9/17/96

Contact: Fred Harris, School of Art, 614/593-0440 or 593-4290

ATHENS, Ohio -- Fred Harris, an American artist renowned in Japan for his use of traditional Japanese ink in his paintings, is teaching an intensive three-week art class and will deliver two public lectures on the Athens campus this month while serving as a visiting artist in the Ohio University School of Art.

Harris, recently named one of the 50 most important foreigners in Japan by the English-language magazine Tokyo Journal, will give a free, public lecture on the art of the Japanese print at 7 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 19) in Seigfred Hall's Mitchell Auditorium. He also will lecture on Japanese ink painting at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25 in 319 Alden Library (Friends of the Library Room) in an event sponsored by the Friends of the Kennedy Museum. He will be on campus through Sept. 27.

Harris, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., has lived in Tokyo since 1963 with his wife of 43 years, Kazuko. He is chief executive officer of The Design Studio, an interior design firm he founded which lists Coca-Cola and Mobil Oil Corp. among its many corporate clients throughout Eastern Asia.

Harris also has made his mark on the Japanese art scene, becoming one of the few Westerners in the world to perfect the use of the Japanese ink sumi-e (SOO mee eh) on Japanese paper in his work.

The visiting appointment in the School of Art follows a relationship established between Harris and Ohio University Libraries in 1994. Harris has begun donating his collection of books -- including thousands of Asian art books that are rare or difficult to find in the United States -- to the libraries. At present, about 1,200 volumes are housed in the Fine Arts Collection in Alden Library. Harris made the donation, valued at more than $100,000, at the suggestion of his friend Robert Fallon, an Ohio University alumnus and executive of Chase Bank in Tokyo.

As part of his visit this fall, Harris' paintings will be on display in Trisolini Gallery through Sept. 27. The exhibition includes landscapes, portraits, nudes and depictions of Japanese life in sumi-e; some paintings are a combination of sumi-e and watercolors.

The visit also follows more than a year of communication between Harris and School of Art Director Joe Bova. "The School of Art feels very fortunate to be able to have Fred teaching," Bova said. "It's an extraordinary opportunity for students and faculty to get this exposure. It is rare for an American art school to offer students a class like this.

In class, Harris is teaching his art students the use of sumi-e, a black ink that is quickly absorbed by paper. Artists mix the ink with water to create gray tones in their work. Students will earn four credit hours for the intensive training, which includes eight hours of class time on Fridays and Saturdays and three-hour meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"The prime interest in class should be how to use the materials," Harris said. Beyond that, he added, "I want them to do their own thing."

Harris' own paintings vary from "tight" depictions of such sights as busy street scenes or village rooftops to a more dreamlike quality in some landscapes, created by wetting the paper to blur the ink's lines. He also sketches with the ink, always carrying a sketchpad and a rarely found Japanese yatate -- a small device in which he keeps a brush and ink, which is stored in mattress batting to prevent spillage.

"I don't paint from imagination. My painting is a reaction to what I see," Harris said.

Harris taught himself to use sumi-e about 25 years ago after a student suggested he try the Japanese ink. He opted not to undergo the rigid traditional Japanese study of the technique, favoring instead adaptation of the materials to his own style of painting.

"I just wanted to use the materials. It was a lot easier for me to find my own way," he said. "I liked it. It brought out some of the qualities that I wasn't able to get with watercolors."

Harris has taught painting at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and in workshops throughout Japan. He attended the High School of Music and Art, the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design, all in New York City. His work has been exhibited across Japan and in Hong Kong.

Harris also is president of the U.S. Navy League, working to improve human relations between U.S. Navy personnel stationed in Japan and Japanese citizens, and is active with Rotary International.