Michael Reno Harrell Exhibit

Artist Statement:

I have always had a yearn to pick up a pencil and draw.  To this day that along with creating stories and writing songs is what gets me up and going in the mornings when I'm home from performing on the road.  There's nothing like facing a blank sheet of paper and endeavoring to make someone's face or perhaps a rendering of an old pocketknife appear on that piece of paper.  As an artist, whether performing on a stage or putting graphite or colored pencil on paper, what I am trying to accomplish is to elicit some type of emotion in the person experiencing the performance or looking at the illustration behind that sheet of framed glass.  Although I may never know where a drawing will wind up or have any idea how it may affect the viewer, just the act of creating it is reward enough for the effort. - Michael Reno Harrell

​

Bio:

Michael Reno Harrell has performed his unique brand of storytelling and songwriting in forty-five states and several foreign countries since leaving his native Morristown, Tennessee in 1969.  Since that initial setting out into the world he has won both gold and platinum awards for his songwriting, been a featured performer at many storytelling festivals around the country, including the National Storytelling Festival on many occasions.  He has performed at major folk festivals and in theaters and has written dozens of magazine articles on a wide variety of subjects including growing up in Morristown.  Somewhere along about the second grade at Hillcrest Grammar School, he found he had a talent for drawing which has played a large part in his adult life.  Along with his performing life Michael has been an illustrator, a graphic designer and ran the art departments for three major U.S. sign companies.  His hyper-realistic drawings have sold to clients across America and in Europe.  Michael continues to perform around the country as well as creating his original drawings in his studio in Morgantown, North Carolina.