Have you ever met a time traveler? You’ll have your chance on Sept. 1 at the Brownwood Art Center, 215 Fisk Ave., from 5-8 pm. Introduce yourself to Boyd Harris, and maybe he’ll share a story from his adventures, as you take in his retrospective exhibit, 50 years in the making. The opening reception is free and open to the public. The exhibit continues through Sept. 30. Gallery hours are 2-6 pm Mon-Fri.
Harris describes himself as “a geologist by training and an artist by heart.” “History and ancient cultures have always fascinated me. I grew up during my formative years in New Mexico, a state known for its natural beauty and its many artists. This tradition goes back thousands of years to the ceramics, rock art, and other cultural materials the indigenous Native Americans left us, and make to this day.”
As he immersed himself in the arts culture as a young man, he also observed the hardship artists had in earning income, and resolved to follow a career path in geology that offered some financial security. He spent years working in the oil fields of the Permian Basin, which he sardonically calls “the gold camp,” but stayed active as an artist and art instructor, teaching ceramics and sculpture at Midland College.
The overlap between his geology career and the arts will be evident in many of the works in the upcoming exhibit, which includes images and abstractions of geological features, folds and faults of the earth’s crust, and scenes from the age of the dinosaurs. There will also be more traditional paintings of landscapes and seascapes, as well as abstracts, monoprints, sgraffito, retablos, and a variety of ceramics, including raku, pit fire ceramics, and stone ware.
Time travel, and the connections between ancient past, present, and far future, remain underlying themes of Boyd Harris art. He poses the question: “Is the modern artist a Shaman teaching people a new way to look at the world around themselves? I ask the patron to make what they will of my art in their own mind and hopefully they will learn and enjoy it. Maybe it will show them a new way to look at things.”
[Story courtesy of Daniel Graham]