Distinctly Montana Magazine

Harry’s family was also adversely impacted by WWII. Harry’s grand- father, a Wyoming immigrant with the railroad in the early 1900’s, established a farming operation near Dunmore, just south of Hardin. Harry’s father, born in Sheridan, WY, left for California shortly before the war and married just days before Pearl Harbor. The young couple was sent to an internment camp in Gila, Arizona, after the war broke out. Early release allowed Harry’s father to oversee sugar beet operations near Hardin as part of the war effort. I can imagine Harry’s parents get- ting off the train at the old Hardin Depot after an arduous trip from Arizona. Maybe they had lunch or stayed the night in the Hotel Becker, the site of Harry’s Hardin studio, across from the depot, relieved to be away from the harsh conditions of the camps and hopeful about the life ahead of them. “Then the rest of us came along!” Harry laughs about growing up in a family of seven siblings. When Harry talks of the internment camps, he emulates his mentor. There is no hint of lingering bitterness. “We’ve become good friends,” said Harry of Ben Steele. “We meet monthly in an artists’ group where we potluck, share our work, and give one another feedback.” Then he laughed again. “We are stricken with the same affliction!” SETTLING IN ON MONTANA AVENUE Recently, Harry moved into chic digs on Billings’ his- toric Montana Avenue. His combined gallery and studio are on the main floor and a small apartment is on the second level. His new gallery is close to the Billings Depot, reminiscent of his Hardin studio. “These older buildings complement my work,” he observed. The brush strokes in Harry’s recent paintings seem soft- er, his images are simpler. Earlier paintings had a sculpted look about them, which Harry attributes to his years as a metal sculptor. “I’ve done my job if the painting evokes a sense of the grizzly bear, a moose, or a bison without every detail,” Harry said of his self-described “western impressionist” style. “That’s the trick—to reduce an image to its simplest form.” When I look at Harry’s animal subjects, I’m sure I’m looking directly at a large grizzly sow leading her cubs down a trail or feasting on mountain meadow huckleber- ries. Something in Harry’s painting triggers my imagina- tion. I am there with the bear. I’D PUT SPAGHETTI ON THE TABLE DOING WHAT I LOVE!” Looking around Harry’s studio recently, red was every- where. Dark reds brew like a storm on the eastern Montana prairie behind a pronghorn antelope or they sear like a wild- fire in Yellowstone National Park behind a massive buffalo. I think the red represents the re-ignited passion Harry feels for his craft and life in general. The chokecherry crimson and maroon red backgrounds don’t fit realistically, but they add an emotional dimension, part fascination and part fear, which allow one more avenue of access into the painting. DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL See more of Harry’s work Go to www.distinctlymontana.com/koyama113 FROM PROTÉGÉ TO PHILANTHROPIST It wasn’t long after Harry came to Billings when Ronald McDonald House asked him to create a special piece of art for their benefit auction. Now, he’s their signature artist. In addition to his original painting (which brings a tidy sum at auction), limited edition prints of the original are sold, as are Merry Wine Cellars merlot and chardonnays bearing labels with Koyama wildlife on them. Harry is best known for his grizzly paintings. One large grizzly hangs in the University of Montana Adams Center. Another hangs in the Summit Hotel in Big Sky. But, when the Ronald McDonald House asked him to do a special painting for a Bozeman fundraiser, to be held in the heart of Bobcat Country, Harry was undeterred. Of his bobcat painted for the Bozeman festivities, he said wryly, “I am sure they will get it over there!” www.distinctlymontana.com 47 “I never thought

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