Harrison earns council’s art honor

RANGELY — Garth Harrison is the Rangely Arts Council artist of the month for June.
Now on exhibit through the month of May and June are 12 landscape oil paintings at the Rangely Public Library by Garth Harrison, K.A., whose studio is in Vernal, Utah. These are mostly autumn scenes and priced about 40 percent less than they typically have been at various galleries in the western states. With the high cost of gasoline for everyone, Harrison desires to reduce his own travel expenses to and from galleries by exhibiting closer to home and passing the savings on to local people.
Harrison’s paintings are characteristically cheerful in color with a convincing illusion of depth and faithful rendition of subject matter in a spirit of tranquility. Painting for permanence and durability in materials and technique are important to Harrison, as well as careful design, harmonious color strategies, value patterns of light and dark. He also uses variations in texture of paint along with soft and sharp edges of picture elements to define the focal point and background for a proper illusion of depth.
Now 80 years of age, Harrison was encouraged since age seven by parents and teachers to draw and paint. In addition to taking art classes at Brigham Young University, University of Utah and Utah State University, he has taken workshops with nationally prominent artists since his retirement in 1990 as a psychiatric social worker. He also has taught classes and judged exhibits, the last one at Septemberfest in Rangely 2007. He has won numerous awards but favors the “peoples’ choice awards” over all others, claiming that the vast majority of people can recognize truth and light when they see it from millions of ancestral years of living in proximity to nature. The “K.A.” after his name signifies that he is a member of the prestigious Knickerbocker Artists, organized in 1947 in New York..
Come to the Rangely Library this month to see Harrison’s beautiful paintings.
Library hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday until 8 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The Rangely Public Library is located at 109 E. Main St. Call (970) 675-8811 for more information.