David Harrison

David Harrison was born in Yorkshire, England, and studied at the University of London before teaching art and craft in central London. Immigrating to Calgary he taught high school art for the Calgary Board of Education and completed graduate studies at the University of Calgary. He has done sessional instruction for both the Universities of Calgary and Lethbridge and has worked as an examiner for the College Board in New Jersey. Recently he has been a guest critic and has juried a national exhibition for the Canadian Society of Portrait Painters. He is a past president of the Calgary Artists’ Society and the Fine Arts Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

The proud owner of a watercolour paint set given to him by his grandparents as a Christmas gift more than 50 years ago, David is a painter who uses his strong drawing and design skills to produce rich compositions of great simplicity. His work is often driven by strong drawing yet he is equally comfortable working in a spontaneous and intuitive manner.  His sketchbooks are a record of his imaginary townscapes heavily influenced by his Yorkshire background, by his travels to more than 50 countries, and by his love of the Alberta landscape. He is a juried member of the Alberta Society of Artists.

Recently his work has included mixed media and is becoming increasingly larger and  more abstract. His artistic influences from England were painters John Piper and David Hockney. In Canada he has investigated the broken field painting of Brent Laycock, and the reductivist approach of Robert Sinclair.

David’s work is in private collections in numerous countries and it continues to evolve in surprising and exciting ways.

David Harrison’s Webpage

e-mail David Harrison

Alberta Society of Artists

Calgary Artists’ Society