Richard Harrison Artist’s Bio- Richard Harrison, Owner and Chief Day Dreamer of A Midsummer’s Mural, has an MFA from North Carolina School for the Arts, and a Bachelor’s in Art from Ottawa University, Ottawa Kansas. He has been teaching or working professionally in large scale art since 1989. Richard Has taught full time for five years including at The Virginia Magnet School for the Arts, and Lagrange College, in Lagrange Georgia. And he has taught part time at Belleview University, in Belleview Nebraska. He began doing art in Omaha under the business name A Midsummer’s Mural in 1999. Richard’s company has received awards from the mayor of Omaha, the Governor of Nebraska, and was chosen to do a 1% For Art Project for the Central Nebraska Veterans Home. He helped create the South Omaha Mural Project, a series of murals celebrating the history and ethnic neighborhoods of the Magic City that has been featured on NETV’s Nebraska Stories television show. The series includes a mural for the sesquicentennial of Nebraska that was designated a Legacy Project by the state legislature. Last year, Richard led a team of artists to paint the Starseed Mural on the Ardent Mills grain silo in South Omaha, reaching 120’ high and 238’ across, the mural incorporates Lakota symbols composed by artist Sarah Rowe. Artist’s Statement- In all of my paint work I try to capture a feeling of wholeness that seems embedded in the universe. I am intrigued by how the impressionists resonated with atmosphere and light and form and moved away from using hard edges in their paintings. I enjoy spattering or sponging translucent layers of paint similar to the way impressionists used pointillism to create vibrating fields of color when seen at a distance. My preferred way of working with paint harmonizes with the way I see the world. There is wonderful variation in the universe. When you pick up a rock or hold a fallen tree leaf or have a conversation with a friend you realize how they are one of a kind. The uniqueness of each thing in nature is wonderful in itself but it’s also interesting in that so often those individual elements or people make up collective organisms like trees or mountains or communities. In my public art projects, I try to connect people to work collaboratively and reflect this theme, that unique and beautiful individuals form unique and beautiful communities. I hope to reminded people of their value as individuals and groups and encourage them to try to live out those ideas. Recently I have been working on a series of canvases that try to merge the form of architectural landscapes with the communities that inhabit them. I hope to portray homes, businesses and neighborhoods in Omaha, with a double exposure effect of layered images, to explore the community they have fostered over time.