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Gregory Frank Harris (Greg Harris) was
born in southern California in 1953. His mother was a painter
and his father a miner. He also has a twin brother, an entomologist
and drummer. He began drawing and sculpting in clay by the age
of five. At eight years old he began to sing and play the piano
by ear. Throughout junior high and high school he had art and
music classes, later studying ceramics and raku firing.
In 1972, he attended Long Beach University
studying art and theater. He also, at this time, began watercolor
painting and song writing. From 1973 to 1986, he played in bands
at local nightclubs, then later professional ‘gigs’
in hotels on the west coast. In 1977 while on the road in Spokane,
Washington, inspired by a book on French impressionism, he began
to paint in acrylic and oils, copying and studying the impressionists
and old masters.
In 1980, through a twist a fate, three
of his old master copies ended up in the movie “Annie”.
From 1982 to 1996, a personal agent sold his original impressionist
oils, pastels, and watercolors to galleries across the US. During
those years he was exhibiting at juried shows and winning awards,
all the while plein air painting in the Laguna and Irvine Canyons.
In the fall of 1985, he studied at the Art Student’s League
in New York; and in 1987, he put together a large band performing
his original music at the Roxey Theater in L.A.
From 1991 to 1996 he and his wife, now
divorced, lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts. While in Duxbury he
performed in community theater plays and musical productions.
In 1996, after doing a workshop at the Fechin Institute, New
Mexico, he decided to move to Santa Fe. He lived there for five
years and continued his studies of contemporary realism and plein-air
painting.
In November 2000 he moved to Lyme, CT to
further paint from life. He also became a part-time teacher and
elected member of the Lyme Art Association as well as a private
instructor. Currently he is a member of the Putney painters group
in Vermont with Richard Schmid.
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