GLENN HARREN
FINE ART
Lifesyle Magazine
Norristown, Pennsylvania
January 2007
By Lori Donovan
Finding the Beauty in the Everyday
Washing dishes, short-order cooking, bartending and driving a taxi cab
are just a few ways that artist Glenn Harren earned a living before
painting
became his full-time career. So perhaps it’s no surprise to find that
Harren’s work presents working people so perfectly—the clerk
behind a candy counter, a Wawa employee refreshing coffee pots, patient shoppers
in a long line at Costco. In every piece, Harren finds “the dignity
of the human figure.”
“
For me it’s about focusing on what’s beautiful and making it
even more beautiful,” says Harren.
Harren’s drive to become an artist began at an early age. Inspired
by his mother—also a painter—he took to drawing quickly. During
his teen years, he studied privately at local studios and spent Saturday
afternoons taking tutelage from William A. Smith, whose own portraits can
be found in the National Portrait Gallery and on United States postage
stamps.
Harren entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1978, where he
took a night job cleaning the schools museum—one of the many occupations
that influenced his work.
“
I’d put down the mop, and would have the whole collection to myself,” he
says. “Talk about inspiring.”
Harren went on to spend 13 years in the art transportation business; moving
art for museums and galleries. Although he said it could be frustrating working
in a field that was less than creative, he gained access to corporate consultants,
enabling him to show his work to influential people.
“
I got burned out moving other people’s art,” says Harren. “Now,
I’m just moving my own.”This, and his many other jobs, have
served ignite his passion for painting, and his unconventional subject
matter.
“
I had one teacher, when I was young, who told me that you had to cover a
square mile of canvas before you think of keeping one,” he says.
And though he thought this was a joke or metaphor, Harren eventually realized
that time, and many discarded canvases, would make him the artist he has
become.
“
I took it 50 yards at a time,” he said, laughing. “And I’ve
had some bonfires in my day. Today I keep more than I burn.”
Now, a number of occupations later, Harren has dedicated his life to his
art.
“
Children seem to love my work,” he says. “That’s a real
compliment. They don’t have a critical mind.”
It’s not just children who enjoy Harren’s work. A print of piece
featuring the Costco checkout line hangs at the Costco store in Montgomeryville,
and the company’s CEO liked the piece so much, the original now hangs
in his office at the corporate headquarters in Seattle. He has also earned
awards and accolades for his artwork, and his paintings have been displayed
in exhibits across the northeast.
When asked about his greatest success, Harren laughs.
“
I’m excited about the paintings that are in me 20 years from now,” he
says. “It’s like having a big family. They’re all your
favorites.”
Seven of Harren’s landscape paintings are now on display at the Radclyffe
Gallery in New Hope. His work can also be seen at Starbucks in Newtown
and, of course, at Costco in Montgomeryville