Harry Anderson 1975 - 1979, a written account.
Anderson continued to exhibit Sculpture, Site specific pieces, Photography, Printmaking and Artist books in the years between 1975 and 1979.
In March of 1975 DEPATURE FROM THE PRESENT opened at the Peale House Galleries of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Exhibiting were Harry Anderson and Tom Chimes. The success of the exhibition leads to his 1978 showing at the Museum at Sunrise in Charleston, West Virginia which was curated by Fred Kane. Opening at the University of Rhode Island that same month in 1975 was an exhibition of Harry’s work and that of Jamie Carpenter.
In 1975 he would receive his first recognition from National Endowment for the Arts, an Individual Grant in Sculpture.
With the purchase of a house, his collecting activities increased adding to his stock of resources for the site specific work.
One work, FEISTA IN THE GRASS, clearly show the link between many of Anderson’s activities of the time. Taking objects collected he creates a site specific work with them as his materials, then he documents the work photographically in order to make a photo silkscreen. He will later use the image in a book work. Thus a work originally conceived of for an outdoor sculpture exhibition in the azalea gardens of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that was curated by Mary Kilroy to celebrate the upcoming bicentennial turns into source material for two other works in different media.
FIESTAISM, with notations by James Carpenter was self published in an edition of 1000 in 1976. In that same year, The Print Club of Philadelphia, PA invited him to create a piece for FOLIO ’76. The Portfolio is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In ’77 OBJECTS AS SEEN, COLLECTED ARRANGED AND RELOCATED was published by The Collation Center, NY, NY and distributed by Wittenborn Art Books, Inc.
Anderson is full time faculty at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, as an instructor of Design, Sculpture and Photography. He will teach there until 1986 when he leaves the post to focus entirely on his art.