Meet Steve Harlow | Contemporary Fine Art Painter, husband, and father.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steve Harlow and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steve, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
When I graduated with an BA in Art from a CSU Sonoma, I was ready for Graduated School, expecting to move from rural Sonoma County to urban San Francisco seeking an MFA from San Francisco Arts Institute. However, my wife went to India to be with the teenager she accepted as a Guru, leaving me to raise our son, who was then a tender two years old. I stayed in our rural area for the next ten years. During the period, I accepted as my first job was to provide a loving home for my son. My second job was to develop my art practice through regular studio. Relating to the first, my third job was to earn a wage, which I started doing with part-time employment in local businesses.

In the early years, I was able to take care of all our needs with four hours of daily employment, while my son was either in school or childcare, four hours of studio practice at night after he went to sleep. Necessary community involvement–social interaction for both my son and I, householder obligations–supply gathering, food preparation, cleaning filled a few hours everyday, leaving practically no unstructured time for either of us.

Later, as my art gained local recognition, opportunities for exhibiting, teaching, and Arts Administration grew into full-time employment as Gallery Director in a local Arts Center. I struggled to maintain effective execution of my first two jobs. My son suffered from neglect, my studio practice reduced to only one hour per day, our house work was sporadic, our meals became less complete.

When the Gallery job seemed all consuming and our home life became unacceptably bleak, I ended my Arts employment. Starting a new life in San Francisco, my son was in school all day, I was employed at a non-art job all day. We had evenings and weekends for our domestic life and community activities, a definite improvement for our peace of mind. Lacking now was daily hours for regular studio practice.

As my son continued through school, reaching teenage years, and beginning an art practice of his own, in music with peers, I was more able to put in a couple of hours of studio practice each day. As he became an adult and moved out on his own, I settled into only having two jobs, besides my personal upkeep, full-time non-art employment and my studio art practice. At this time, I married a long-time friend, another single parent whose then adult daughter was out of her house. My wife is also an artist.

The demands of our non-art employment increased dramatically after we moved to New York City. Our art practice was reduced to a couple of hours per day as we spent ten to twelve hours per day at our day-jobs. Add to householder chores and community obligations our lives were full of work. Our mental and physical health declined until we finally reached retirement age and took it. Moving back to California with only family and community obligations, at first we slept a lot, then we began to bulk up our art studio practices to four hours per day

Finally, at this late stage in our lives, our art careers are beginning to fulfill early promises and we have a healthy schedule with adequate rest and recovery which we, as old people, can no longer ignore.

No one asked me to be an artist, I chose it myself. Most circumstances of my life limited my ability to pursue art. Few friends and no family members ever helped me be an artist. Staying focused on art learning, development, and career building was always like swimming against the tide. Daily life and social expectations work against individual art pursuits. I can only try to fit it all in.

Refusing to do anything other than create art has historically allowed some artists to make great art and die at twenty-seven. At seventy-seven, I still do not have adequate time and attention for becoming the artist I want to be, but I’m living a comfortable life

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My paintings express a heightened state of sensitivity. Their method of presenting recognizable aspects of our shared visual environment brings our focus to perception. They reward attention, massaging our visual muscles.

I started serious art training and practice early in my life. I studied paintings in Art Museums and Art History books. I was first inspired by the Abstract Expressionist New York School. I then focused on the painting style called the San Francisco Bay Area Figurative, particularily the work of David Park. From my teenage years into my thirties, I maintained a regular practice of figure drawing and abstract painting. Since my fourties I added photography as a reference while painting representations of my surroundings.

In my advanced age, I’m making late work, the photo reference has become digital image manipulation, some of what I’m referencing now is conceptual, part of our larger universe of inquiry.

My story is that there are many ways to be an artist. My path is that of a householder, not that of an art-saint. My life has necessitated that I do a lot of stuff that’s not art, but I didn’t die at twenty-seven.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m the wrong guy for this question. I have never and would never entertain a friend for a week. As my friends know, I don’t go out unless it is a necessary art event. I have taken my visiting best friend to an opening at Bread & Salt, tacos at Salud, the beach at Swami’s. Oceanside Museum is a beautiful gift to the area, SDMA has great galleries. The old LUX had great programs, l have yet to participate in the new combo with Art Institute, but it should be good in time. The Front in San Ysidro is my favorite community gallery. I don’t eat out often, if at all, because my immunocompromised wife requires only the specific meals I prepare for her. Salt and Straw in Little Italy has great ice cream, Bobboi has great gelato in La Jolla. I don’t drink, but I enjoy Art Nights at Basic Bar & Pizza in East Village.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lynn Shelton, a painting professor at my college had me read the 1944 novel The Horse’s Mouth by Joyce Cary, telling me that if I still wanted to be an artist after reading this book, I’d be okay. My shout out is to Gully Jimson, the fictional, yet truthful, painter of the novel who has been the loadstar of my life as an artist.

Website: http://steveharlow.art

Instagram: @steveharlowart

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKkL6rWcouRosFPrZlyBYVg

Other: Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/p0ps/