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Book honours artist's vision
Ted Harrison biography traces evolution of his unique = style
Ted Harrison claims he's as ordinary as bacon and eggs, yet when = biographer=20 Katherine Gibson started doing research on his life, she found letters = to him=20 from former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, Princess Diana, Anne Murray, = several=20 governors general and a commission from the king and queen of Thailand, = among=20 piles of other accolades and fan mail.
"He's been loved and snubbed," said the Victoria author, who has = worked on=20 his biography for four years and will launch it at a book signing = Saturday=20 afternoon at Legacy Art Gallery.
"The public loves Ted's work, his shows sell out and he is = internationally=20 acclaimed, but there is not a single painting of his in the National = Gallery --=20 nor any Yukon artist." She added a National Gallery spokesman, in a = recent=20 interview, hadn't even heard of him.
"We need to pay more attention to all regions of Canada and go beyond = what is=20 traditionally seen as Canadian art," she said, pointing out Harrison's = work is=20 in major collections around the world, he has been presented with the = Order of=20 Canada and Order of B.C. and he has received four honorary doctorate = degrees.=20 "Of course, they were are all from western Canadian universities."
Gibson wrote the book because she wanted to explain how important = this man is=20 to Canadian culture, and to honour his contribution. "I believe he will = become=20 the Emily Carr of the North."
Harrison, now 83 and living in Oak Bay, was born in County Durham in=20 northeast England and did intelligence work in North Africa during the = Second=20 World War. He then taught on five continents. In 1969 he had his first = Canadian=20 exhibition in the Whitehorse Library and in 1980 began to paint = full-time.
The evolution of his work over the last six decades can be seen at = the show=20 Gibson curated in the Legacy Art Gallery at 630 Yates St.
She and Harrison will be there from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday to autograph = copies=20 of the illustrated biography which was launched in the Yukon last month, = to a=20 crowd of 400.
There are two versions of Painting Paradise -- each with 260 pages = and 78=20 colour images printed on archival paper.
The softcover is $75.95. The hardcover collector's edition, $295, = includes a=20 signed gicl=C3=A9e print and DVD of his work. The former are in local = bookstores, the=20 latter only available through Crown Publications, 563 Superior St., or = by=20 calling 1-800-663-6105.
The exhibition's paintings reflect Harrison's time in East Africa, = Malaysia,=20 New Zealand, the Yukon and Victoria, where he moved in 1993.
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