Harper Blanchet • Partial Chronology

1947 – Born an artist and pacifist. New Orleans, Louisiana.

1949 – Earliest visual memory. Watching the light coming thru the living room picture window at the apartment. Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

1952 – Family moves to Harrington Park, New Jersey. Small rural town- 8 miles west from the George Washington Bridge. Trips to New York City by train. Art museums. Baseball games.

Childhood – Drawing, painting. Construction of all manner of things. Art classes at school.

1954 – Age 7 – Begin photographing. Kodak Star Fire 4 camera. 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ format. Black and white 120 film.
• Darkroom in basement.
• Photograph my friends and the natural world.
• Photograph my girlfriend Cay Young (1956-1963).
• Sell my photographs at school for a nickel (5×7’s).

1959 – 6^th Grade career test- want to be an artist.

1963 – Age 15 – Family moves to the small rural town of Sharon, Connecticut. Receive my 1st Rolleiflex Twin Lens camera. 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ format. Henry’s darkroom and studio. Photograph area waterfalls, friends, etc.

1963-1966 – Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Falls Village, Conn. Girls, sports, student government, artist.

1965 – Introduced to Cathedral Pines, Cornwall, Conn.

1966-1970 – Art Department, Southern Conn. State College, New Haven, Conn. First studio, 303 Blake Street. Living with artists and musicians.

1966 – Meet the artist Lila Macsada.

1966-1968 – (Summers) Staff photographer, Silver Lake Conference Center, Sharon, Conn. Focus on portraits.

1967 – Car accident. I-95 North Haven, Conn. Night time. 50 car pile up. 4 dead, 25 seriously injured. Walked away. Changed my life.

1968 – Photograph first figure studies. Three friends. Denise, Wendy, and Joyce.

1968 – Meet the artist Maren Sirine.

1970 – Begin writing poetry. Continue keeping a journal.

1970 – Purchase Nikon F 35mm. camera and lenses. Begin photographing on a tripod.

1970 – Return to Sharon, Conn. Join the Right On Paint Company. Paint houses.

1970 – Major influence: Hatch’s Pond on Harold Hatch’s estate, Mitchelltown Road, Sharon, Conn. Photograph.

1970 – Refuse to be drafted and sent to the Vietnam war. Apply for Conscientious Objector (C.O.) status with the Torrington Draft Board. Accepted. Serve alternative service as an orderly at the Sharon Hospital (1970-1971).

1970-1971 – Set up a photography studio in my family home attic. 4 windows. Photograph with natural light. Tripod.

1971- First group photography show at the Sharon Creative Arts Foundation (S.C.A.F.) Gallery, Sharon, Conn. Show 40 black and white photographs (11 x 14 on 16 x 20 mounts).

1971-1972 – Move to Pinch of Rock cabin in the woods next to Hatch’s Pond. Studio and darkroom. Photograph the trees/woods (nature). Photograph Hatch’s Pond (waterscapes).

1972 – Become a vegetarian.

1972 – Age 24 – Move to Cherry Hill Farm, West Cornwall, Conn. Paradise. The whole nine yards. (1972-1979). 133 acre farm, dead end road, vistas, state of the art darkroom, 2nd floor studio (3 windows, 2 doorways), sun porch studio, outside studio on the hill, heating with wood (2 stoves, fireplace), large vegetable and flower gardens, the 4F Food Co-Op and large musical concert/parties in the apple orchard. Big photographic influence: windows, doorways, mirrors.

1972 – Beginning of a semi-reclusive lifestyle.

1972 – Begin sitting in a chair and watching the light change.

1972 – Meet the artist Connie Woodman.

1972 – First solo photography show at the S.C.A.F. Gallery, Sharon, Conn.

1972 – Introduced to Sages Ravine, Salisbury, Conn.

1972 – Begin photographing musicians.

1973 – Introduced to Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Waycross, Georgia.

1974 – Meet the artist Cassandra Smithies.

1974 – First time- Photograph full term pregnancy. Becomes another life-long theme, along with water, trees, sky, figure and portraits.

1974 – Become a carpenter/builder, continue house painting.

1975 – Meet the artist Sidney Barthell.

1976 – Hitchhike across the United States. Buy a 1956 black and white Chevy station wagon in California. Drive back across America. Photograph. Favorites: Zion National Park, Chaco Canyon National Park.

1976 – Meet the artist Lynn Fowler.

1977 – First summer in East Warren, Vermont, Prickly Mountain community (artistic community). Best friend- Carl Bates. Artist – painter. Community pond. Photograph figure and water. Meet the artist Debra Tyler.

1977 – Introduced to Bread and Puppet Theater and Farm, Glover, Vermont.

1978 – Help deliver Debra Tyler’s son, Zachary, at our one room cabin, East Warren, Vermont. Photograph full term pregnancy, birthing, breast feeding. Changed my life.

1979 – Move full time to Prickly Mountain community.

1980 – Begin canvas painting at my one room cabin (11 ft. x 16 ft.), East Warren, Vermont. Abstract paintings.

1980 – Meet the artist Janet Baker.

1982 – Move into my River Road Studio in West Cornwall, Conn. Painting and photographing.

1982 – Introduced to Sunset Ridge on Silver Mountain, Millerton, New York. Photograph skyscapes and sunsets.

1985 – Move into the Thorney farmhouse, Millerton, New York. The Blue Room Studio. Painting and photographing.

1985-1993 – Summers at Elizabeth Kelly’s studio, Woodstock, New York. Catskill Mountains. She is an artist-painter. Went to art school together. Painting and photographing.

1986 – Continue photographing with mirrors (1972).

1986 – Introduced to Winchell Mountain, Millerton, New York. 180° vista of the Catskill Mountains. Photograph sunsets. Favorite light- twilight.

1987 – Meet the artist Terri Moore. Painter.

1993-1999 – Move into my Tower House Studio on Prospect Mountain Farm, Salisbury, Conn. Painting and photographing.

1993 – Introduced to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, N.Y.C. Photograph flowers.

1994 – Begin photographing and painting with Terri Moore.

1996-1999 – Also living at artist Terri Moore’s Ancramdale Studio in Ancram, New York.

1999-2002 – Living with Terri Moore at her Blue Door Studio in Limerock, Conn. Painting and photographing.

2000-2004 – Photograph the Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York City. Dance and motion – two big themes.

2002-2008 – Move into my Twilight Studios and The Swift Gallery at 5B Main Street, Millerton, New York. (The Old Odd Fellows Hall, 2nd floor). 17 windows. Beautiful light.

2009-2014 – Move into my Phoenicia Studio, then to my Woodstock Studio in the Catskill Mountains. Involved with and showing at the A.U. Gallery and Mount Tremper Arts Dance Center.

2014-2020 – Move into my Twilight Studios and The Blue Star Gallery in Falls Village, Conn. 3,000 sq. ft. – Two studios (painting, photography), two gallery rooms, living space and office in the back. In the groove.

2020-2021 – Johanna’s Motel • Studio #4, Copake, New York.

2020 – Introduced to the Scotland Farm Nature Sanctuary, Ancram, New York.

2022 – Become involved with the Garage Galleri, Millerton, New York.

2022 – Move back to my Millerton (New York) Studio and begin painting the #600 series and photographing the light • figure • form • line.