Briena Harmening resides and works in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a 2010 MFA graduate from the University of Tennessee. She currently teaches Art and the AP program at Hillwood High School.
Artist Statement
In my work, I combine various mediums with forms of painting, pushing the limits of tradition and renegotiating the relationship between art and craft. My work is both contemporary and personal: drawing influences from street art and punk rock, and incorporating found objects and spray painted surfaces that often become backgrounds for text. The words that I choose – phrases, jokes, fragments, and excerpts – document my thoughts about life, loss, and love. This is one of many binaries I explore and seek to balance in my work, along with the traditional and contemporary, the private and public, the domestic and manufactured, and what is delicate and hard.