CHESTERTOWN — The second installment of Kent Cultural Alliance’s new Cultural Expressions program will feature Kent County artist Kevin Harris.
“Life on Life’s Terms” will open on First Friday, Feb. 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. with a reception.
The artist’s talk with Harris will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12 in the KCA gallery.
The exhibit will run through Saturday, Feb. 21.
Kent Cultural Alliance is located at 101 Spring Ave. in downtown Chestertown.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
Kevin Harris grew up on Cannon Street in Chestertown and now lives in Washington Park.
A graduate of Kent County High School, he discovered his love of art under commercial arts teacher Neil Corrigan.
Harris also studied print, film and photography at the Visual Arts Institute.
He has worked as a landscaper and also at what was then known as the Reynolds and Reynolds printing company in Chestertown [now the location of Vault Storage in the 800-block of High Street.]
According to a news release, Harris experienced a long period in the disease of addiction and didn’t paint or create during that time.
However, on his third day of being sober, he picked up a brush again.
In a statement, he said: “All glory to God. My talent was composed in commercial art class in high school. I didn’t pick up a paint brush or do art again for 30 years, because of my disease. Once I was into recovery I started to paint on glass. The reason I started to paint on glass with acrylic latex house paint was, because that was the only medium I had. My subject matter came out of the darkness of which my disease had put me in. Every step of the way was a learning process which I had to teach myself.”
Harris’ work for KCA’s Cultural Expressions program includes works in acrylic on glass.
He has shown regionally at the Kent County Public Library, Chestertown RiverArts, Sumner Hall, the Art League of Ocean City and KCA’s Raimond Cultural Center grand opening in 2023.
His portraits start with the eyes, “always the eyes,” according to Harris.
Recovery is a place, and a way of life, and as Harris has said, it is “life on life’s terms.”
