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sketches by Frank Harmon

Special Exhibition of Original Sketches by Frank Harmon Opens at Rebus Works January 23

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The Opening Reception will include a Gallery Talk and Book-Signing

Sketches by Frank Harmon

Steam Clock by Frank Harmon

​“I make my sketches very quickly because I’m not trying to make a pretty drawing. My aim is to record, and perhaps to understand, what I’m experiencing and seeing,” explains architect/author Frank Harmon, FAIA, in his book, Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See.

On January 23 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm, Rebus Works Art Gallery in Raleigh will celebrate the book and its author with an Opening Reception and Gallery Talk for a special exhibition of the same title. On display will be 21 of Harmon’s original/one-of-a-kind, framed, 5”x7” watercolor sketches published in the book.

Frank Harmon never intended to show his sketches as stand-alone artwork, he says. But at home in Raleigh and at every stop along his on-going book tour, he’s persistently asked when they’ll be available for purchase. He was finally talked into it.

The exhibition and sale at Rebus Works will run through February 20th.

Now in its third printing, Native Places, the book, is a collection of 64 sketches paired with very brief essays. The sketches, some of them 30 years old, convey the delight Harmon finds in ordinary places and everyday objects as well as architecture and nature. Inspired by the sketches, the essays convey in only 200 words his memories, insights, and fresh interpretations of what we tend to take for granted.

Harmon has kept a sketchbook in his pocket since he was a student at the Architecture Association in London, he says. “I’d discovered that if I took a photograph of a place, I would probably forget it. But if I sketched it, I remembered that place forever.” He still makes a sketch every day.

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sketches by Frank Harmon

Mill Creek Boathouse by Frank Harmon

Through his book and now the Rebus Works exhibition, Harmon hopes to prove “that hand-drawing is not an obsolete skill” and, perhaps more importantly, “…to transform the way we see.” For more information and excerpts, visit nativeplacesthebook.com.

Harmon will give a Gallery Talk on the evening of the Opening. Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh will provide copies of the book and he’ll be happy to sign them, as well.

Rebus Works is located in the Boylan Heights neighborhood at 301-2 Kinsey Street, Raleigh 27603 (919-754-8452). For details and directions: rebusworks.us.

About Frank Harmon

Frank Harmon, FAIA, has designed sustainable modern buildings across the Southeast for 30 years. He discovered architecture as a child playing in the streams and woods of his native Greensboro, North Carolina. His work engages pressing contemporary issues such as “placelessness,” sustainability, and restoration of cities and nature.

A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Harmon is a graduate of the Architectural Association in London and a popular professor of architecture at the North Carolina State University College of Design. He has taught at the Architectural Association and has been a visiting critic at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Virginia. He continues to serve as a visiting critic at Auburn University’s renowned Rural Studio.

Scuppernong Books in Greensboro Welcomes Native Son Frank Harmon and ‘Native Places’ on January 27

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Frank sketching

FRANK HARMON (PHOTO BY CHRISTINE SIMELOFF)

Multi-award-winning architect Frank Harmon, FAIA, grew up in the 1950s on Rolling Road in Greensboro. In the introduction to his new critically acclaimed book Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See, Harmon relates that he “discovered reading in the Greensboro Public Library” and that he “learned most of what I needed to know to be an architect” playing by his favorite stream, which “ran between rocky banks in East Greenway Park.”

A professor in the NC State University College of Design as well as a practicing architect, Frank Harmon has called Raleigh home for many decades. But on Sunday, January 27, he will return to his hometown when Scuppernong Books hosts a special book-signing event for Native Places and its native son. Free and open to the public, the book-signing event will begin at 3 pm.

Van Gogh’s window

Delight in Ordinary Places: 

Published by ORO Editions, Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See is a collection of 64 of Harmon’s watercolor sketches paired with brief essays he’s written about architecture, nature, and everyday objects and places that first appeared on his popular online journal NativePlaces.org. The sketches convey the delight he finds in ordinary places. The short essays, inspired by the sketches, offer his fresh interpretations of what most people take for granted.

Harmon’s goal for Native Places is, in fact, “to transform the way we see,” he says, and to promote his belief that hand drawing offers “an opportunity to develop a natural grace in the way we view the world and take part in it.” He will explain both concepts in his presentation.

What others are saying about Native Places: 

In a letter to the Harmon, poet, author, and former North Carolina poet laureate Fred Chappell wrote, “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 sketchbook, a memoir, travel journal, aesthetic experiment, a collection of small familiar essays, and maybe in some respects even a manifesto.”

Mike Welton, the architecture critic for the Raleigh News & Observer, calls Harmon’s book “delightful” and suggests that it is “destined to change how we see this world.”

Tom Kundig, FAIA, of Olsen Kundig Architects in Seattle, WA, praises Harmon and his book for “reminding us in brilliant, thoughtful, quiet meditation our unbelievable luck to be alive and to think. A masterful legacy on all levels.”

Scuppernong Books is located at 304 South Elm Street. For more information: www.scuppernongbooks.coim (336-763-1919).

For more details on Frank Harmon and Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See, visit the book’s website (nativeplacesthebook.com) and Facebook page.

Frank Harmon Times Two on January 22: “The State of Things” and The Regulator Bookshop host the architect/author and his new book, ‘Native Places’

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At noon on Tuesday, January 22, award-winning architect-turned-author Frank Harmon will join Frank Stasio on the latter’s live public radio show “The State of Things” (91.5 FM) at noon. That evening, at 7 p.m., Harmon will join book enthusiasts at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham when the store’s owners, Wander Lorentz de Haas and Elliot Berger, host a book-signing event with Durham architect Ellen Cassilly introducing the author.

Both occasions will celebrate Harmon’s new, critically acclaimed book Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See.

Published by ORO Editions, Native Places is a collection of 64 of Harmon’s watercolor sketches paired with 200-word essays he’s written about architecture, nature, and everyday objects and places that first appeared in his popular online journal NativePlaces.org. The sketches convey the delight he finds in ordinary places and things. The short essays, inspired by the sketches, offer his fresh interpretations of what most people take for granted — from an old screen door on the Carolina coast to a handmade plow in Provence.

Harmon’s goal for Native Places is, in fact, “to transform the way we see,” he says, and to promote his belief that hand drawing offers “an opportunity to develop a natural grace in the way we view the world and take part in it.”

On January 22, he will explain both concepts at The Regulator and on “The State of Things.”

“Leonardo Da Vinci said that drawing was a way to understand the world,” Harmon offers. “The point is not to make a pretty drawing. The point is to draw what you see.”

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Produced by North Carolina Public Radio on WUNC-FM, “The State of Things” spotlights North Carolina issues, personalities, and places. The live show featuring Frank Harmon will air at noon then be rebroadcast at 8 pm.

Located at 720 Ninth Street, The Regulator Bookshop has been a popular destination for Durham book enthusiasts since John Valentine and Tom Campbell founded the store in 1976. Employees there for many years, Wander Lorentz de Haas and Elliot Berger bought The Regulator in March of 2018.

The Regulator event is free and open to the public and copies of Harmon’s book will be available for purchase. For more information: regulatorbookshop.com (919-286-2700).

For more information on Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See and to keep up with future events, visit nativeplacesthebook.com and the book’s Facebook page.

 

Frank Harmon at Blue Bicycle Books

Charleston’s Blue Bicycle Books Hosts Architect/Author Frank Harmon and ‘Native Places’ on January 17.

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Frank Harmon at Blue Bicycle Books

Architect and author Frank Harmon, FAIA, who designed the modern, award-winning Sunday School addition to the historic Circular Congregational Church in Charleston and the “Seven Sisters” residence on St. Helena Island, will present his new, critically acclaimed book  Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See when Blue Bicycle Books hosts a book-signing event on Thursday, January 17, beginning at 5 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the event will begin with an introduction of the Raleigh, NC-based author by South Carolina architect Whitney Powers. Harmon will then give a presentation about his book and his passion for hand sketching. After a Q&A with the audience, he will sign copies of Native Places, which will be available for purchase in the store.

Native Places by Frank HarmonDelight in Ordinary Places:  Published by ORO Editions, Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See is a collection of 64 of Harmon’s watercolor sketches paired with brief essays he’s written about architecture, everyday objects and sites, and nature that first appeared on his internationally popular blog NativePlaces.org. The sketches convey the delight he finds in ordinary places. The short essays, inspired by the sketches, offer his fresh interpretations of what most people take for granted.

Harmon’s goal for Native Places is, in fact, “to transform the way we see,” he says, and to promote his belief that hand drawing offers “an opportunity to develop a natural grace in the way we view the world and take part in it.” He will explain both concepts in his presentation.

What others are saying about Native Places: In his review of the book, Charles Linn, FAIA, architect, writer, and former deputy editor of Architectural Record, wrote, “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.” (Linn also helped Harmon select and organize the sketch-essay pairs for the book.)

Mike Welton, architecture critic for the Raleigh News & Observer, calls Harmon’s book “delightful” and suggests that it is “destined to change how we see this world.”

Tom Kundig, FAIA, of Olsen Kundig Architects in Seattle, WA, praises Harmon and his book for “reminding us in brilliant, thoughtful, quiet meditation our unbelievable luck to be alive and to think. A masterful legacy on all levels.”

Owned and operated by Jonathan Sanchez, Blue Bicycle Books is located at 420 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403 (843.722.2666); bluebicyclebooks.com.

For more details on Frank Harmon and Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See, visit the book’s website (nativeplacesthebook.com) and Facebook page.

The Art of Native Places: FOUNDATION Hosts Opening Reception, Book Signing for Frank Harmon and Fall Exhibition

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For almost a decade, the underground bar in downtown Raleigh called FOUNDATION (in all caps) has celebrated the wealth of artistic talent in the Triangle region by displaying local artists’ works on its walls beneath Fayetteville Street. The exhibitions change seasonally with one piece by the featured artist emblazoned on the cover of FOUNDATION’S menu during that season.

For its Fall 2018 exhibit, FOUNDATION will present a different type of show than usual. This one will feature a selection of hand-drawn sketches and the brief essays that accompany them in Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See, a new book by renowned Raleigh architect/author/artist/professor Frank Harmon, FAIA.

Free and open to the public, the opening reception/book signing will be held this Sunday, September 30, from 2-4 pm. (Anyone under 21 will have to leave promptly at 4 when the bar begins selling alcoholic beverages.) The exhibition will run through December.

During the reception, Harmon will give a brief talk about Native Places and the many benefits of sketching, then sign copies of his book. The book will be available for purchase from a bookseller representing Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh.

FOUNDATION is located downstairs from the “American Underground @ Raleigh” awning at 213 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 (919-896-6016).

Native Places by Frank Harmon“To Change The Way We See”

Published by ORO Editions, Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See is a collection of 64 watercolor sketches paired with brief essays about architecture, landscape, everyday objects, and nature. The sketches convey the delight the author finds in ordinary places. The 200-word essays, inspired by the sketches, offer his fresh interpretations of what readers might have taken for granted.

“My goal has always been to change the way we see,” Harmon said, referring to his popular blog NativePlaces.org, which inspired the book. “I’d like to enable people to notice what’s in their backyards. And it’s satisfying to give people something quiet in their morning inbox amongst the deluge of emails.”

Native Places is currently available on Amazon and at Quail Ridge Books. For more information, visit nativeplacesthebook.com and follow the Facebook page for future events and other news.