Deñja Harris is a San Diego based artist. Her practice engages with contemporary fiber art, soft sculpture, and installation. Combining dead-stock and new yarns, her work navigates the intersections of materiality, function, and abstraction. Grounded in themes of healing, vulnerability, and softness, Deñja explores how color, pattern, and texture function as sites of connection.
Her practice is material and process driven, with a deeply intuitive and improvisational approach, allowing her to respond in real time. This synergy between material and process shapes works that are as dynamic as they are intentional. Her use of colors, and distinct line-work convey a sense of vibrant energy and fluidity, using playfulness to challenge and reshape the perception of hardness associated with Black womanhood. Through her art, Deñja fosters a visual dialogue that gently encourages both self and viewer to stay soft in a world that wants to harden you.
Denja’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows and featured in workshops and demonstrations at institutions such as San Diego City College, Mingei International Museum, Mc Donough Museum of Art, Art Produce, Mortis Studio, and others.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 OCEANSIDE MUSEUM OF ART, THE SPACE BETWEEN: TEXTURE STUDIES, OCEANSIDE, CA
2023 I N T E R V A L S ROOM, DENJA HARRIS, SAN DIEGO, CA
2022 COFFEE AND TEA COLLECTIVE, UNTITLED, SAN DIEGO, CA
2021 MORTIS STUDIO, SOFT, SAN DIEGO, CA
INSTALLATIONS
2024 SPARKS GALLERY, SOMETIMES BUT NOT ALWAYS, SAN DIEGO, CA
2024 OCEANSIDE MUSEUM OF ART WEST AT THE SEABIRD, ORGANIC CUBISM, OCEANSIDE, CA
2024 MC DONOUGH MUSEUM OF ART, I JUST LIKE YOU: NEW & INSPIRING FIBER ART, YOUNGSTOWN, OH
2023 CITY GALLERY, CONNECT, SAN DIEGO, CA
2023 ART PRODUCE, CONNECT, SAN DIEGO, CA
2023 PAIN SUGAR GALLERY, BLUEPRINTS, RIVERSIDE, CA
2022 THE BROWN STUDIO: SAN DIEGO DESIGN WEEK, COMMUNITY THROUGH CREATIVITY EXHIBITION & FILM, ENCINITAS, CA
2022 THE CHRYSILAS: MONARCH SCHOOL'S CENTER FOR THE ARTS, METAMORPHOSIS, SAN DIEGO, CA
SELECT PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
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