Ann Harris: Celebrating a Life’s Work

Over the course of her life, artist Ann Harris (1927-2017) used her work to process the changing and dynamic world around her, each piece exuding wonder, curiosity and a deep appreciation of the natural environment. Specializing in colorful and lively watercolor pieces her work falls into three categories: landscapes, mid-century styled abstracts, and native wildflower illustrations.

My hope is that as others view my paintings

they will share this immense human need for

joy in the presence of nature. ~Ann Harris

While a teacher and educator by profession, Harris consistently painted throughout her life. She exhibited her work extensively in both Riverside and Santa Cruz County, and was represented by galleries in Aptos, Capitola, Santa Cruz and Carmel. She and husband Tom collaborated on the creation of porcelain ceramics, which they displayed and sold at Kit Carson Lodge for many years. Tom made cups, vases and bowls which Ann decorated with native wildflowers. She was a member of Yosemite Western Artists of Oakhurst and the Arts Council’s own Treetop Gallery. Her work was displayed in multiple Yosemite Renaissance Exhibitions and two Sierra Art Trails open studio tours. She was a participant in the Mariposa Rotary’s Art & Wine Festival for several years, where her hand painted ceramic cups were always a popular item, and she won numerous blue ribbons at the Mariposa County Fair.

On September 8, 2017, Harris passed away and this exhibition is an opportunity for the Arts Council and community to honor her and all the vibrancy she brought to the visual arts in Mariposa. The Harris family has donated Ms. Harris’ entire collection to the Arts Council and all proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the Treetop Gallery and the Arts Council’s visual arts programs for children (Artists in the Schools , Young Masters Youth Exhibition and SITE+VISION).

Special thanks to Tom Harris, Jennifer Fosgate and the entire Harris family for sharing Ann’s work with us.

When asked about her mother, Harris’ daughter, Jennifer Fosgate shared:

I have a very vivid childhood memory – playing by a mountain stream while Mom painted. That’s what I remember – always her painting by a stream while I played nearby.

Ann Harris, Artist Statement

My painting reflects a personal search for consistency in a changing world. Being born and raised in Southern California, my acquaintance with the world as nature makes it was constantly severed and redefined due to the continual frantic havoc being wrought by the mushrooming growth of that area and the rapid pace of my own early life. I found a personal stability in painting trees, ocean, stream and mountain areas where nature still held reign, or by painting buildings whose age proceeded my lifetime and therefore had an established identity. The transparent watercolor medium, which demands rapid execution, fit in well with my hurried painting schedule.

When I moved to the Monterey Bay Area in 1969, it was easier, for awhile, to feel secure with my surroundings, as the imprint of man was still limited here. My paintings became reflections of the visual feast my new environment was presenting. Too soon, however, progress began to show its mark, and development continued the inevitable redesigning of my view of nature as the population about me again doubled its size each decade.

I found myself painting more and more in the seclusion of my own studio, letting the images come with out intellectual help. The spontaneous flow of color, and the delightful intricateness of texture possible with translucent watercolor, gave me great emotional satisfaction. The results were somewhat abstracted leaf, twig, flower or rock forms.

Finally, I realized that my own work was involved with progress and development, and that through varying moods in painting I had been expressing my concern with the changing world. At last I could see how change is so essential to creativity.

As the studio work continued to expand and as I returned, at times, to paint directly from nature, I felt close not only to the beauty but also the promise of a stable, continuing meaning to life even as change is ever present. Although this meaning is beyond my understanding, I see it issued in the varied, yet repeating patterns of nature which flow into my work when I “let go” and allow a painting to paint itself. This helps me to be more comfortable with changes, and now that I am able to devote my full energies to painting, I find it increasingly exciting to let change consistently be my leader.

Finishing college with a degree in Art in 1948, I thought I would paint in my old age as I became a mother about a year after graduating. After a second child, four years later, I found myself teaching elementary school. However, in 1955, I looked out the back window and saw the beautiful hills and my daughters playing in the field behind our home in Riverside, California. I rummaged around and found my college watercolor painting materials and, using the washing machine for an easel, I began painting.

After that I couldn’t keep from painting as often as I could; painting lots of fishing streams while we were on family outings. Eventually I was able to free myself from “scenes” and painted just for the joy of color, line, and accident. I tended to get so involved in the work, whether representational or abstract, that I go like a whirlwind…just “flowing” along until the painting tells me to stop.

~ Ann Harris

Ann Harris (1927 – 2017)

EDUCATION

Studied watercolor painting under Milford Zornes and Millard Sheets at Pomona and Scripps Colleges, Claremont, California (1946-48)

Pomona College, Claremont, California, B.A., Art (1948)

Utah State University, Logan, Utah, Graduate Work, Elementary Education (1948-49)

California State University, Long Beach, California, Graduate Work, Elementary Education (1951-52)

California State University, Fullerton, California, Graduate Work in Painting and Ceramics under Vic Smith and Jerry Rothman (1965-67)

San Jose State University, San Jose, California, M.A. Early Childhood Education (1978)

EXHIBITIONS

1963 Riverside Art Association Annual Purchase Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

1964 Riverside Art Association Annual Purchase Prize Juried Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

1965 Solo Show, Rotunda Gallery, Mission Inn, Riverside, California

Two Woman Show, Gleed Gallery, Riverside, California

Fine Arts Guild Group Show, Riverside, California

Riverside Date Festival Juried Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

1966 Solo Show, Rotunda Gallery, Mission Inn, Riverside, California

Riverside Art Association Annual Purchase Prize Juried Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

Eleventh Annual Invitational Pots N’ Prints Group Art Show, Desert Sun School, Idylwild, California

Riverside Date Festival Juried Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

1969 Riverside Art Association Annual Purchase Prize Juried Group Exhibition, Riverside, California

1971 Altrusa Club International Benefit Group Exhibit, Riverside, California

1972 Solo Show, Santa Cruz Public Library for the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz Art League Juried All State Show, Santa Cruz, California