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Jim Harrison

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Jim Harrison

Artist Biography

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Jim Harrison

Jim Harrison's journey as an artist seems to have begun when he first climbed onto a sign painter's scaffold on the side of McCartha's Hardware in Denmark, South Carolina. The Coca-Cola sign that he began that day with his mentor, J. J. Cornforth, was the first of more than 100 similar signs he painted over the next few years and shaped the future work of this South Carolinian in many ways.

Now, an established artist and writer, Harrison has more than 100 limited edition art prints to his name. Reminiscent of his earlier experiences as a sign painter, his art, prints and posters are known for chronicling earlier twentieth century rural life. His strong feelings for rural America touch on every aspect of earlier ways of living, and his subjects -- railroad stations, churches, one room school houses, country stores, covered bridges, and farm buildings -- representing the spirit of an agrarian society. Harrison credits his mother with providing the encouragement for him to develop his artistic interests beyond that of sign painting. He began his college career at the University of South Carolina. With no knowledge of the art market but with enthusiasm and excitement, Harrison and his wife, Margaret, headed to New York City in 1979 for the Fall Greenwich Village sidewalk art show.

Today, Harrison's art, prints and posters are distributed through his own company, Jim Harrison Prints, in Denmark. He said that his work is his life, and he surrounds himself with the things he loves. Returning to Denmark was returning to his roots, and the Jim Harrison Gallery is housed in the very building where the young artist got his start more than fifty years ago as an apprentice sign painter for J.J. Cornforth. "I have a feeling for what I paint," said Harrison. "I have a saying that art must have emotion in it. I like to paint and write about the things I know -- which are rural things. It's where I live and where I grew up."

Jim Harrison Art, Prints and Posters Collection