Lines & Paths
Much of the video and photography on this site are from projects that observe line and path making in nature.
These studies illustrate the close relationship between the flight paths of birds and airplanes, the expression of plant growth, lightning, the fractures of decay, the building of roads and the formation of stream beds. Each path or line reveals a relationship to time, space, nature, and to individual and group histories and propensities.
The conditions shaping the lines in the flight paths of airplanes, the migration of ducks, and the growth of trees are the same as those which guide the hand of the painter: physics, history, genetics, and culture, and the idiosyncrasies of the artist’s own imagination.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Harper’s photography is concerned with natural form, line and mythologies drawn from the landscapes, wildlife and natural events of the Midwestern and high plains states. Works have been shown at The ARC Gallery, Flatfile Gallery, Transistor, Black Cloud Gallery and David Weinberg Gallery in Chicago, IL, as well as the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, Kiernan Gallery in Virginia, Darkroom Gallery in Vermont, Walker Fine Arts in Denver among others.
COMPOSER
Harper first earned critical acclaim for his work defining a Chicago style of new music theater and opera as the creator and producer of many full-length original works for the American Ritual Theater Company (ARTCO). His opera, music theater, dance, orchestra, and chorus have been commissioned and performed by companies including Minnesota Opera, The New Music Theater Ensemble of Minneapolis, INTAR Hispanic American Cultural Center, The Goodman Theater, Hartford Stage, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company and The Music Theatre Group. William Harper received a PhD in music composition from the Eastman School of Music and has received support from many foundations including the National Institute for Music Theater, the Djerassi Foundation, the Yaddo Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois and New York State Arts Councils and The MacArthur Foundation.
EDUCATOR
Harper has been teaching for over 30 years in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, having given diverse instruction in contemporary music histories, sound practices, opera histories, music composition and production and alternative image making. He also leads the studio section of the High Plains study trip in which students make use of photographic techniques such as drone photography, night sky photography, time lapse, and 3-D photography to observe and document discoveries in the American High Plains.