ARTIST STUDIO

NAOMI HARWIN

Working predominately in sculpture and installation, Naomi Harwin’s work centres around sensory experience and perceptual encounters. Most recently she has been exploring how bodily perception can cultivate resilience in the face of disorientation. With societal and environmental uncertainty, feelings of instability can arise and we seek out connection. Harwin explores how we connect with; our bodies, each other and our environment through the senses available to us. Creating interactive and mixed media artworks that reference sensory and inclusive design, contact improvisation, architectural scenography and play, she aims to create moments of connectivity and shared experience.

Naomi Harwin graduated from Norwich University of the Arts in 2014 and more recently participated in East Bristol Contemporary’s Night School VII in 2021. She was a Studio Artist at Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge from 2015 to 2021 and is now a Studio Member at Paradise Works in Manchester. Previous commissions, exhibitions and features include: Hospital Rooms at Northside House, Norwich (2021), Encounter, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2020), To be an object is to possess a boundary, 1961 Projects, In Personam, Singapore (2019), Like-minded, Minimal Zine issue 01 (2019),  Non-working hours, 1961 Projects , Singapore(2018), We:You,Me, Firstsite, Colchester (2017), AD HOC + TRADE Swap Editions, Art Licks, SET and Castor Projects, London (2017), in between things, Nunns Yard, Norwich (2016) and ‘O’, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (2015). 

A shadow of a hand holding a 3 side crate like structure against a white wall
Exploring shapes and shadows
Over the last few weeks I have been building a body of work for a new exhibition. The sculptures are influenced by the shapes and forms found in architecture, playgrounds and the built environment.   I have begun collecting moments where these structures interact with spaces through the shadows they...
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Constructed cobalt blue pipes in a ladder like formation held up against a white wall
Work in progress - upcoming exhibition
With a group exhibition fast approaching at the end of June I am making a new body of work that explores the narrative objects and places hold, acting as containers of memories and experience. Thinking about how we might seek out feelings of full attention through meditation, quiet moments and a focus...
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An immersive installation with a mural, inbuilt video and sculptures and shapes that float and sit across the space.
Reflections on the projects that have shaped my current research
Encounter at Wysing Arts Centre In 2020 I was commissioned by Wysing Arts Centre to create a new work in their Test Space gallery. I made Encounter which responded to a series of small objects and ideas linked to visual perception. This was my first truly immersive installation and repurposed collaging...
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An L shaped workbench with green, blue and lilac playground like sculptures in the foreground
Studio update
This last week I have been finishing off a series of small colourful sculptures, influenced by architecture, playgrounds and monuments. They have been designed in a way so that they can be positioned in numerous ways and viewed from any possible angle  
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Hand holding a grey shaped structural sculpture on a working studio table full of working tools
Interactive sound sculpture experiment
Interactive sound sculpture experiment This week I continued my exploration of sound, bringing in ideas of interactive objects that respond to motion. I have be thinking about the potential of kinetic work and sound sculptures. This was a quick experiment influenced by the design of rain sticks. Turning Rotating Spinning...
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Blue hill-like sculpture from top view
Thinking about the Senses...
Thinking about the senses… Sound I have been thinking a lot about different ways of communicating information through the senses. Communicating in the work and about the work. This week I have been exploring sound and it’s close connection to touch. Recording snippets from the studio,...
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