Harm’s Way
Father-son artistic duo creates a Kentucky keepsake

It is a common bonding experience for a father to take his son into the woods to take down his first deer or capture his first rabbit, but when Ray Harm took his son Hap to the woods as a child, this father and son duo shared a much different experience. That’s because Ray and Hap did not bring guns or fishing rods or traps to their hunt. Instead, they went into the woods armed with pencils and paper.

"I studied art under Dad since I was a little one," Hap says. "I always knew I wanted to be a wildlife artist."

Hap is still learning from his father. The results of those lessons were on exhibit at the Cumberland Inn March 3-5, where over 30 original paintings as well as the painting they collaborated on, "Kentucky Cardinal," were exhibited. Over 100 people watched as Harm Sr. received an honorary doctorate from Cumberland College and over 200 prints were later sold. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of "Kentucky Cardinal" will be used to establish the Ray Harm Sr. and Wood Hannah Sr. Endowed Scholarship at the college.

"It tickles me to death that we got to do this together," Hap says. "It is my prized possession. I don’t know if it’s ever been done before."

Hap knows he could have no better teacher than his father, because Ray has spent a lifetime establishing himself as Kentucky’s premier wildlife artist, garnering world-wide fame in the process. Décor Magazine, the business magazine of fine arts and framing, has named him one of only 30 of the best artists of this century. Kentucky Monthly also named him one of 20 influential Kentuckians of the 20th century.

Born in West Virginia, Ray went west as a teenager and became a cowboy, riding range and the rodeo circuit. Following service as a Navy radioman in the Pacific, he attended the Cooper School of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art. For the next decade he struggled to make a living as an artist, while supporting a wife and three children. About ready to give up his dream, Ray was discovered by Louisville businessman Wood Hannah, who commissioned Ray to paint 20 watercolors of Kentucky birds. Ray was subsequently named the first Herman L. Donovan Artist-in-Residence at the University of Kentucky. Gov. Bert T. Combs then appointed Ray as official naturalist and lecturer for Kentucky’s parks system.

"Wildlife art fills my need to share my love and interest in wild things through paintings of my observations and experiences – things I have been close to all my life," Ray says. "As a field naturalist I claim to know and depict the subjects I paint intimately with those who may also be interested in the wonders of nature. Since I work with no dependence on photography – only from field sketches and color notes done from life experiences and observations – I like to think my work comes right from the ‘field into the frame.’"

In 2000, Ray is working to complete his 37-year collection of wildlife prints with his last few editions, which may be viewed at his website at http://www.freedomzone.com/rayharm. The entire collection is on permanent exhibition at Pine Mountain State Park near Pineville, Kentucky.

Deanna Mascle is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

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