FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8/21/08

Bay St. Louis Artist Steve Harper to present “Made in Miss’ippi”

The Hundred-Man Hall in Bay St. Louis will host an art show August 30 by artist and musician Steve Harper. Best known as the Monkey King of Heather and the Monkey King, Harper is also a Fine Arts teacher at South Hancock Elementary School. The show will coincide with the “New Day in the Bay” celebration and will run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., with an open house party beginning at 7 p.m.

Music and culture infuse Harper’s newest artworks, conceived in paint, wood, and recycled materials. The collection includes sayings and sentiments from favorite Mississippi friends and relatives, as well as vintage cars, performance portraits, retro concert posters, and whimsical renderings of guitars.

Harper’s first art show in nearly ten years is the result of an odyssey through back roads and juke joints of Mississippi and Memphis. Feeling compelled to make a road trip past unique Southern attractions and musical landmarks, he used his musician’s ear and artist’s eye to capture the sights and sounds of his trip. Harper and his wife, Heather, put the blues on the Ipod and set out with the journey itself as their goal. They stopped to see folk art along the way, performed at a Blues club on Beale Street with the Plantation All-Stars, and traveled Highway 61 out of Memphis and back to the Coast.

Harper has always been an avid student of folk art, be it Mexican, European, African, Asian, or American. His own work (which has found homes across the US as well as in Europe and Africa) has consistently been bold and brightly colored. Harper credits this to his red-green color blindness; he has traditionally painted with colors straight out of the tube, rather than mixing, so that he would know what colors he was using. He recalls a college professor at the University of South Alabama who asked him when he was going to stop coloring, and start painting.

Harper’s artistic talents were unavoidable. He was always encouraged to practice music or create artwork, and was even excused from housework regularly to do so. His father, Dr. Andrew Harper, is former Chairman of the University of South Alabama Music Department, former Conductor of the Gulf Coast Symphony, and founder of the Port City Symphony. Harper is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom play music and most of whom are visual artists, including newly realized photographer Ben Harper of Mobile.

Perhaps the earliest stirrings of Harper’s visual arts career began when he was told he couldn’t have any toys he saw advertised on television. Undaunted, he began happily making his own Star Wars toys out of shoe boxes and construction paper. Harper still works with whatever is at hand, and his work is still created with the same joyful expression.

What:               “Made in Miss’ippi,” an art show by Steve Harper

When:              August 30; 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Where:             The Hundred Man Hall; 303 Union Street, Bay St. Louis, MS

Overlapping Guitars

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/12/08

Bay St. Louis Artist Steve Harper invited to show works in new Jet Set Gallery

Artist and musician Steve Harper's Bay St. Louis art show last month was successful in more ways than one. Aside from finding happy homes for twenty of his latest works, he also received an exclusive invitation to display his art in the new Jet Set Gallery. The Grand Opening for the Gallery will be Tuesday, September 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. Also at the opening reception will be Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company, offering tastes of their popular locally-brewed beer.

Harper's first show in nearly ten years went on as scheduled August 30, despite the looming threat of Hurricane Gustav and steady evacuations from this beachside town. The organizers decided to carry on with the show since Bay St. Louis was continuing with its first "New Day in the Bay," a celebration marking the town's progress since Hurricane Katrina. The crowds at New Day and the "Made in Miss'ippi" art show were light but appreciative, and twenty of Harper's new pieces were snapped up within just a few hours.

Jet Set Boutique and Gallery owner Kerrie Loya was immediately taken with Harper's works when she saw him unpacking them for the August 30 show. She had been seeking a business venture for the space next to her boutique, and decided that she wanted to represent Harper and show his work there. She describes his art as "accessible" and "infused with wit." Loya says she was also impressed with his bold use of colors. While Harper was still unpacking the show, Loya, formerly a gallery owner in Los Angeles, made a phone call to a potential client on the West Coast. She sold his "Wheel of Blues," an assemblage made of wood and an old bicycle wheel based loosely on the mythical wheel of fortune, before he had even begun hanging the show. She has since gotten him a commission from the same client.

Harper's "Made in Miss'ippi" line will be shown in the Jet Set Gallery, as well as more of his works in wood, papier-mache, and recycled materials. Some of his paintings are on canvas, but he prefers to combine sculpture, carving, and assemblages with painting. Harper calls himself an amateur cultural anthropologist, and his art reflects that interest. Gallery-goers can expect to see guitars, performance portraits, blues tributes, retro concert posters, vintage cars, Southern colloquialisms, fish, tikis, and masks.

What: Artist Steve Harper's Debut at the Jet Set Gallery, with beer tasting provided by
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company
When: Tuesday, September 23, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Where: Jet Set Gallery, 406 Blaize Avenue, Bay St. Louis, MS (near the Depot)

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