Malcolm Harrison

Background

Harrison was born in Christchurch in 1941.

Career

In the 1960s he worked as a clothing designer in Auckland. In the 1970s, he shifted his practice from clothing production to quiltmaking, beginning a successful career as a textile artist. His first quilt exhibition was shown in 1979 at the Denis Cohn Gallery in Auckland.

These works "reflected fabric art trends of the time - traditional American quilting techniques depicted subjects including Kiwi aviation pioneer Richard Pearse".

Denis Cohn introduced Harrison to Wellington art dealer Janne Land, who showed his work regularly until his death. Throughout his textile career, his work ranged from large-scale quilts to smaller needlepoint canvases and simple works stitched on cloth.

Textile historian Ann Packer recognises Harrison as “the man who pioneered quilting as an art form in New Zealand..a storyteller par excellence who creates his narratives in stitch.” In 2004 Harrison was awarded the inaugural Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Art Fellowship, worth $65,000.

Achievements

• In 1962 Harrison won second prize in the New Zealand Gown of the Year competition with an embroidered and beaded dress called Scheherazade.