When computer programmer Alan Harris lost his job in 1991 after a company merger, he worried about how his wife, Jan, would react. They were recently married with three children from previous marriages, Jan had just closed her retail store at a local mall and they had mortgage payments to make.
“I looked at him and said, `Yahoo!’ ” Jan Harris recalled. “Some people think that losing a job would be terrible, but it can be wonderful. He’s doing something he loves.”
Now a woodworker who creates upscale garden ornaments and wooden birdhouses, Alan does not miss the 60-hour weeks behind a desk. “It was a quality-of-life change. I have three kids, and there was not enough time to be a parent,” he said. Now, even though he still works a lot of hours, at least he’s doing it at home.
“We want to be with our kids as much as we can. We only have them for a short time in life,” Jan Harris said.
The unexpected job loss allowed the Elgin couple an opportunity to retool their lives and expand her home-based studio, Picasso’s Craft Studio. The business takes them to about 42 shows each year in 20 states. Alan creates 15 styles of birdhouses, and he takes about 35 to 100 pieces to each show. At a recent Kane County Flea Market and Antique Show in St. Charles, he was nearly sold out by Sunday afternoon.
The couple work together in their home studio, each logging about 60 hours per week. Jan is a mixed-media artist who works with fabrics, clothing and paint. “I create a lot of cruise wear, jean jackets and shirts, but they’re all one-of-a-kind pieces. I don’t want to mass produce anything,” Jan said. She paints readymade clothing as well as pieces she makes.
Alan’s business has evolved since 1991. “Alan began making wooden toys, but then one day he made this wonderful birdhouse,” Jan said. “Over the last few years, they’ve become incredible. When you’re in a creative environment, you become more creative.”
Alan makes about 50 pieces a week, and he is currently working on a book that will contain designs and patterns for his birdhouses and lamps.
Artist Sheryl Nelson is a store manager at Crafters Showcase in Carpentersville, which offers Alan’s birdhouses among the work of other regional artists. “They’re unique and really eye-catching,” Nelson said. “They have rustic, primitive lines, and the natural materials he uses are representative of the clean, country look that is popular today.”
Yvonne Glasch of Worth bought one of Alan’s moss- and vine-covered birdhouses this spring at the Kane County Flea Market. “It was attached to a shovel, and it was very unique. I collect old farm implements for my garden. I love it,” Glasch said. The $29 piece will serve as a backdrop in a flower bed, Glasch said.
Alan’s pieces are meant to be functional and attractive. “In the garden, there are a lot of things you can do to make your life simpler,” he said. His works of art include an ornamental storage box that sits on a fencepost and keeps garden tools or a hose at hand.
Other pieces, such as old-fashioned manual lawn mowers decorated with birdhouses or planter boxes, become garden sculpture. And for inside, a church-shaped birdhouse covered with vines serves as a lamp.
Imagination and creativity are needed to transform these everyday items into garden art. “As we travel, we talk a lot and bounce ideas off each other,” Jan said.
After finding the push mowers in an antique store in Omaha, the couple immediately agreed that, with a few additions, the old machines would make great outdoor sculpture. An old scythe, once used to cut grass and weeds, now serves as an unusual post for a wren house. “I don’t think you’ll see a lot of them. I don’t like uniformity,” Alan said.
He looks for pieces of wood that can be recycled instead of being sent to the local landfill. “I see branches or beat-up pallets when I drive my kids to school,” he said. “I can take a scruffy piece of wood, paint it, put a little love into it and it’s a one-of-a-kind piece.”
Their children–Jenni Knight, 17; and Chelsea, 10, and Spencer Harris, 8–often help out during the summer at shows and festivals. “Ever since I was young, my mom and I painted together,” Jenni said. “I work with her a lot, painting outlines on clothing. I’ve always liked it.”
Jan and Alan Harris share a lifelong interest in arts and crafts. “When I was young, I turned the garage into an art studio,” Jan said. “I’d paint anything–garbage cans, jars–and I’d have my own art show on the front lawn.”
She opened Picasso’s, a specialty clothing store in Hoffman Estates’ Barrington Square Mall, in 1986. “People could paint their own clothing, but I also had clothes I painted that they could buy right off the rack. I had a good following,” Jan said. When mall renovation disrupted her business in 1991, she packed up the business and moved it to her house. That year she also met and married Harris.
Harris grew up in San Jose, Calif., where his parents worked as puppeteers at Happy Hollow, a children’s park. “My mom and step-dad are pretty cool,” he said. “I watched them build puppets and write puppet shows. They took the shows to elementary schools and malls. Watching them allowed me to (appreciate) that life doesn’t have to be so serious.”
When they were teenagers, Alan and his sister Michelle Berry of St. Charles worked as Happy Hollow’s recreation leaders.
” “His pieces are true pieces of art,” Berry said. “A lot of work and pride go into them.”
Although he sometimes works 14-hour days in his workshop, Alan Harris doesn’t mind.
“I work just as many hours (as before), but if you like what you’re doing, it’s not work,” he said. “I get to play all day. The money’s OK, but more important, I value waking up and looking forward to the day. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.
“Some people work so intensely that they forget to stop and smell the roses,” he continued. “What good is a lot of money if you’re not enjoying life?”
