The Harrison Studio consists of Helen Mayer Harrison (1927–2018) and Newton Harrison (1932–2022) who are among the earliest and the best known social and environmental artists. Often simply referred to as “The Harrisons”, Helen and Newton have produced multimedia work across a vast range of disciplines. They work in collaboration with biologists, ecologists, historians, activists, architects, urban planners and fellow artists to initiate dialogues and create works exploring biodiversity and community development. Helen and Newton Harrison are both Professors Emeriti at University of California, Santa Cruz, and University of California, San Diego. They have had numerous international solo exhibitions and their work is in the collections of many public institutions including the Pompidou Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Nevada Museum of Art, and the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2013 the Harrisons became the first recipients of the Corlis Benefideo Award for Imaginative Cartography. Stanford University Libraries acquired The Helen and Newton Harrison Papers, an extensive archive that documents their life and work with a significant amount of audiovisual material and born-digital files.
Early life and education
Helen Mayer was born on July 1, 1927, in the easternmost borough of New York City Queens to an intellectually gifted family: Both parents were schoolteachers, and her father a mathmetician. Helen graduated Forest Hills High School in 1943 at sixteen years old, earning a full tuition scholarship to Cornell University. At Cornelle, she was encouraged to study mathematics due to her natural ability, but instead majored in psychology for two years; ultimately she returned home to earn her bachelor's degree in English from Queens College in 1948. In 1952, she earned a master's degree in the philosophy of education from New York University (NYU).
Newton Abner Harrison was born on October 20, 1932, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and raised in the nearby suburb of New Rochelle. Newton's grandfather Simon W. Farber was a tinsmith who emigrated from Russia seeking prosperity in the late 19th century. He opened a small brassware shop on the Lower East Side of Manhattan selling kitchen utensils and ornamental objects; customers appreciated the immediacy and quality of his product as compared to the expensive brassware imported from Europe. When Simon transitioned from hand hammering to metal spinning with an automated machine lathe, both production and sales dramatically increased. In 1907 he opened a manufacturing plant in Brooklyn to further expand his line of kitchen utensils, which he branded Farberware. The Meyer Corporation acquired Farberware in 1997 and promotes the company as one of the oldest and most trusted brands in American housewares.
At age fifteen Newton told his parents Estelle Farber and Harvey Harrison that he wanted to become an artist. They asked that he continue his studies at Peddie Prep High School, a college preparatory school in New Jersey. Meanwhile, Newton was riding his bicycle all over New Rochelle. He located the New Rochelle's celebrated sculptor Michael Lantz. Newton showed Lantz a horse he made the year earlier. Lantz responded that he hadn't done a horse that well at 14. Lantz accepted him as his apprentice. Newton assisted Lantz during school breaks during high school and intermittently during his college years from 1948 through 1953. The apprenticeship included lessons in modeling, plaster casting, woodwork, and the creation of architectural scale models as well as drafting and reading architectural blueprints. Newton attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio for several years before transferring to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia to formalize his study of sculpture. PAFA faculty and local art collectors encouraged Newton to develop his Rodin-like approach to the human figure: his ability to convey the poetic motions of the body and soul using clay.