From New Orleans to Panama City, Costa Rica to Wetumpka, Dow Harris is a true traveler at heart, and his art has evolved with his travels.
Harris really became interested in the arts when he was a student at Savannah College of Art & Design. He was initially involved in the theater program, but that turned into more design projects and films, and that’s when his art really started to take off.
In 2008, Harris left Savannah and embarked on a trip to Panama City, Panama. He traveled to New Orleans and then Austin, Texas, before selling his van in Brownsville, Texas.
“I literally walked to Mexico with my dog and a backpack,” Harris said. “I went to the Panama Canal, hitchhiked and rode the bus.”
Ultimately, Harris ran out of money and ended up in Costa Rica, where he settled for two years working on digital design projects such as websites.
But it was in Costa Rica that his current art really took off.
“There was a point where my computer started not working so well,” Harris said. “I’m in the jungle and I got frustrated creatively, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll start drawing with whatever I can find.’ I started developing a new style with what you would call crayons.”
He began developing work and even debuted in his first show. Harris’s style is what he describes as magical realism.
“The idea is that the figures or the settings are realistic, but there are elements that are kind of strange or imaginative and not of this world or time,” Harris said.
After doing some work and gaining strength, Harris left Costa Rica and tried to make a name for himself on the west coast of the United States, finally landing in Santa Bárbara.
There, he became involved in a weekly beach art walk and even became a judge of sorts.
Ultimately, Harris returned to Alabama to raise his family and took a job at Tallapoosa Publishers Inc. This helped him connect with the Wetumpka community, where he will debut his art at the Downtown Artists Show on May 18.
Harris’ current art series is on black cardstock with vivid pastels. All of her work is freehand; it doesn’t track anything.
“I switched to black paper because I found that the color seems to stand out from black in a way that it doesn’t with white,” Dow said. “I liked that.”
