“I want to make interesting painting out of something that you would’ve ignored”
Peter D. Harris was born in London, Ontario, and currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He completed a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo in 1997. Since then he has exhibited his oil paintings in group and solo exhibitions in Canada and the United States. He has won several awards for his continuing series of urban inspired landscape paintings, including an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant and a Waterloo Region Arts Fund project grant. His work can be found in private collections in Canada, the United Stated and Europe. He is represented by the Mira Godard Gallery in Toronto.
www.peterharris.ca
Peter D. Harris – 30sec film artists Q&A
- What’s your favorite thing to do when you are alone?
- How do you usually get inspired again after working on a big project/painting?
- Do you have a motto or creed that as an artist you live by?
- How do you come up with ideas?
- What project/art are you hoping to create but haven’t got chance to do yet?
What’s your favorite thing to do when you are alone?
Listen to records, paint.
How do you usually get inspired again after working on a big project/painting?
An empty studio is the best inspiration to get painting again. After a big project is finished and the paintings are sent to the gallery, seeing empty walls ready to be filled again is great motivation.
Do you have a motto or creed that as an artist you live by?
Work begets work. Meaning that I get inspired and more creative through the working process. I’ve never run out of ideas-I would need 10 lifetimes to paint every idea I’ve had-because I just start working. Every. Damn. Day. And that leads me down a path to new discoveries, newer, better ideas and creative breakthroughs.
How do you come up with ideas?
My best painting ideas come from walking around the city at night and observing the environment. I love revisiting places I’ve been in the day time, to see how everything is transformed in the evening hours under artificial lighting.
What project/art are you hoping to create but haven’t got chance to do yet?
I’d like to do more public gallery presentations-I’ve done a few, and it artistically rewarding, but it takes huge amounts of time and resources that I don’t always have.
