Ann Harithas, "Urban Frontier" May 2011 Nau-haus is open Noon to 6 PM,  Wednesday  through Saturday or by appointment Opening reception Sat. May 7, 6 to 9 PM Exhibition continues through May 28, 2011  catalog available here

Collage has been part of my life as long as I can remember. My great aunt had her own glue for pasting the images she cut out of magazines into scrapbooks. I used these scrapbooks to learn my first words, and from this point I was hooked. For me collage is a language, the medium I use to express my thoughts, hopes and dreams.

Ann Harithas
 

Ann Harithas, Jim's Pick, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas, Katrina Couple, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas uses the term urban frontier art to describe her creative endeavor. Her approach to making art has roots in assemblage, collage, and recycling. As an urban frontier artist, she establishes a new context for discarded materials, using traditional modernist techniques. In a commodity driven society, the political, economic and social problem of dumping, storing or finding new uses for the vast quantity of used, obsolete or discarded objects and materials is a major challenge. For the urban frontier artist, internalizing this challenge is fundamental to his or her own artistic process.
 

Ann Harithas, Home Front, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas, WarFront,digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Harithas rescues her materials from the “trash heap.” She selects the images to create her collages from literally hundreds of used magazines. On one level, she changes the meaning of her imagery by simply changing the context of the images. On another level, by transforming these images into personal expressions, she liberates them from pulp advertising and propaganda. Harithas is engaged in an intimate quest for social truth while at the same time being engaged in the social act of recycling.

James Harithas

“…collages of great sophistication and highly personal content”

Patricia Johnson, Houston Chronicle
 

Ann Harithas, Snake Kisses, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas, Stand Off, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas: BORN Houston, Texas

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin
Master of Fine Arts, Rice University, Houston

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2007: Ann Harithas: New Collages, Redbud Gallery, Houston
2007: Ann Harithas Collages, Marfa Book Company, Marfa
2007: Collages by Ann Harithas, Nave Museum, Victoria
2005: Ann Harithas: Collages, Betty Moody Gallery, Houston
2004-2005: Collage by Ann Harithas, Art Car Museum, Houston
2001: New Collages, Pascal Robinson Galleries, Houston
1998-1999: Collage, Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C., catalogue
1998: Collage, Art Car Museum, Houston 
 

Ann Harithas, Get The Flock Out Of Here,  digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas, Vision And Derision,  digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010: Good Gulf, Art Car Museum, Houston
2009: The Paramilitary Show, Houston Fire Museum, Houston
2008: Collage: More and less, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston
2007: Camp Marfa, Old Fort Russell, Marfa, catalogue
2007: Amistad: Texas Art in Peru, Museo de la Nación, Lima, Peru, catalogue
2007: Ulterior Motifs, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas, catalogue
2006: Houston Contemporary Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China , catalogue
2005: Group Exhibition, Still Crazy After All These Years, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, catalogue
2005: Group Exhibition, Casa Diana, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2004-2005: Group Exhibition, Betty Moody Gallery, Houston
 

Ann Harithas, Dr. Strangelove-OB-GYN, digital collage  on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

Ann Harithas, Ghost Snake Gone, digital collage on plex w/ painted background, 30"x 42, y. 2011

2001: War Show Art Car Museum, Houston, catalogue
1999-2002: Day of the Dead, Lubbock, Texas
1997: Women and Their Work, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas
1995: Public Art 95, Art League of Houston, Best of Show in juried exhibition
1994: The Art Car Parade, Acadian Arts Council, Best of Show, Lafayette, Louisiana
1993-2002: Day of the Dead Retablo Exhibitions, Lawndale, Houston
1993: The Art Car Parade, Best of Show for Swamp Mutha, Houston
1992: The Art Car Parade, Houston International Festival, Houston
1991: Exhibition of hand-made books by artists, The Graham Gallery, Houston
1991: A Square Foot of Space, Exhibition of small works, Art League of Houston
1991: Houston Collage Underground, Diverse Works Artspace, Houston
1991: El Pinatero Method, Lawndale Art and Performance Center, Houston
1979: The Miniature Show, Lawndale Annex, Houston
1978: The Bag Show, Delta Gallery, Houston

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