George A. Harris, Jr.
The Artist of Grady, Alabama

George Allen Harris, Jr., began to draw pictures when he was barely old enough to wrap his fingers around a #2 pencil.  He remembers drawing pictures at four or five.  It was then that the little boy artist attracted attention with detail of his work, unlike any of his peers.  Although he could scarcely know what he was depicting, little George was drawing soldiers and scenes with clarity and detail.
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He also drew the attention of MonCre board member, Mike Moseley, who is still astonished by the talent expressed by the five-year-old who has grown into a well-known Alabama artist.  Impressed, Moseley has kept an eye on Harris’ talent and work, and the art that he appreciates and collects.  In fact, Moseley is Harris’ largest Private collector.

“Bud,” as he’s known to family and friends, calls Grady, Alabama, home.  He was born on October 19, 1960.  After graduating from South Montgomery County Academy in 1979, he attended Auburn University where he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1986.  The year after his graduation he held three exhibitions in Montgomery.

In 1990, he married Veronique Lauren Combs, the daughter of a former Miss France.  He met her at a weekend get-together in the country with former classmates at Auburn.  Ironically, the country place where they met is just a “stone’s throw” from where they attend church, at Oakbowery Church of Christ.  Veronique is employed with the US postal service as a PMR at Honoraville, and she expressed her talents in textiles, with exquisite smocking and embroidery.  They have two daughters.  Madeleine, age 18, is currently a student at University of Alabama, and Emma Claire, 6, is a student at South Montgomery County Academy.

Harris has two brothers, Tad, an electrical engineer and John, who works with the Alabama Department of Transportation.

George Harris is an artist of prominence.  Some of his work hangs on display at the Alabama State Council on the Arts in downtown Montgomery, on Monroe Street.  His training as a draftsman and architect are reflected in the art subjects he chooses to paint, and admits he has stopped on a dime to sketch a forgotten church or historic place.  His art seems to pull him to places he has captured to memory, and returned to honor.  Mixing peace, serenity familiar yet intriguing, his art declares a rich love and respect of southern history.

He enjoys documenting old churches in the area because, as he says, “you don’t know when they’ll be gone.”

If Harris inherited his talent, more than likely it came from his paternal grandmother, Charlotte Harris.  And it seems his daughter Emma-Claire may, too, be an artist, having already won three art competitions.

*One of the greatest influences and mentors Harris credits is the Montgomery artist, the late Barbara Gallagher, who gave him his first show.  According to Harris, Gallagher was both generous and helpful to young artists trying to get “a start”.  She passed away earlier this year.

George says his influence comes from the technique of Andrew Wythe, the economy of color and form of Edward Hopper and Charles Burchfield for personal interpretation.

Currently, he’s working on a piece he calls “The Confederate Oak”, depicting a group of men gathering to join the confederacy during the Civil War.

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