| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Harlan House is an award-winning and much exhibited ceramic artist with a national and international reputation. With his roots in Alberta, the artist has been active since the late 1960s beginning with functional vessels and moving on to sculptural works such as wall plates and bas-relief murals in stoneware. These latter pieces were landscape-themed addressing his concern for the prairie environment and the pace of urban development in the province. Before relocating to southern Ontario in 1973, he completed several commissions between 1971 and 1975, including a mural for the lobby of the Alberta Government Telephones building (now called ATB Place) in Edmonton, AB. House was also featured in Prairie Sweet with Robert Sinclair and Al Wilson, a national touring exhibition organized by the Glenbow Art Gallery (1973) (now Glenbow Museum). Once in Ontario, the artist switched to more readily available porcelain, becoming celebrated for his graceful and decorative vases and plates such as his signature iris ware.
Harlan House is a 1969 graduate of the Alberta College of Art (now Alberta College of Art + Design). From 1969-1972, he taught in Calgary at the art college and for one year at the University of Calgary (1972). The artist has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions (over fifty) including a twenty-year retrospective at the Koffler Gallery in Toronto, ON (1990). House is the 1989 recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Crafts and the 1997 Jean A. Chalmers National Crafts Award. He has lectured extensively on ceramic traditions across the country. |