Chris Harms creates cosmic vistas with traditional stained glass and glass paints, building each piece through multiple kiln firings. The small home furnishings stand in as a kind of fingerprint, our curiosity to explore and the dream of inhabiting distant worlds. With a minimalist approach Harms works to find a balance between the large, soft spheres and the tiny chair with its straight lines and hard angles, striving for an overall sense of humour and wonder.
His work has gone to collectors in Canada and the U.S., created installations in and around Toronto, and was awarded first place in the 2020 Overzealous Fine Art Exhibition.
In 2016 after witnessing a rocket launch in French Guiana, I was determined to capture that feeling of awe and wonder in my art practice. Soon after, I turned my attention to stained glass and took an introductory glass painting/firing class, wanting to take a traditional art medium and mix it with modern stories of space exploration. Using age old techniques, and breaking a few rules, I can experiment with depth, layers and texture in this beautiful medium.
“Chris Harms’ stunning celestial stained-glass art is inspired by a rocket launch he witnessed in 2016 while in French Guiana. Each of these self-taught artist’s planetary scenes features a variation on a tiny chair, a perfect front-row seat for star gazing.” - Toronto Star