Harry white – Peek-a-Boo Moon

At age twenty-six, Harry White determined that he wanted to develop his own unique form of expression and so he developed “fleurage”, the name he gave his collages made primarily with flower petals and plant parts.

Harry presses his materials between sheets of facial tissue placed in large telephone books. They dry according to the nature of the plant material and the climatic conditions. When dry, they are categorized by type and color and stored in horizontal paper files.

He assembles his selection of petals and leaves and cut and adhere them to an archival surface using a glue formulated to bind and preserve antique and rare books. He applies the glue with a brush, utilizing a glass palate for a working surface. The glue is water soluble when working and permanent when dry.

Harry White – Moon Shadow Mountain

For over thirty years he has developed numerous cumulative techniques to achieve different forms of expression including landscapes, portraits and abstractions. Harry believes that practice, experimentation and mistakes are the best teachers.

Harry says that it is essential for him to be at one with his medium from the ground up and so gardening in all of its aspects is focal in his life. His goal is to be able to give truth back to the world through his art, a truth that perceives motion, change, pattern and eventually an evolution.

Harry’s art and his garden were recently featured in, The Inspired Garden: Twenty-four Artists Share Their Vision (DownEast Books 2009), providing an exciting lesson on how artistic principles underlay garden design just as much as they do sculpture, painting, mosaic, or other arts.

Harry White – Reaching for the Moon

Harry’s garden illustrates his interpretative concepts of motion and change to beautify and create harmony and resonance with the natural world. With an eye for composition, texture, and color, he breaks traditional garden “rules”.  His artistic expression in the garden is a natural extension of his artistic medium.  Hailed by Picasso’s first agent in the U.S. as “one of the few artists of the 20^th century to create a new art form, “fleurage”, which the Book of Knowledge credits him with creating in 1983.

Harry has exhibited extensively throughout New England, New York and Washington, D.C. He has been featured in Smithsonian, Yankee, Horticulture and American Horticulturist magazines and in dozens of newspapers and on local television.

Harry White

www.harrywhitecollage.com

]]> http://glastonburyartguild.org/2012/02/20/harry-white/feed/ 0 http://glastonburyartguild.org/latest-news/ http://glastonburyartguild.org/latest-news/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:08:56 +0000 RachelPianka http://glastonburyartguild.org/?p=1427 http://glastonburyartguild.org/latest-news/feed/ 0 http://glastonburyartguild.org/2012/02/16/join-us-for-an-all-member-meeting-followed-by-our-first-%e2%80%9cgot-art%e2%80%9d-presentation/ http://glastonburyartguild.org/2012/02/16/join-us-for-an-all-member-meeting-followed-by-our-first-%e2%80%9cgot-art%e2%80%9d-presentation/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:58:31 +0000 RachelPianka http://glastonburyartguild.org/?p=1419 Plan to attend a member meeting Thursday, March 1, 2012, at 5:30 at The Congregational Church in South Glastonbury, 949 Main Street, South Glastonbury to hear details about the new and exciting events planned for our 50th anniversary year. The meeting will be immediately followed by Harry’s White’s presentation, “Fleurage.”

Harry White – Reaching for the Moon

Following the Member Meeting, the Glastonbury Art Guild’s first “Got Art?” symposia kicks off with a presentation by Harry White, a working artist living in Glastonbury and one of our members. Mr. White will discuss and showcase his unique collage technique, Fleurage, where nature is art. He uses preserved natural materials, such as flower petals, leaves and moss, and assembles the materials through numerous techniques to achieve different forms of expression including landscapes, portraits and abstractions that reflect the magnificence and beauty of the natural world. Mr. White is credited in the Book of Knowledge with inventing fleurage, a unique form of collage where nature is art. His presentation will begin at 6:30 and end at 8:00 pm.

On March 8 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at Naubuc School, Ralph Acosta, an accomplished watercolorist, will share his talents and love of teaching in a presentation about the use, freedom, transparency and spontaneity of watercolors, and the technique he has developed.

On April 12 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Welles Turner Library, Old Saybrook artist Laurel Friedman will share the secrets of pastel underpainting Friedman, a member of the Pastel Society of America, will demonstrate in acrylic, watercolor, alcohol wash and a texture finish on commercial grounds, a difficult technique to achieve. Friedman will explain how these techniques enhance the final work of art.

The “Got Art?” symposia is part of the Glastonbury Art Guild’s overarching goal of bringing art into the community. At each event, the artist will present commentary about his/her creative work, provide tips and instruction and display examples and/or demonstrations showcasing his/her work. All have established reputations and have been recognized for their expertise as indicated by the awards they received, and the galleries, corporate collections and institutions that collect and display their work. The programs are usually free but donations are appreciated and accepted at the door.

Lois Eldridge – 7 Pears

Teaching, traveling and pottery are the focus of Lois Eldridge’s world.  She refers to them as her three careers, and has woven them into a life creating beauty, discovering faraway places and sharing knowledge.

A founding member of the Glastonbury Art Guild, Lois set out to be a teacher, and pursued that vocation both here and abroad.  She taught Spanish and French, and was a teacher in Glastonbury for students from third grade through adult education. “I’ve always loved teaching,” she says, “It is the most noble profession.”  Later, she tutored and helped out at the Buttonball School in town.

Lois Eldridge – Squash

Along the way Lois was introduced to pottery.  She joined Wesleyan Potters and began a life-long study of clay, design, and glazes.  Looking back on the years that she was establishing herself as a professional potter, she recalls shipping wholesale orders all over the northeast as she studied with fine teachers and visiting potters from around the world.  She came to realize that her income as a potter would not be enough to allow her to pursue the kind of travel she wanted, so she found another solution.  She took a desk job with American Airlines and managed to travel to fourteen countries during her years there.  She thrilled at the unique pottery of South America, the breadth of history in Greece’s antiquities, and the glorious porcelains she saw in Shanghai.  Museums were a highlight of her travels.

Lois Eldridge – Blue pot with grass

Chemistry and mathematics, once among her least favorite subjects, are now tools used to create magnificent glazes for her pottery.  Lois worked on a team at Wesleyan Potters to develop crystalline glazes.  Her conversation is sprinkled with words like celadon, zinc oxide, titanium, manganese and iron.  The glazes sparkle and reflect light as though stars were beaming through the pieces.

Lois Eldridge admires crafts people, saying “whether they work in wood, metal, gems, or clay, or any other natural material, these artisans take what is available in the earth and bring them to life.  It is an amazing process.”

Lois Eldridge – Birdbath

Contact:
Lois Eldridge
380 Main Street
South Glastonbury, CT 06073
860-633-4960