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Murals make UVic debut
Large works moved from home of artist
Artist Ted Harrison in front of one of the newly = restored=20 murals he is donating to UVic. The murals were painted on the walls of = his=20 house, and were recently removed and refurbished. They hang in the = university's=20 Social Sciences and Mathematics building.
Photograph by: Debra Brash, Times Colonist, = Times=20 Colonist
When celebrated artist Ted Harrison first moved to Victoria from the = Yukon in=20 1993 he missed the bright light of the north, and found the West Coast = tones=20 cold and lacklustre.
Feeling homesick, he decided to cheer himself up by painting a mural = on three=20 walls of his downstairs office -- a picture of his beloved Yukon. = Meanwhile,=20 upstairs in his front hall he painted a West Coast waterscape.
The two massive murals -- the largest three-panel work measuring 2.4 = by six=20 metres -- were painstakingly taken from his house last year when he = moved into a=20 seniors' residence. And yesterday, both were unveiled at the University = of=20 Victoria's Social Sciences and Mathematics building, one in the main = lobby, the=20 other in a glass tower staircase.
"I have a great fondness for this university," said the 82-year-old = artist in=20 explaining his gift. "I got my honorary degree here, have done courses = here . .=20 . When I first did these I didn't think anyone would see them except = visitors to=20 my house. But it's good to share with as many people as possible."
The West Coast scene was the first he painted after leaving the = Yukon.
"I was feeling a bit dull inside and wanted to get in touch with = B.C., to see=20 if I could suit my style to it. It was an experiment, to take my mind = under the=20 sea . . . . This was the key that opened the door to painting here."
Valued about $225,000, the highly personal works were a nightmare to = remove,=20 said art restorer Philip Mix. Vast Yukon was painted on drywall, while = View of=20 British Columbia had been painted on plywood and nailed in place.
"The biggest challenge was getting them braced so they wouldn't flex = when=20 trying to get them out of the house, one over a balcony," he said.
It took a month to prep them for moving. The three-panel piece was = removed=20 studs and all, and braced from the front. He cut the nails off the other = and=20 cemented the eighth-inch plywood to heavy-gauge quarter-inch = Gatorfoam.
"It was an immense project, my swan song," confessed the conservator, = who is=20 giving up this kind of work. "It took about 180 days and was almost too=20 intense."
Social sciences dean Peter Keller, a Harrison fan "for a long, long = time,"=20 said the murals have been up for only a few days but are already drawing = raves.=20 "The paintings just glow here. Everyone who comes through thinks they're = fantastic."
Harrison's biographer, Katherine Gibson, said the paintings are an = important=20 legacy, "a beautiful expression of Ted's affection for the Yukon and his = acceptance of the beauty of B.C." Maltwood Art Museum director Martin = Segger=20 knows of no other Harrison works of this size in any public space. "And = they are=20 unique because he painted them for himself. He wanted works to feel at = home=20 with."
glitwin@tc.canwest.com
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Artist Ted Harrison in front of one of the = newly=20 restored murals he is donating to UVic. The murals were painted on the = walls of=20 his house, and were recently removed and refurbished. They hang in the=20 university's Social Sciences and Mathematics building.
Photograph by: Debra Brash, Times = Colonist, Times=20 Colonist
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