Jim Harkness doesn’t think of himself as an artist. And he’s not a birder.
With classic Harkness wry self- deprecation, he seems to have little difficulty telling this reporter what he is not. However, he is betrayed by his work, which speaks volumes.
There will be a retrospective of the woodcarver’s work at this year’s Creemore Festival of the Arts titled The Conscientious Effort of Jim Harkness.
Barbara Mann has been collecting and cataloging more than 260 specimens to be displayed at Creemore Log Cabin this weekend. The work has been borrowed from 30 separate collections and represents the arc of Harkness’ decades of artistry.
“First of all, we had no idea how amazingly generous Jim would be with his time,” said Mann, adding that he has an impressive memory for where many of his pieces were.
“I was curious about what had become of them,” said Harkness. “This was an opportunity to reconnect.”
The craftsmanship and recognizable style – and their affable creator – make his work highly collectible.
Having decided to leave his job as a college English teacher, Harkness started carving in 1975. He started with rocking horses, then pigs, and by 1977 it was birds, and onto other animals, people and fish.
This show mounted by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society and curated by Liz Eakins will be the first ever solo show for Harkness and will include many never before seen pieces that were made to order including many winged species, whimsical Christmas ornaments, his flying women series, and barnyard animals filling the cabin and a large tent.
In five decades Harkness has made thousands of carvings, some of which have been passed down to next generations. Some have chipped feet or a broken bill in need of repair before the show and others are perfectly intact, unlike the marriage they were commissioned for.
Harkness has chosen specific pieces himself – ones that are unusual, entertaining, and impressive, including some that are quite primitive and many that are refined.
They are outstanding examples of his work but for the most part not ducks. He said at one point he was known as the duckman but after this show he may be known as the birdman.
Harkness was featured in a 1987 profile on CBC’s The National called The art of transforming ‘a chunk of wood’ into a duck in which the work was described as “bits and pieces of enchantment from the corners of his imagination.”
It shows Harkness shaping the chunks of wood with a bandsaw, refining them by hand with files before sanding and painting.
Back then, Harkness ran a workshop out of his rural home near Stayner, staffed by full-time employees who worked alongside him during the day. Harkness said he would be in the workshop painting most evenings. All the painting was done freehand, with mediocre brushes he adds, wielded with the precision and steadiness of a signpainter.
From 2000 on he has done all the painting himself. It is a burnt umber rinse, he divulges, that gives his work a warm quality, turning the whites to beige. And fives coats of varnish give them their glossy shine.
In that 1987 interview Harkness tells the camera that there isn’t a lot of money in woodcarving and most of it goes to paying wages. Having made 90,000 pieced in the first decade, he says he plans to turn the whole operation over to his staff in a few years.
Thirty years later Harkness was still thinking of retiring but his work was still in demand. For the past few years his new creations were available exclusively at The Creemore Echo’s Newsstand, where it became apparent that a Harkness carving was a highly coveted item and one that appealed to many collectors.
Whenever Harkness mentioned retirement The Newsstand’s proprietor Sara Hershoff would threaten to throw him a retirement party. So he kept working.
Sadly, retirement was foisted upon Harkness when an oil leak forced him to close his workshop for good. Demoralized, he said he couldn’t think about continuing. So, 30 years later he hung up his files, making his catalogue of work even more sought after.
- The Conscientious Effort of Jim Harkness will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 5 and 6 at Creemore Log Cabin, located at 165 Library St. To fully appreciate Harkness’ modest artistry, be sure to take in his artist talks happing at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day.