New documentary film spotlights artist Harold Garde

By Jennifer Coolidge
BEACON COLUMNIST

posted Jan 6, 2009 - 9:29:01am

Acadia Moving Pictures and The Museum of Florida Art in DeLand will be presenting the world premiere of Harold Garde: Working Artist, a documentary film by Dale Schierholt, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at The Museum of Florida Art. The film is presented in association with the museum's current retrospective touring exhibit "Harold Garde. Painting. 50 Years." which continues through Feb. 15.

Schierholt's documentary takes you inside the studio and life of accomplished artist Harold Garde. Through interviews with the artist and observations of him at work, we get a rare glimpse of the life of an artist. Garde shares with us insights into his influences, the structure of a painting, and the conceptual forces behind some of the major themes found in his work. Whether revealing the struggles of an artist's life or guiding us through his own definition of success, the charming and engaging Garde offers viewers an intimate portrait of a true "working artist."

"Mine is an abstract-expressionist background," Garde said. "Given that history, beginning a painting without a preconceived image and subsequently developing a recognizable subject, feels like a natural progression. While discovering, uncovering and exploring what I find vital in the imagery, I am first concerned with the formal values before I allow myself to become fully involved with the resulting evocative and emotional components."

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1923, Harold Garde is the son of Joseph Garde, a handbag framer, and Anna Garde, a dressmaker and seamstress, both emigrants from Eastern Europe. New York City provided Harold Garde, as a young student, exposure to its rich and varied culture. Teachers, friends and family, especially his older sister, Dorathie, encouraged his interest in the arts. Joe Garde's interest in music inspired Harold, who recalls the fond memory that his father once appeared on stage with Enrico Caruso as an extra in a Paris Opera production.

Harold Garde attended various public schools before gaining admission to the highly competitive Stuyvesant High School, where he completed his high-school training. Stuyvesant holds within its alumni such noted personalities as actor James Cagney, author Samuel P. Huntington, activist Roy Innes, musician/composer Thelonious Monk, author Hubert Shelby, and many other leaders in politics, education and the arts. It was at Stuyvesant that Garde received a solid and rigorous educational background that enlightened his other academic pursuits.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces after three years as a science major at the College of the City of New York, and served in World War II from 1943 to 1946. While stationed in the Philippines, Garde became an acting first sergeant.

This service won him educational opportunities through the GI Bill of Rights, which led him and his first wife, Mimi, to the University of Wyoming at Laramie. Garde became a student assistant in the university's art department, where the faculty included the surrealist Leon Kelly, the abstract expressionist George McNeil, and the geometric abstractionist Ilya Bolotowsky. Garde graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

He then returned to New York City to attend graduate school at Columbia University, and in 1951, he received his Master of Fine Arts and Art Education. Garde taught secondary school in Roselle, N.J., for two years and then returned to New York City as an architectural interior designer.

In 1968, now a father of four — three daughters, Elissa, Tessa and Amy, and one son, Keith — Garde returned to teaching. He became an adjunct professor in the art department of the Nassau Community College in Garden City, N.Y. In 1971, in addition to the college position, he began teaching art full time in the secondary system of Port Washington, N.Y. In 1970, Garde had his first solo exhibition in Huntington, N.Y. In 1984, he retired from teaching to paint full time, and moved to Belfast, Maine, with his second wife, writer Barbara Kramer.

Ten years later, they bought a home in New Smyrna Beach. Barbara died in 1998, and Garde continues to divide time between homes and studios in Maine and Florida. He is active in the art scenes and continues to exhibit regularly in both states.

Filmmaker Dale Schierholt has created and directed other documentary films about artists, including sculptor Louise Nevelson and pop artist Robert Indiana. Nevelson: Awareness in the Fourth Dimension was a 2007 Official Selection for the Utopia Film Festival.

The Jan. 10 film screening of Harold Garde: Working Artist at The Museum of Florida Art will be followed by a reception with the opportunity to meet the filmmaker and the artist. Tickets cost $25 for museum members and $30 for nonmembers, and include a take-home copy of the movie. Seating is limited, and reservations are required.

The artist, filmmaker and curator will be present at both events and will be able to answer questions and interact with the audience.

There will be a free matinee screening of the film at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11.

To make reservations, or to request more information or complimentary tickets, call The Museum of Florida Art at (386) 734-4371.

— Jennifer Coolidge is executive director of The Museum of Florida Art, located at 600 N. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand. Call (386) 734-4371, or visit www.MuseumOfFloridaArt.com.

— info@beacononlinenews.com

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