What others are saying about Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See

“I first saw the sketches and read the essays in this volume and many more, by visiting his website, nativeplaces.org. For those who love drawing, seek enlightenment and inspiration from the things they may pass by every day, and perhaps want to capture them in their own sketchbooks, I give Native Places my highest recommendation.” —Charles Linn, FAIA, Amazon Customer Review

“Like a child picking up fistfuls of seemingly commonplace stones, Harmon gathers places in all their forms and meanings and thoughtfully lays them in his book, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary and everyday life takes on a new texture and meaning.” –– Eleanor Spicer Rice, Ph.D

“Native Places provides a reflective pause in my busy day to consider the humanity of buildings and places. I find my sense of hope and possibility renewed in these simple, evocative drawings and the wisdom that accompanies them.” – Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, Marlon Blackwell Architect, Fayetteville, Arkansas

“As subjects of this architect’s drawings and commentary, ordinary objects take on extraordinary presence: chairs, mailboxes, a screened door, windows, porches, steps, columns, balconies are rendered with a spirit of the place and the people who have used them, sometimes over many decades. Harmon’s drawings are a way to see the human dimension present in all architecture.” — Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D, FAIA, for CommonEdge.org

“Every morning I look forward to the surprise of the unscheduled dispatch from North Carolina’s Frank Harmon reminding us in brilliant thoughtful, quiet meditation our unbelievable luck to be alive and to think. A masterful legacy on all levels.” – Tom Kundig, FAIA, Olson Kundig Architects, Seattle, Washington

“Native Places…has afforded me happy pleasures, different from any that I have before derived from a book. It is unusual in many ways, one of which is that it defies strict classification. It is a sketch book, a memoir, travel journal, aesthetic experiment, a collection of small familiar essays, and maybe in some respects even a manifesto.”  –– Fred Chappell, poet, author, and former North Carolina poet laureate.

“Native Places is a delightful book, destined to change how we see this world.” – J. Michael Welton, architecture critic, News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina

What others have said about Frank Harmon’s book-signing events

“Off the top of my head, [the Scuppernong Books event, Jan. 27] makes my 536,894th [book-signing] —and I may be undercounting. But Frank Harmon’s is now right up there among the few best I have ever heard. Content, delivery, manner, personally grounded, sincere, insightful, and interesting, really interesting. It was a privilege, a word we too rarely get to use in my business, for me to get to sit there and hear/see Frank quietly pull some quietly spectacular rabbits out of his hat…The afternoon left me buzzing with energy and ideas. I still feel the creative warmth…” – Richard Gantt, Professor of Fine Arts, UNC-Greensboro

Summer 2020: Frank launches virtual book talks…

“Frank Harmon, FAIA, reveals how we can change the way we observe everyday objects and ordinary places not through arduous hours of drawing, but through quick and simple sketching,” said Scott Clowney, AIA | DC’s director of public programs. “Harmon’s talk — filled with personal and professional anecdotes — delighted our audience with inspired thinking while sharing easy tips to challenge the way we see the world.” — Scott Clowney, Director of Events and Public Programs, AIA | DC.

“We were looking to invite talented architects to speak to the firm and share their excellent design work as a way to reinvigorate our design conversations and give us a fresh new perspective. Given that Frank is an incredibly talented architect and that Jeffrey [Lee] knows him well, we thought maybe he would be interested in sharing his ideas with us. We were so honored to have him join us! Many of our colleagues know of Frank’s work, but we had not met him personally. So when we announced that he was joining us people were incredibly excited to attend.” — Carolina Uechi, Quinn Evans, Washington, DC