Harley Parker (April 13, 1915 – March 3, 1992) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

- a frequent collaborator with fellow

and communications theorist

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, ; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba a ...

. Parker specialized in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

painting, and exhibited internationally. He was awarded numerous grants over his life, including two Canada Council Grants, and a British Council of the Arts Grant. He lectured all over the world, was published internationally, and collaborated closely with manifold scholars and thinkers, McLuhan among them.

Life and career

Harley Parker was born in

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. Incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1907, it was amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre ...

in 1915. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1939, and from there went on to work independently as an artist. Years later, he taught color, design, and watercolor. In 1946, he attended and completed further studies at

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, studying under

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

. Between the years of 1947 and 1957, Parker taught colour theory and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

, as well as watercolour techniques, at the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in Toronto, Ontario. In 1957, he assumed the position of Head of Design and Installations at the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

(ROM) in Toronto, a post which he retained for a decade, until 1967. During a year-long sabbatical leave from his teaching position, he became an associate professor at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

sharing the

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

chair of communications with Professor

. From 1967 until 1975, Parker became involved with McLuhan's Centre for Culture and Technology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

as a research associate. His work there revolved around investigating the relationships between the arts and sciences in the 20th century. It was during these years that he collaborated most closely with

, co-authoring two titles, ''Through the Vanishing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting'' and ''Counterblast''. In 1973, Parker was selected to be the first Institute Professor of Communications at the

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

, in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. He returned to Canada the following year to pick up his work with McLuhan's Centre for Culture and Technology. Parker retired from his scholarly career in 1976, whereupon he moved to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

to live and paint in the Kootenay Mountains. He participated in many solo and group exhibitions across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the globe, both in solo and group shows, until his death in 1992.

Bibliography

# 1960 ''

The Gutenberg Galaxy ''The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man'' is a 1962 book by Marshall McLuhan, in which he analyzes the effects of mass media, especially the printing press, on European culture and human consciousness. It popularized the term ''glo ...

: A Voyage Between Two Worlds.'' Transcript of conversation with McLuhan, Harley Parker, and Robert Shafer (appeared in McLuhan's Report on Project in Understanding New Media). # 1967 "Picnic in Space." Interviewed with Marshall McLuhan. dir. Bruce Bacon. Retrieved from http://www.watershed.co.uk/mcluhan/picnic-in-space/ # 1968 ''Through the Vanishing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting'' with Marshall McLuhan; 1st Ed.: Harper & Row, NY. # 1969 ''Counterblast'', Marshall McLuhan, design/layout by Harley Parker; McClelland and Steward, Toronto.

References

External links

Harley Parker : Biography and Galleries"Picnic in Space" (Video Interview)The Marshall McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Harley 1915 births 1992 deaths Fordham University faculty Marshall McLuhan Mass media theorists North American cultural studies Academic staff of the University of Toronto 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Rochester Institute of Technology faculty Canadian watercolourists