Blog by Harlan House RCA
Hello! As a maker in the decorative arts, I always tried to elevate my work by adding content. Whether it was two frogs chatting in a coffee cup or ducks telling a joke to a frog on the inside a bowl, it added meaning to an object. Imagine. Meaning transports the decorative arts into the realm of Fine Arts; that is where we …
Par goes to work… I was one of the many fools that thought the whole Trump election was just a bad joke. We knew it was bad. It turned into 18 holes a day with a bunch of salesmen. More lies than holes. My worry is it could happen again… There is almost nothing that a potter in a tiny village in …
I have been working for over a year on a project called “The Find”. The job is now done and is parked on my website home page. Free. Enjoy. Share. As you read this, Maureen and I are recalling that some of the work in “The Find” was being packed 50 years ago to this day. We bought our rural Ontario home in the …
Maureen’s family had this in their home over 70 years ago. We keep up the tradition of hanging it each Christmas season. I looked for it in a storage room at the studio in mid-December. Found it, amid five other boxes. Had to peek. I found my very first Iris vase, and a couple of other Iris vases as well. …
Almost 40 years ago I started to use junk food as subject matter for oil paintings. Even the enlightened in the ‘art community’ raised their eyebrows and generally took a pass. I was, and still am, amazed at what people will eat: industrial food-like substances that our grandmothers would never recognize, let alone feed to friends. I have noticed that …
I had a high summer. 17 years ago, I shingled the south side of Paddy Doyle’s Hotel and added to the windowsills and trim. They got a couple coats of paint, and I moved back into the studio to work on exhibitions. 17 years later, the windows needed a lot of love. They are just over 180 years old. This …
Hello again! I hope this finds you well. It has been a while since you heard from me, so I am reporting. Maureen and I are just fine. Being in lockdown in Lonsdale is almost normal. I stopped making ceramics a couple of years ago but have been extremely busy on other projects. More later. We have been a couple …
Hi Kids, I wish you could hold this axe handle. It is perfect! OK, it is old and broken, but it is perfect. For most of my life I have railed against the concept of ‘good enough’ or ‘OK’; our watered-down version of ‘perfect’. The old guys who worked in my 1860’s blacksmith and carpenter’s shop would not settle for …
We all know that a painting is Art, really Art. So, I did paintings of my Art and included me in the mix. Art. Really.
Happy Valentine’s Day, A beautiful thing develops in a working artist’s daily life. It is the ability to know when to stop working. Stop. Done. Leave. As you know, My Work, My Way— the book, is on my website. It was done. I left. In it, I quote American baker Claudia Fleming. “You can always do it better. And until you’ve …
The tomato paintings are a late thank you. We had a dear friend who decided to grow tomatoes. She grew about 30 old varieties. 600 plants. Tomato Queen was her moniker. All of her friends got as many plants as they wanted to plant for many years. If any were left over, and there were, they were given to raise …
People have been asking me if I am retired. Nope. Never. This is what my friend Shelagh Rogers had to say about my retirement… So retire. No. Making Art yes, and writing yes. Playing pool yes. For the past two and a half years, I have been working on a book. It is a history of 50 years as a …
Happy New Year! It’s been a while, so let’s get caught up. Our last exhibition in Lonsdale was crazy wonderful. We saw old friends that we hadn’t seen in years. Our first art dealers, Pam and David Haight from the Rubaiyat in Calgary dropped in for a peek! Imagine. I did a lot of work on the old blacksmith shop …
I made a series of Rose House vases for next weekend’s Lonsdale Studio Exhibition. To say I had fun is an understatement. What I had planned and what happened are two paths. We live in interesting times.
It’s our last show in Lonsdale. Details above.
If you can, save us a little time for a visit here in Lonsdale. Our very last Lonsdale Studio Exhibition is on September 30th and October 1st. I will be in touch closer to those dates, so this is a heads up. I have been working…you might like to see the latest and last.
Building the kiln shed took two summers. Hand planed beams, mortice and tendon joinery and no nails until you get to the roof…it’s a nice place to be in. Building my wood fired kiln took a third summer. Taking it down took one day. The first firing was on August 23, 1982. We only reached bisque temperature, so got exactly …
Over the past few weeks, I have been asked many times about the dates of our Lonsdale Studio Exhibition. Usually, it is in May, but this year is special. Our last Studio Exhibition is going to be in October. I just fired the kiln, and will be working on the pieces over the summer…you will see. If you are in …
What a lucky boy I am! Many years ago, Maureen and I were at Larry Davidson’s Lost Horizons nursery near Acton. As we got close to running out of space in our little car, Larry walked over with as many jardinières as he could carry. “Take these off my hands”, he said. He had just retired from being a very …
I seem to need surprises. I planted a spindle tree many years ago because I liked the bark. Then I fell in love with the color of the leaves. Now I find a new admiration for the berries that come later in the year. I picked some of them for our show here last November…put them in a toaster. The …