Harry B
Art Department
by Michele Malinchak
If you visit Harry Boardman’s website you won’t find lengthy dissertations about his art, his background or the creative process. He’d much rather have you experience his art than read about it. You also won’t learn about the vital role he plays in bringing art to the community. What you will find are paintings and drawings that are meant to be savored. Comprised of everyday scenes that many of us take for granted, his work deftly defines and brings new meaning to our surroundings.
With a background in illustration, his unique style is often characterized by dark outlines and defined brushstrokes that create a rich, textural quality. He works in a variety of media including pen and ink, oils and oil pastels and enjoys depicting landscapes, barns and animals. “I like to convey everyday scenes and turn them into something we can pay homage to,” he said.
In Harry’s paintings you may recognize a farm you’ve driven past every day that’s been transformed into something extraordinary. Barns rise up majestically from the land, enveloped by billowy white clouds and fields of green. His snow scenes evoke the perfect stillness of winter, such as the painting Telford Train Parked for Winter. The old train blends in with the tree lined landscape and snow covered tracks lead the eye far beyond. Even the water tower in the distance becomes an integral part of the scene. Harry leaves in power lines, telephone poles and other manmade structures in his paintings. “Some artists might not paint them,” he said, “but that’s what we really see.”
Common objects like the tin cup inthe oil pastel, My Old Cup, take on lives of their own and beg to be noticed. No matter what the subject, he approaches each with similar zeal though the style may vary.
In a 2011 interview with Junkyard Arts, an art commentary Internet site, Harry said, “Unlike so many artists who seem to be able to work in one style consistently, I am drawn to many different styles and media. My challenge is to make a body of work look like one person created it instead of twenty.”
Two artists in particular captivate his attention: Wassily Kandinsky and Vincent Van Gogh. “You could say if you kind of mashed them together, that would be my style,” he said. In Harry’s work one can see Kandinsky’s expressionist style of freeing color and simplifying form and also the bold post-impressionist brushstrokes of Van Gogh as he painted every day subjects with similar reverence.
Becoming an artist is something Harry wanted as early as age five. He was born in Holland, PA in 1977. His father was a scientist for RCA and later taught junior high. One of Harry’s fondest memories was watching him draw Popeye in chalk on the sidewalk. “He had the formula down and I was amazed by it every time,” he said.
To learn more about Harry Broadman, turn to page 46 in our Fall 2015 Issue of Bucks County Magazine.