Patrick Harrison is a former student of the Institute's Illustration program, and also worked for a while in the Arts Education curriculum. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the New Hampshire Institute of Art in the spring of 2012. He has studied under Jill Weber, Polly Becker, and Jerry LoFaro.
On himself he has said:
"I am a practicing illustrator who enjoys an eye for the fantastic. My work tries to illuminate the similarities in lifestyle between all people, and speaks to growing up and the personal evolution of coming of age. My characters connect the viewer with the pieces, and then the fantastic settings give the work a unique flair and personality. In a style that looks very much like iconographic “children’s” and “young adult” work, reminiscent of Disney animated classics and many children’s book art, my work brings to light an important social topic close to me in stories and settings that are completely my own.
My most recent work deals with the fact that youth literature and artwork has a significant lack of same-sex relationships and story lines. The work relates to my own struggles with my sexuality growing up and coming to terms with who I am as a person. By depicting the story of a person who’s only major difference to mainstream children’s culture is that he fall’s in love with another man instead of a woman, I try to offer the audience insight into the similarities amoung us all."
