Harrison was the longtime director (1990-2024) of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, the former home and studio of the Abstract Expressionist artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in East Hampton, New York.
The catalog included Harrison’s entries on the mural and easel projects, and she served as the exhibition coordinator, which prompted her decision to pursue a curatorial career.
[5] After receiving her Master’s degree, Harrison worked as Marling’s research assistant on three exhibitions before becoming the curator of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York, in 1977.
[8] Harrison became involved in Techspressionism in 2011, when she wrote a catalog essay for artist Colin Goldberg, who coined the term as the title for a solo exhibition.
She has also written many exhibition catalogues and contributed to several multi-author publications, including Remembering the Future: The New York World’s Fair from 1939 to 1964 (Rizzoli, 1989), Elaine de Kooning (Georgia Museum of Art, 1992), Abstract Expressionism: The International Context (Rutgers University Press, 2007), Ary Stillman: From Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism (Merrell, 2008), and Jackson Pollock: A Centennial Retrospective (Yomiuri Shimbun, 2011).
Her books include Larry Rivers (Harper & Row, 1984), Hamptons Bohemia: Two Centuries of Artists and Writers on the Beach (with Constance Ayers Denne) (Chronicle Books, 2002), the Jackson Pollock Box (Cider Mill Press, 2010) and Jackson Pollock (Phaidon Press, 2014).
Her second novel, An Accidental Corpse (Dunemere Books, 2018/Poisoned Pen Press, 2020) won the Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Mystery & Suspense.