Over the last thirty years my artistic style has been based on fully toned photographic silver images. By 2005 I began to incorporate the digital format into my work environment. My recent work portrays large landscapes and portraits of deer in their habitats in New Zealand, Minnesota, and Canada. I enjoy highlighting traditional activities through artistic interpretation. These subjects are of great interest to me because I combine my business interests with travelling and photography to produce images that capture typical land use and its positive impacts on the natural environment. These are places where people and animals have cohabited for generations; places where their tracks and impressions are visible through searching. These are places of the heart.
There are windows through the landscape,
Where angels speak softly of the experience.
The moment of contact gives something of value in what you see.
EXHIBITS:
2015 US Bank, Ascent Private Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2015 US Bank, Ascent Private Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2011 Allison Art Gallery, Geraldine, New Zealand
2010 Masterworks Art Foundation, Hamilton Bermuda
2009 The Grand Hand Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
2007 The Schumacher Art Gallery, Middlebury Connecticut, USA
2005 Kezia Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2004 Allison Art Gallery, Geraldine, New Zealand
2002 Then Skelly Gallery, St. Eugene, Ontario, Canada
2000 The River Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota USA
The Overlook Gallery, Portland, Oregon USA
1994 The Arbor Gallery, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
1985 La Gallerie Artlenders, with Frances Seba Smith, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1982 & 1984 The Vankleek Gallery, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
1976 Banque Canadien National, Hudson, Quebec, Canada
1967 Scholastic Photography Competition, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
GROUP SHOWS:
2015 Geraldine Historical Society Museum, New Zealand
2014 Women's International Virtual Exhibit, on line link
2014 ‘Focus on Flowers’, Ellerslie International Flower Show, Christchurch, NZ.
2005 Musee Regional de la Cote Nord, Sept Iles, Quebec, Canada
2004 Neville Studio, Dunedin, New Zealand
2001 Three Owls Gallery, Vankleek Hill, Ontario
2000 The Weave Shed Art Center, Cornwall, Ontario
1997 Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, California, U.S.A.
1993 - 1997 The Arbor Gallery, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
1986 Central Fine Arts Academy, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
1984 - 1986 The Annual May Show, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
1984 Axe Neo-7, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Hull, Quebec, Canada
1983 Graphic Art Horizons, Rideau Center, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1982 - 1983 Canadian Artists Representative (CAR), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1981 & 1983 L’Association d”Argenteuil, St. Andrews East, Quebec, Canada
1981 - 1986 The National Film Board of Canada, Traveling Exhibit, Canada
1981 The Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1979 - 1980 The Saw Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1978 - 1979 The York Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1978 - 1979 Opus 1 Gallery, Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada
1976 - 1977 The Gallery in the Mews, Hudson, Quebec, Canada
PUBLISHED WORKS:
2015 Sea Winter Salmon: Chronicles of the St. John River, non-fiction book by MHH
2006 Photograph in Cooks at L’Eau a la Bouche by Anne Desjardins
Photograph in Au Pied de Cochon-The Album by Martin Picard
2001 The Woman’s Daybook 2002, Cover Photograph, Toronto, Ontario
2000 The Woman’s Daybook 2001, Toronto, Ontario
1997 Photographs in The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1979 - 1983 Photographs published in various publications: including
Le Droit: Newspaper, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1987 Portrait of F. Pemberton Smith; the Artist for her book
1975 & 1977 The Montreal Star, Montreal Quebec
The Atlantic Salmon Journal, New Brunswick
1971 Portrait of Ralph Gustafson; The Poet for his book
BOOK EVENTS & SIGNINGS:
September 12,2015
Les Mots Tremblant, Mount Tremblant, Québec
June 28, 2015
Greenwood Centre for Living History
Hudson, Québec
April 24, 2015
Blue Metropolis Montreal
International Literary Festival
10 Sherbrooke St. W., Montrea, lQuébec
April 16, 2015
Atwater Library
Westmount, Québec
April 11, 2015
ImagiNation Writers' Festival
The Morrin Centre
Québec City, Québec
March 6, 2015
Geraldine Historical Society Museum
Geraldine, New Zealand,
PHOTOGRAPHS & WRITING – 1976-2015
Over the last thirty years Mari Hill Harpur’s artistic style has been based on
fully toned photographic silver images. By 2005 she began to incorporate
the digital format into her work environment. Ms. Harpur has had two
parallel careers; one as a photographer and the other as a businesswoman
in the fields of forestry and farming. Ms. Harpur became interested in
deer after a trip to New Zealand with Doug, her husband in 1988 where
they became acquainted with deer farming. She said she “became fascinated
not only by the animals themselves, but also by the environment in
which they live -- they are at the extremes of our habitat, whether they
are on the mountain tops or at the ocean.” Her recent work portrays
large landscapes and portraits of deer in their habitats in New Zealand,
Minnesota, and Canada. Recently, she was the Artist in Residence at the
Masterworks Foundation in Hamilton, Bermuda. Her proposal included
emphasis in the Bermudian landscape while highlighting
traditional agricultural practices through with black and white photography.
Minor White said: “You photograph something for two reasons: for what
it is, and for what else it is.” Agriculture and farming present many aspects
for me as a photographer. The subject is of great interest to me because I
combine my business interests with traveling and photography to produce
images that capture typical land use and its positive impacts on the natural
environment. These images are not of empty spaces. These are places
where people and animals have cohabited for generations; places where
their tracks and impressions are visible through searching. She particularly
enjoys highlighting traditional activities through artistic interpretation
These are places of the heart.
There are windows through the landscape,
Where angels speak softly of the experience.
The moment of contact gives something of value in what you see.
(Mari Hill Harpur 2004)
“Throughout my photographic career, I have had many mentors, among
photographers: Ruth Bernhard, John Sexton, whose workshop I attended with in
1995 and in 2001 and R. Mac Holbert of The Image Collective, Ashland,
Oregon. In 2004, I attended a workshop under Mac when he was still
the principle owner of Nash Editions, Manhattan Beach, California.
More recently within the arena of digital capture, my photographic career
has taken another step. I have entered into the author’s world with my
first published non-fiction book:
“Sea Winter Salmon: Chronicles of the St. John River”.
I felt the need to revive this story about our family’s fishing camp in Eastern Canada and re-assemble it to uncover generations of dust. This proved to be a daunting journey during which a fervent archivist in the person of Eileen McCormack. Together, we weave a story which is sometimes dramatic, occasionally tragic, often amusing and, at other times, informative with regard to the challenges of this remote and delicate region. This book addresses itself to historians, biographers, conservation biologists and no less, to fisher women and men everywhere.
I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1949. My uncle, Jerome Hill, was an Oscar
recipient, and an accomplished musician, a filmmaker, photographer, and painter.
He introduced me to the art world at a young age. Additionally my parents encouraged
my interest in photography and helped build my first darkroom in a linen closet.
That was in 1965. I have been practising photography ever since.
Mari Hill Harpur
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2015