We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tim Harper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tim, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
I have a painting degree from the University of Florida. When I graduated, I moved to Hawaii to meet up with my friends and enjoy the surfing life. I end up getting a good job at an ad agency, but also started my painting career. I took some of my first paintings to a gallery and remember the gallery owner laughing at them. That really hurt and I thought about quitting my pursuit as an painter. One of my best friends, who was an accomplished artist and graphic designer at the ad agency we worked at together told me that art takes time, be patient, keep painting and growing as an artist. Keep learning and get better. He insisted that one gallery owner was not going to define me and my love for painting. He encouraged me to keep painting and I am glad he did. I listened to him and I never looked back. His name is Larry Racoma.
Tim, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
When I was in high school, I drew a picture of Jimi Hendrix, left it on the kitchen table. The next time I saw it, my dad had put it in a frame and hung it in his man cave. My dad is a very creative person, so it meant something to me that he liked my art. I wanted to be an artist right then and there. I went on to study painting at the University of Florida and continued my art education at the University of Hawaii and the San Francisco Art Institute.
My love for art crosses many boundaries, many styles. I am very diverse and interested just about every movement in art. Maybe that makes me an art chameleon, so I can identify with and be inspired by many styles of art. My biggest influences come from the Fauves and abstract modernism. I love color, energy and interest. I also love the written word and tend to put them on my paintings. My Presidential series feature Presidential portraits with their quotes we remember them by. My musician series include painted on lyrics from songs they are famous for.
Assemblage is also important to me, as seen in my Urban Attraction series. Paint and anything I can rip up and put on the canvas, printed words and images from magazines. I draw a lot of inspiration from modern day artist, Mark Bradford, and Romare Beardon, the collage artist from Harlem. Great use of color and composition. My Urban Attraction series, combines my love of world cities with abstract mixed media paintings. Big, bright, colorful. They are a burst of color from across the room, but a myriad of detail to look at up close.
My wife is a former professional tennis player and I was able to travel with her to many cities around the world when she was on tour, which allowed me to see what artists are doing the world over. I believe you can draw inspiration from every artist and that’s what I try to do. The world we live in today is heavy and I want my art to lighten things up, with a smile or a laugh or a positive thought.
When I am not painting, I am the Executive Director of Harper for Kids, a charitable organization that I co-founded with my wife, Peanut Louie Harper, a former professional tennis player ranked in the top twenty in the world. Harper for Kids helps schools teach kids about character building based on UCLA Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. Peanut wrote a children’s book with Coach Wooden, Inch and Miles, The Journey To Success. I am a devoted father. My daughter, Casey, is a making a difference in the world of bio tech and medicine and my son Jared, is a emerging singer songwriter,
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was in college, one of my painting classes was run by the great American painter, Hiram Williams. He was the epitome of a painter, he had a cane and wore a beret. I didn’t even know what a master painter he was until after I graduated, I just thought he was another professor. I wish I had spent more time with him, learning everything I could. In his class, he would give us a painting assignment and we would come back the next class and then discuss our paintings as a group. Most of us came in with our one painting, but one student would come in with around 10 paintings, some of them pertaining to the assignment and others just whatever he wanted to paint. I couldn’t believe it and he might have had the greatest influence on my actual painting. I don’t think about doing one painting and moving on to the next, I am working on multiple pieces of art at once and I love that. The big lesson is, whatever is asked of you, no matter what you are doing in life, go that extra mile, do that extra thing that sets you apart. Show the world and yourself what you are capable of.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There are many rewarding aspects to being an artist. Knowing that your paintings are making someone happy, enough for them to pay money for them. I think it goes beyond a monetary reward, it validates you as an artist when people buy your paintings. You know you are doing something that makes other people happy and think about it, if they hang that painting in their home, they see it everyday and that is an extension of me, the artist. That makes me happy. When I have moved on from this earth, my paintings will live on for generations to come. That’s pretty cool. In addition, my wife and I have a children’s character development charity and we teach K-8 students the importance of good character and how it leads to success. We use legendary Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success as a tool to use for students to try and reach their personal best each and every day. One of our components is character building art projects. Here I get to talk to students about art and pass on my art skills and to see students complete their drawings, paintings, or whatever it is we are working is by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done. To be able to pass on what you have learned in this world to a new generation is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.timharpersf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timharperart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.harper.55
