Sunday, February 16, 2014

Beguiled by the Wild: the Art of Charley Harper

When Wanda wrote about Charley Harper in this blog post his name was unfamiliar to me. I was intrigued by the pictures she posted and by the Birch Fabrics line that features his work. 

Have you ever experienced this phenomenon?  You learn about something new (a word, or a person, or an event, or a thing) and very shortly thereafter you hear or see it again, and then again.  That's the way it was with Charley Harper.  In the Chicago Tribune's weekly roundup of museum exhibits there was a recommendation for "Beguiled by the Wild: the  Art of Charley Harper" at the Lake County Discovery Museum .  The notice said that that the exhibit would close February 16. 

Mind you, the exhibit opened in September, and I do read the Lake County Forest Preserve District quarterly news, so I must have seen the exhibit advertised.  But only because of Wanda's message did I realize I'd like to see Harper's work up close. 

Fortunately I had a meeting on Friday morning that took me in the direction of the museum, and I had the afternoon free.  Here are pictures of some of the pictures. I love the crisp graphics and the visual puns.  

For more about this wonderful mid-century artist: http://charleyharper.com/


Valentine's Day!



Raccoons


Water striders



Harper painted many ladybugs


 

3 comments:

  1. Love them! Especially the owl hearts.

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  2. I too love the puns with the names of his paintings. I'm assuming these were the real paintings and not prints. I'm glad you were able to get to the exhibit.

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  3. What a great exhibit. I've never heard of him either. I've like to see the fabric based on his prints. Or did I read this wrong? Cool.

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