at Buffalo. She is a member of various organizations and plays an active role in her community as a youth advocate, social activist and cultural history preservationist. The gentrification of her hometown and it’s effect on the local Black community has played a major role in both her advocacy and her artwork. Most recently Harris has been a MDOCS Storyteller’s Institute Fellow, Artist in Residence at the Center for Photography at Woodstock and an Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer's Fellowship awardee. She is also an avid fisherwoman and hobbyist gardener.She was selected as an En Foco Fellowship Prize winner in 2017, and was one of the inaugural En Foco Fellowship Prize winners at Blue Sky Gallery in June 2018.
Following her residency, Daesha will give an artist talk about her work at Blue Sky Gallery on Friday, April 26 at 5:30pm, and at Sitka Center’s Resident Show and Tell on Saturday, April 27 at 1pm at Sitka Center.
About the Organizations
Committed to expanding the relationships between art, nature and humanity, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is renowned for its workshop and residency programs. Exploration of the coastal environment has remained a key component to the Center’s vitality. Located at Cascade Head, with views of the Pacific Ocean, the Sitka Center offers a place where artists, writers, environmental scientists and musicians of all abilities and backgrounds come to nourish and inspire their creativity. For more details visit www.sitkacenter.org.
Founded by a group of five young photographers in 1975, Blue Sky showcases the work of emerging and established artists who exemplify the finest in photograph vision and innovation. Today, from our 3,700 square-foot gallery in Portland’s historic DeSoto Building, Blue Sky presents 20-24 exhibitions annually, maintains a public research library, showcases regional photographers in our Drawers, and offers more than 20 artist talks and programs—all free to the public.