Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

August 2023 - Whitehorse Yukon

The beauty of travel is what you learn. I had never heard of the Canadian artist before.

This was on a street corner.

I remembered I had seen something about him when we were in the MacBride Museum.

TED HARRISON


Edward Hardy (Ted) Harrison was born in Wingate, County Durham, England to Charles Edward Harrison and Martha Harrison (née Thirlaway). He attended primary and grammar school in Wingate after which he attended West Hartlepool College of Art. In 1945, he interrupted his studies to serve in the Intelligence Unit of the British Army.

After a three-year tour in North Africa, he returned to England and completed his studies, earning a National Diploma in Art from West Hartlepool College of Art in 1948 and the Art Teacher Diploma from King’s College, University of Durham (now Newcastle University) in 1951. He then taught in Middlesbrough, England until 1957 when he taught at General Slim School, Cameron Highlands. While there, he was invited to paint a wall mural in the Perak Tong Temple at Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, the first European to receive that honour. He married Robina McNichol in 1960. In 1963, they left Malaysia for New Zealand, where Harrison taught at Te Kauwhata District High School, North Island.

In 1966 the Harrisons, with son Charles, returned to England where Harrison taught at the Wingate Junior School in the same classroom he and his father had attended as students. A year later, he became Art Master at Dene House. In 1967, the Harrison family moved to Wabasca, a small town in northern Alberta where he taught at St. Theresa School. The following year, he took a teaching position at Carcross, Yukon.

In 1969, Harrrison held his first Canadian exhibition in the Whitehorse Library. In 1977, he received his B. Ed from the University of Alberta. In 1980, Harrison resigned from teaching to paint full-time. The Harrisons moved to British Columbia, in 1993.

Born on August 28, 1926 in England. Died on January 16, 2015. Nationality is Canadian.

Click here to view some of his work.