The Buzz: Deborah Harris ("planning a gathering to raise money for Parkinson's")
By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB
Day Staff Columnist
Published on 11/8/2003
Who: Deborah Harris, 52, of New London.
Why you should know her: Harris, whose family roots in New London can be traced back to the mid 17th-century, is an
artist who owns the Working Artists Studio, 86 Bank St., New London.
The times are a'changin': Harris opened her studio/store last December, at the same time four other small arts and
antique-related businesses opened along Bank Street. She offers artists a place to display and sell their work on
commission, and she has her own studio in the rear of the building. The summer tourist season, while providing a
friendly clientele, didn't produce a lot of income. She found herself in a cash-flow crisis and in September unhappily
decided she had to close.
Don't go, Shane: But when word filtered out that Harris was thinking of shutting down, people started popping into the
store, where paintings from more than 20 artists cover the red brick walls, and earrings, pottery, metal sculpture,
candles and cut velvet scarves dot the tabletops and fill display cases. A fellow Bank Street merchant suggested she
lease space to antique dealers, thereby ensuring a monthly income to cover the rent. It's a suggestion she is about to
initiate. “One reason I'm not leaving is people were telling me, ‘You can't leave,' '' she says.
No place like home: Harris is comfortable in the little city where she grew up and still lives. She remembers going to
the movies Saturday afternoons at the Garde Theater on State Street and the Capitol Theater on Bank Street, fishing off
City Pier with her dad, and shopping at the stores that once lined the downtown streets. “I love the history in New
London,'' she says. “I have ties to it.''
Family tree: The Harris family has been part of the fabric of the city since 1652. Deborah Harris is a descendant of
Lucretia Harris Shaw of Shaw-Perkins Mansion fame. Her family settled the Pequot Colony' section of the city, building
houses along the Thames River. Giles Harris, another relative, built the Hygienic building in 1844. Her store is across
the street from the Hygienic, which is now artist studios and gallery space.
The apple doesn't fall far: Her father, Charles L. Harris, was an antiques dealer and auctioneer, as well as an artist.
She and her seven brothers and sisters grew up with a studio in the house, and three of the siblings took to the arts.
“The rest of them think we're crazy,'' she says. Harris took time off from artistic endeavors to raise her children,
but 15 years ago she returned to painting with oil. She favors bucolic scenes featuring cows and recreations of
historic photographs.
One for me, one for you: Harris, who has three grown children and a 4-month-old grandson, wants to give back to the
community that has shaped her. She held a fund-raiser in her store last year to benefit Hospice, and this March she is
planning a gathering to raise money for Parkinson's disease research. “I want to be here to make a contribution to New
London,'' she says.
SOURCE: New London Day, CT
http://tinyurl.com/u9i3
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