Celebrating an artist's dazzling vision of northern = paradise
![3D"The](3D"http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.canada.com/news/Celebr=)
The Whales of Monterey School by Ted = Harrison.
Photograph by: Ted Harrison,=20 edmontonjournal.com
VISUAL ARTS PREVIEW
Book Launch For Painting Paradise and signing with Ted harrison
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: greenwoods' bookshoppe, 7925 104th St. northern alphabet=20 exhibition
When: Until Feb. 16
Where: Royal alberta museum, 12845 102nd ave.
Known worldwide for his iconic portrayals of life in the Yukon, Ted = Harrison,=20 one of Canada's artistic treasures, will be in Edmonton this week for a = major=20 celebration of his work.
Harrison, 83, will be here for the local launch of his new biography, = Ted=20 Harrison: Painting Paradise, written by Edmonton-born author Katherine = Gibson,=20 and to donate 26 original paintings to the University of Alberta Art = Collection.=20 The events commemorate the 40th anniversary of Harrison's first = exhibition in=20 Whitehorse.
The renowned artist, author and teacher has been recognized with = countless=20 honours over the years, including the Order of Canada, four honorary = doctorate=20 degrees (two from the U of A) and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts = (RCA). His=20 paintings hang in private and public collections throughout the world = and=20 celebrate his love for the land and people of the Yukon: Children and=20 multicoloured dogs frolic under a vast sky, the arctic light dancing in = waves of=20 orange and blue across the canvas. Harrison's contribution to Canadian = culture=20 is significant while showing life in the Arctic to the rest of the = world.
"Ted Harrison has changed the way northerners viewed themselves," = says=20 Gibson, "but also he changed the way others viewed the North."
Gibson knew of Harrison in the '80s through exhibitions and his = illustrated=20 children's book, The Cremation of Sam McGee, which she would read to her = elementary class. But she never dreamed she'd spend four years writing = his=20 biography-- collecting diaries, letters and photos; conducting = interviews;=20 travelling to his birthplace in England and travelling 804 km up the = Yukon River=20 retracing a trip Harrison made with Pierre Berton's family in 1985. = "There was=20 not a day that I sat down to write, that it wasn't like Christmas = morning,"=20 Gibson shares from her home in Victoria. As it turned out, Harrison's = life story=20 is as rich and vibrant as his paintings.
Growing up in a coal-mining village in County Durham, England, = Harrison had a=20 thirst for adventure that led him to India and East Africa with the = British army=20 and eventually to Malaysia and New Zealand to teach. Ready for a new = experience,=20 Harrison left New Zealand with his wife, Nicky, and their young son = Charles, to=20 teach on the reserve in Wabasca, north of Edmonton, in 1967.A year = later, he was=20 offered a teaching assignment in the Yukon, which might as well have = been a=20 million miles away from County Durham. "From the moment I saw Carcross, = I felt I=20 had arrived in paradise," says Harrison. "And we loved the people. They = are the=20 true'gold' of the Yukon." The Harrisons called the Yukon home for the = next 25=20 years.
The bright, fantastic palette of India and Malaysia and the swirling = forms of=20 the Maoris' art in New Zealand were quietly influencing his work and = shaping a=20 new style that would soon unveil itself.
Harrison began capturing the magic of the tundra, the Arctic light = and the=20 activities of day-to-day life in the village. Brightly coloured kayaks, = igloos,=20 whales and cabins with ribbons of candy-coloured smoke became the focus = of his=20 work.
"I like using my imagination to create happiness through colour and = humour,"=20 says Harrison. "So, a moose might be blue or a rabbit, pink."
To think his principal at art school in England once said: "The = problem with=20 Harrison is that he has no sense of colour!"
Eager to further his education, Harrison drove to Edmonton nine years = in a=20 row to attend summer school, receiving his bachelor of education degree = in 1977.=20 Grateful to the U of A for his education and a strong supporter of art=20 education, A Northern Alphabet, a series of 26 original paintings = created in=20 1982 for his children's alphabet book, will be donated to the university = in the=20 name of the children of Alberta. The exhibition, on display at the Royal = Alberta=20 Museum, will delight all ages as whimsical images reveal that "M" stands = for=20 Mary, wearing mukluks and mitts, running by a pink moose munching blue = muskeg.=20 "I believe that art breathes humanity into children," says Harrison.
Painting Paradise is the story of how a miner's son made his own = destiny and=20 always looked on the positive side of life--a perspective that is = expressed=20 passionately in his paintings.
Gibson presents a compelling story, highly detailed and full of = poignant=20 quotes and fresh material. The large format book contains 78 rare photos = and=20 coloured images of Harrison's most important paintings, including a = print in the=20 Collector's Limited Edition.
Harrison now lives in Victoria and hopes that Painting Paradise will = show=20 others that "We are the architects of our life. I thought I would be an = art=20 teacher who sometimes painted, but it turned out better than I = thought."
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