With the death of Ted Harrison last week, we lost a truly Canadian artist 鈥� one who showed us our country in a unique way.
Harrison, who died in Victoria at 88, had lived in the Yukon for a quarter of a century. Although he was from England, it was the North that inspired him. While teaching art to young people, he developed his own talent.
Harrison used remarkable colours in his paintings of the Arctic. They don鈥檛 look like anything you would see in a photo of the North. But they capture something about the place and the feelings of the artist that a camera cannot show.
His work connected to us in a way that few others could.
That communication between the artist and those who experience his or her work is one of the reasons we value art, and why we mourn the loss of someone as talented as Harrison.
It鈥檚 one of the reasons that art matters. A good artist makes us feel or think. Art does not simply adorn our world; it challenges our minds and our souls to understand that world.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 artists 鈥� whether they are First Nations or descended from one of the many groups who arrived here over the generations 鈥� bring their own personal and cultural histories with them when they interpret our country. Through their eyes, we see sa国际传媒 鈥� and our small part of it 鈥� anew.
We can be thankful that though Harrison is gone, his paintings remain.
