Denja Harris is a San Diego-based artist whose tactile work bridges traditional and contemporary fiber art. Her practice considers softness as both material and metaphor, weaving narratives of vulnerability, memory, and transformation.
Her process is intuitive and improvisational, allowing materials and methods to respond in real time. Working with both dead-stock and new yarns, her work moves between materiality, function, and abstraction, exploring how color and texture can serve as sites of connection.
She is currently interested in time, change, and temporality. Reflecting on the shifting relationships within the unknown and space between.
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Space Between: Texture Studies, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
2023 Denja Harris, I N T E R V A L S Room, San Diego, CA
2022 Untitled, Coffee and Tea Collective, San Diego, CA
2021 SOFT, Mortis Studio, San Diego, CA
INSTALLATIONS
2026 *Upcoming spotlight gallery installation, Visions Museum of Textile Art, San Diego, CA
2024 Sometimes but Not Always, Sparks Gallery, San Diego, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Everything Touches, Granger Hotel, San Diego, CA
2025 A Good Place to Hide, Lafayette Hotel, San Diego, CA
2025 Split Ends, OCC Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavillion, Costa Mesa, CA
2024 Organic Cubism, Oceanside Museum of Art West at The Seabird, Oceanside, CA
2024 I Just Like You: New & Inspiring Fiber Art, Mc Donough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH
2023 Connect, City Gallery, San Diego, CA
2023 Connect, Art Produce, San Diego, CA
2023 Blueprints, Pain Sugar Gallery, Riverside, CA
2022 Community Through Creativity, San Diego Design Week: The Brown Studio, Encinitas, CA
2022 Metamorphosis, The Chrysilas: Monarch School’s Center for the Arts, San Diego, CA
RESIDENCIES, DEMONSTRATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
2023 Artist in Residence, Art Produce, San Diego, CA
2023 Artists and Designers Today: San Diego City College, San Diego, CA
2022 Make at Mingei, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA
2022 Craft Unraveled, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA
2022 Metamorphosis Student Collaborative Workshop, The Chrysilas: Monarch School’s Center for the Arts, San Diego, CA
ARTIST TALKS AND LECTURES
2023 Artists and Designers Today: Conversations Between Color and Texture with Denja Harris, San Diego City College - World Cultures, San Diego, CA
SELECT PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE DECEMBER 2025
SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE JULY 2025
KPBS JULY 2025
TUFT THE WORLD: AN ILLUSTRATED MANUAL TO TUFTING GORGEOUS RUGS, DECOR AND MORE APRIL 2024
KPBS AUGUST 2023
SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE MARCH 2022
KPBS DECEMBER 2021
Please direct all inquiries to [email protected]