By Marion Filler
Will Barnet, Dorothea Rockburne, Wayne Theibaud, Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso all created art into their 90s.
Collage on paper, mounted on canvas, embellished with sequins and beads. May 2025 at Sotheby’s in Morristown. Photo by Marion Filler
They have nothing on Alice Harrison, whose one-person show opens in Morristown at the Kienlen Lattman Sotheby’s International Realty + Art & Home Gallery this Thursday, May 8, 2025.
With 34 multi-media pieces, it’s a large exhibit. Yet it’s a mere fraction of her prodigious portfolio. “I wish I had a tunnel where all my work would go, because a room in my apartment is where I store all my art,” says Harrison, 90.
A tour of her home confirms she is indeed running out of space. An entire bedroom is filled with racks of vertically stacked canvases. Art is everywhere — and not just paintings. Bookmaking, sculpture from found objects, handmade paper lampshades and, of course, boxes and shelves filled with materials for collage.
“People give me things, I find things, I pick things off the street and use it in my work. I just gather whatever is in my daily life,” Harrison explains. When she downsized from Sparta to a Morristown apartment in 2009, “I got rid of a lot of things, but I could not get rid of my scraps of paper.”
It was even more crowded last year, when her daughter and a friend hatched an idea to deaccession gracefully:
Let other people enjoy your work. Have a sale. Give it away.
Harrison agreed, and after checking with her children and grandchildren to see what they might want, she notified friends.
“I ended up giving away 500 pieces of art,” Harrison says, noting she still had lots of artworks left over.
“So I called Habitat for Humanity … I was embarrassed when they came with a truck, I didn’t have that much, ” she recalls with a smile.
“It makes me cry,” she continues, with a catch in her voice. “I feel so good when people send me pictures of the work hanging up. It’s lovely.”
One year later, her bedroom racks still are full to overflowing.
Pieceable Harmony, the title of her Sotheby’s show in Morristown, is a subtle pun about the variety of collage in the exhibit. The gallery is white and spare, and although it’s not a large area, there is enough space around each piece to get close and enjoy the details.
Visitors no doubt will be glad Harrison saved all those papers, beads and sketches.
The show reflects an unstoppable creative energy that has inspired her for most of her life. Works on display include Leafing Through 2, a collage on paper mounted on canvas; Mindful Vista 2, an acrylic photo transfer that combines photographic, printing, and collage techniques; and We All Together, a collage of original sketches mounted on canvas.
Also featured is Human Family, a collage composed of other collages and layered with handwritten excerpts from Maya Angelou’s well-known poem. Scattered throughout the gallery and in the front window is the Vibrancy series — 18 napkin-sized pieces that further showcase Harrison’s dynamic range and inventive spirit.
Years ago, she painted T-shirts for her daughter. That expanded into ASH (Alice and Susie Harrison), a business that produced hand-painted garments.
When styles changed, so did Harrison.
“I said to myself, ‘I’m never going to give up my art work’ … and the way I made sure was to apply to art shows,” she says.
As a result, she has exhibited widely in galleries and universities throughout the United States. She also has shown in Europe, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Dubai and New Zealand. A recipient of numerous awards, she has been featured in more than two dozen solo shows.
“I can’t stop making art. I like making people happy. It’s very nice for me,” Harrison says.
The public is invited to Thursday’s opening reception for Pieceable Harmony at Sotheby’s, 55 South St. (corner of Community Place) from 4 pm to 7 pm. The show runs through June 27, 2025. Gallery hours are noon to 5 pm daily, except Sundays and Mondays.
This made my day. I’m so glad you wrote about Alice and her work. I’ll go check it out.