Trish Harding has discovered that through teaching and sharing her knowledge of art she also reaps the benefits. Teaching provides a support community that she found lacking in her life after moving back to Bellingham from San Francisco where she studied fine art and illustration at the Academy of Art College. Creating lesson plans and demos has not only helped hundreds of other artists understand and see their work with more clarity, but it has also helped her more deeply internalize the information herself. Everything from facilitating art discussions to hiring models for the figure-based classes has allowed her to bring more richness and dimension to her own art, which she actively pursues in addition to teaching at Whatcom Community College and her own Studio UFO at 301 West Holly Street, Bellingham.

Trish is an award-winning artist and works in such disciplines as watercolor, acrylic, oil, pastel, ceramic, and printmaking. Trish shows and competes regularly and has been affiliated with many benefits through the years such as Heartworks, Evergreen Aids Foundation, Reaching for the Light, Boys & Girls Club, Arthritis Foundation and the Mt. Baker Theatre Renovation to name a few. Her piece Chrysalis can be viewed in the lobby of the Mt. Baker Theatre.

Artist Statement

Oil paintings by Trish Harding

301 W. Holly Street –Suite M4

Bellingham, WA. 98225

360 319-6115

trish.harding@studioufo.net

www.studioufo.net

Altitude

 Altitude is a show that is inspired by a road trip to Mazama in the Fall of 2007 as we drove from Bellingham which is sea level and traveled steadily up and over highway 20 to end up at over 6000 feet at Hart’s Pass, literally, sittin’ on top o’ the world!

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Through the use of light and value my aim was to capture the feeling of an other-worldliness that sitting on a mountaintop brings.  I carefully constructed the compositions to give a sensation of vertigo that I experience when I am at high altitudes.  I used circular under-paintings that would influence the direction of bold, colorful brush strokes to create a feeling of motion, completeness and connection, all adjectives, which have often been used to describe our son, Ryan. 

 With these paintings I am taking the viewer on that road trip with me during a magic autumn day of excited anticipation to see Ryan’s new cabin at the base of Goat Mountain and to experience with me the feeling that I had that day which was…”The world around me is incredible and my children are amazing. My husband is by my side and I do not require one more single thing or circumstance that will make me any happier or more fulfilled than I am right now!” That feeling was to change.  By the next autumn we were traveling to Mazama again but this time heading East on Highway 90 and for a very somber reason.   The second part of the show depicts the emotional journey back from retrieving our beloved Ryan’s ashes. 

I am convinced that Ryan’s belief that he was and remains a critical piece in the larger scheme of Mother Nature is what enabled him to experience life with no fear and no greed.  But the feeling that he experienced when he had climbed to the top of a 1500-foot face of granite under his own physical prowess was the ultimate.

 The artistic journey that I have taken to put this show together was extremely difficult and cathartic at the same time.  I now revere the places that Ryan loved, I understand that risk was a huge component of Ryan’s rock climbing experience and this risk was indeed the biggest component of Ryan’s prelude to the mystery!   Ryan Alan Murray TriplettJune 5, 1977-September 7, 2008More info about Ryan:  Rock and Ice, issue 179 / July 2009, Cliff Noteshttp://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=672814 

Chasing A Moment

I paint “en plein air” all year round welcoming all kinds of weather and the nuances of the change of the seasons.   My objective is to capture the Liquid Light of the Northwest.  Whether it is the glistening oyster-white skies ricocheting off the water or Prussian blue, lightening-loaded thunderheads crawling up the side of the Cascades, I am always anxious to express the multi-sensory experience with my paintings.  I have been seen many times chasing a canvas down a bluff or across a parking lot through blustering winds and driving rain.  If you look closely you might find pieces of grasses embedded in some of my paintings or drip lines left from a downpour.

I paint local icons such as Douglas fir trees, the San Juan Islands, logged off foothills, and downtown scenes and images, including industrial landscapes.  I strive to find the perfect balance between strong drawing based on perception and my mind’s eye.  I use vibrant color, strong value contrast and allow myself room to discover as I paint by being sensitive to and welcoming the arrival of peak experiences.  Painting outdoors for me is chasing a moment that will never come again therefore, a serious business that feels important, true and authentic.

 

Trish Harding 

Trish.harding@studioufo.net

www.studioufo.net

Birthplace-Everett, WA

Lives & works-Bellingham, WA

Education

2007                Artist Trust Edge Program                                               Bellingham, WA

1976-77            Academy of Art College                                     San Francisco, CA 1969-70            Western Washington State College                            Bellingham, WA

  

Solo/Two Person Exhibits

2009    Confluence Gallery            Elements                                               Twisp, WA

            Blue Horse Gallery            Altitude, solo                                        Bellingham, WA

            WECU                             Stitched, the Double Triptych                   Bellingham, WA

2008    Blue Horse Gallery            BHG Debut of Trish Harding, solo            Bellingham, WA

2007    Allied Arts                  Puget Sound Scapes, two-person            Bellingham, WA

            Blaine Jazz Festival            Selected Paintings, solo                 Blaine, WA

            Studio UFO                Strange Fruit. solo                                 Bellingham, WA

            Mindport Gallery            Strange Fruit, solo                                 Bellingham, WA

DIS                              Recent Landscapes, solo                  Bellingham, WA

            WECU                         Deconstruction of GP, solo                  Bellingham, WA

Group Exhibits

2010    Blue Horse Gallery                  NPS Members’ Show            Bellingham, WA

            Gallery By the Bay                      Unclad Show                     Stanwood, WA

2009    American Art Company             NPS 23 International           Tacoma, WA  

            Scott Milo Gallery                      NPS Signature Show           Anacortes, WA     

            Blue Horse Gallery                     NPS Members’ Show          Bellingham, WA

            Blue Horse Gallery                     Memories of San Miguel      Bellingham, WA

            Loomis Hall Gallery                                                               Blaine, WA

2008    American Art Company, NPS International Show                  Tacoma, WA

            Woodstock Farm Conservancy Art Show                              Bellingham, WA

             Mindport Gallery, Edge Graduates Art Show                        Bellingham, WA

2007    Harbor Gallery-Waterworks, NWWS                                   Gig Harbor, WA

            Gallery By the Bay-Brushes With the Land                             Stanwood, WA

            Scott Milo Gallery-Members Show NPS                               Anacortes, WA                            

            Allied Arts Gallery-La Bella Strada Juried Art Show               Bellingham, WA

            Studio UFO Gallery-Portraits of Courage                               Bellingham, WA

            Another Roadside Attraction-Peace Art Show                       Mt. Vernon, WA

            Studio UFO Gallery-Peace                                                    Bellingham, WA

            Blue Horse Gallery-Ship of Fools                                           Bellingham, WA

            Allied Arts Gallery-Members Show                                        Bellingham, WA

2006    Studio UFO Gallery-PAPO 2006                                           Bellingham, WA

            Gallery By the Bay-Brushes With the Land                              Bellingham, WA

            Whatcom Museum of History & Art-All That Jazz                   Bellingham, WA

            Studio UFO Gallery-Red                                                        Bellingham, WA

            Allied Arts Gallery-Contrast, Metaphors and Dinosaurs           Bellingham, WA

            Kaewyn Gallery-Plein Air Washington                                     Bothell, WA

            Clymer Gallery-Members Exhibit NPS                                    Ellensburg, WA

            Blue Horse Gallery-Ship of Fools                                            Bellingham, WA

            Gallery By the Bay-Unclad Show                                            Stanwood, WA

            Portland Gallery-Unclad                                                         Portland, OR

            Seattle Convention Center-Special Members Show NPS        Seattle, WA

            Allied Arts Gallery-Members Show                                        Bellingham, WA

            Lucia Douglas Gallery-Tree Show                                          Bellingham, WA

            Studio UFO Gallery-Reviewing a City By the Bay                   Bellingham, WA

            BC Space-For Shame                                                             Laguna Beach, CA

            Blue Horse Gallery-Impressions of France                               Bellingham, WA

            Key Center-EAFA 30^th Annual                                              Bellevue, WA

            Edison Eye-Mt. Blanchard                                                      Edison, WA

            Kirsten Gallery-Waterworks NWWS                                     Seattle, WA

            Studio UFO Gallery-An Artist Behind Every Tree                   Bellingham, WA

            Kirsten Gallery-NPS Exhibit                                                   Seattle, WA

            Ideation Gallery-Members Exhibit NPS                                  Olympia, WA

Publications & Reviews

2009    Bellingham Herald

Article: Bellingham show combines art and grief over loss of son, author Dean Kahn, publish date September 6, 2009

2008    Entertainment News Northwest, Cover & Feature article page 4 &

            5,  March issue, www.ennw.com

2007    Whatcom Independent, November issue

                   Entertainment News Northwest, November issue

Commissions

Woodlawn Park Hospital-The Dalles, WA                  9 large-scale watercolors

Mt Baker Theater, Bellingham, WA                              Chrysalis, 1 large-scale water media

Professional Activities

2009         Arts of Snohomish, juror

2008-2010             Northwest Pastel Society President

2007          Blaine High School Art Show, juror

2008+2009     Woodstock Farm Conservancy Art Show Committee, Art lead & juror

2006+2009     1st-4th Annual PAPO (Downtown Bellingham Plein Air Paint Out

2008+2009      and Exhibition), Facilitator, sponsor & curator

 2006         Borders Without Boundaries, juror for WWU VU Gallery Student Show 2006         League of Women Voters-Lecture & Presentation of Deconstruction of GP Current              SAM Member

                        Artist Trust Member

                        Downtown Bellingham Partnership Member  

                        Allied Arts of Whatcom County Member

Professional Experience

2008                 Mexico City & San Miguel, Mexico-Instructor                        The People’s Painting, Facilitator2001-present     Trish Harding School of Art -Sole Proprietor/Instructor, Bellingham, WA2001-present    Studio UFO Gallery-Owner/Curator, Bellingham, WA                         Trish Harding School of Art at Studio UFO, painting, drawing instructor1998-present     Whatcom Community College-Painting, Figure Drawing & Sculpting Instructor2006 & 2007     Creative Arts Community-Figure Drawing & Painting Instructor, Portland, OR2008 & 20092005                 St Julien Lars, France-Life Drawing, instructor     

AWARDS

Honorable Mention                                    NPS Members Show, pastel

1^st Professional Division 2009                    NW Washington Fair

Holbein Award 2009                                 NPS 23^rd International Show

1^st Honorable Mention 2009                     NPS Members Show

1^st Place   2008                                        ADG Printers Painting Contest

Best of Show 2006                                   NW Washington Fair, pastel

Mayor’s Arts Award 2006                        Trish Harding School of Art at Studio UFO

Honorable Mention 2006                          NPS Members Show, pastel

Blue Ribbon 2006                                     NW Wash Fair, pastel

Honorable Mention 2005                           EAFA, Honorable Mention, acrylic

Red Ribbon 2004                                      NW Wash Fair, sculpture

Inspiration Award 2004                             WCC Faculty Show, acrylic

Second Place 2004                                    International Sculpting contest, Salt Lake, UT