Off the Grid 2017: Contributing artist Dana Lynn Harper

Amid all the music, food, entertainment and exhibitions that make up Off the Grid 2017, Dana Lynn Harper hopes that partygoers will take a few moments to look up and succumb to a sense of wonder. The Columbus artist, just back from a residency at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania where she continued work on her massive installation Bloom Bloom, will be installing a new piece in the Wex lobby for the event. 

"I’m going to use a similar technique [to Bloom Bloom], with tying flagging tape to chicken wire, but it’ll be white to look like this ethereal floating cloud—a massive structure with smaller blobs, sort of like a cloud dispersing," Dana explains. "The Wexner is such a clean space, and understanding that there’s going to be so many other things happening, I didn’t want to overpower it, I wanted it to be a little more subtle than pieces I’ve done before, but still beautiful. And it’ll be layers of tape lit from inside so it creates shadows and gray areas. It’ll appear to be glowing."

"I like when people have to slow down, and I like when they’re taken out of the context they expect," Dana adds. "It kind of puts them into a state of play. The more work I make, the more I realize I’m trying to push people back into a childhood mentality. We get so caught up as adults in not showing emotions, not showing joy. I’m trying to give you some kind of relief. To give people this little island of peace."

An OSU alum, Dana has shown locally and regionally at venues including the Cultural Arts Center, ROY G BIV, and Bunker Projects in Pittsburgh. She's also been featured in the Short North mural program Blank Spaces. To see more of Dana's work, check out her website, her blog, and her Instagram feed. 

(Image courtesy of the artist)