Jon Harris (born 1943) is an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, and calligrapher, who has a particular interest in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

. He lives in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, which he has made his base since he graduated from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, with a degree in Art History, in 1965. Cambridge is also the principal subject of his drawings. Harris is particularly known for his illustrated, calligraphic, maps.

Early life

Harris was born in 1943, in North Staffordshire; he had an itinerant, partly colonial youth. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, where he was a scholar. He began in Architecture at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University in 1961, and finished in Art History.

Career

Harris published an article in '' Granta'' in 1962 on Cambridge's 19th-century architect/developer

Richard Reynolds Rowe Richard Reynolds Rowe (1824–1899) was an English architect. The son of Richard Rowe, a Cambridge alderman, Richard Reynolds Rowe built several buildings around Cambridge, most notably the Cambridge Corn Exchange Cambridge Corn Exchange is a ...

. He taught drawing for 25 years in the Cambridge Arts School (CCAT, now Anglia Ruskin University), and painted (topography and light) until this career came to end with a joint exhibition between the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

and the Cambridge University School of Architecture. A catalogue was published by the Fitzwilliam Museum. He wrote for eight years on the landscapes and settlements of the four East Anglia counties and explored them on foot. In 2003 he walked the shores and inland boundaries of the county of Essex with Brian Mooney. The report of the journey, with text by Mooney and illustrations by Harris, was published as ''Frontier Country'' (Thorogood 2004). Due to his knowledge of the architectural history of Cambridge, Harris often serves as a historical advisor on developments and refurbishments in Cambridge. He is a member of Cambridge City Council's Design & Conservation Panel, before which significant new developments are brought for appraisal. In 2007 he advised Magdalene College on the colour scheme for the restoration of a range of medieval buildings in Magdalene Street, Cambridge. A collection of his work has been published by Cambridge-based publishing house Lutterworth Press in September 2018; this is the first time a collection of his work has been published. The book, titled ''Artist About Cambridge'' is a biographical look at Harris' work and how the city of Cambridge has changed over the past few decades.

References

* ''Painter About Cambridge'', Fitzwilliam Museum, 1997 * ''Frontier Country'' (Brian Mooney, illustrated by Jon Harris), Thorogood, 2004 * ''Artist About Cambridge'', Lutterworth Press, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Jon British artists Living people 1943 births People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge