Artist of the month Curt Harville: From Desert Storm to Oakridge, with movies in-between

By SU STELLA/For The Herald — Oakridge is full of incredibly talented people who have been leading lives of adventure, and Curt Harville is one of those people. His list of accomplishments reads like a movie: ex-soldier, motorcycle racer, traveler, blacksmith.

Add “artist” to that list. Curt has become an accomplished one, and now he is the sixth Oakridge-Westfir resident to be profiled as artist of the month in an arrangement between The Herald and the Oakridge Art Council. The group selected him in a drawing of names among its 30-plus members, a process repeated each month as a means of recognizing the community’s robust arts scene.

Curt grew up in northern Mississippi and lived briefly in Indiana. It didn’t matter where he spent his youth — he was going to join the military. At 17, he enlisted in the Army. While many people hate boot camp and being in “the field” living in a tent and the mud for weeks on end, Curt couldn’t believe that he was getting paid to have “fun.”

At 25 years old, Curt was sent to Iraq for Desert Storm. While the rest of us watched live CNN footage of the first wave, Curt was already doing his job in country. He was in charge of nine men and every one of them returned home safely.

After nine years of military service, it was time for a change.

In 1987 when he was first stationed in Germany, he had fallen in love, married and had a daughter. After the war, he began pursuing his passions in Europe. He learned blacksmithing and knife-making, which satisfied his creative and technical mind, but Curt was never one to be stationary for long.

In Germany, he worked a variety of odd jobs like concrete-cutting in the winter because he was a foreigner and those were the types of jobs offered. He worked on learning the language and loved the European lifestyle.

One of Curt’s genetic traits includes a “driving gene.  Everyone in his family drove cars and rode motorcycles. Curt invested in a Yamaha Sport Bike motorcycle and began competing in Europe.

Untimely injury

He was having a good run of success, which was broken in Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, the weather changed, causing the track to become slick. It resulted in Curt being launched in the air in a “high sider,” coming to earth with a crash.

In the hospital in Czechoslovakia, the lights dimmed when the X-ray machine was “in use.” Curt walked out of the hospital with his wrist in a cast. It would be almost a year before German doctors found his broken hip and he had to have it replaced.

Fast forward a few years . . .

Like many marriages, Curt’s ended and he moved back to northern Mississippi where he got a job at the new Harrah’s Casino.

Three questions

On one of his first shifts he met another adventurer: me. After a few weeks together as co-worker/friend, I asked a few questions: “Can you move furniture? Drive my pick up with a U-Haul attached? Want to rent a bedroom in the house I am buying in Biloxi?” He answered “yes” to all three questions.

The next seven years while in Biloxi, life was fast-paced, working in the casinos, flipping property and lots of trips to Florida with the boat and New Orleans to party. There was blacksmithing and creating, life was non-stop.

Curt was working as a bicycle security guard when he reinjured his knee. While he was laid up waiting for surgery he saw a video of an artist making stained glass jewelry, and there was a jar of stained glass pieces on the windowsill. By the time I came home from work he had 20 pieces of stained glass completed and ready. That started a new career.

Just after that he was juried into the Bywater Art Market in New Orleans. We would leave work at 4 a.m., drive to NOLA, set up by 8 a.m. and be back to work for the casino night shift at 8 p.m. It was exhausting but we craved to be full-time artists.

Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005

Everything changed when Hurricane Katrina barreled into the Gulf Coast. Four feet of water surrounded the house and was only an inch from flooding. Unfortunately, everything in his workshop was ruined. His desire to live on the coast had died.

Eight days after Katrina, Curt had been scheduled for knee surgery in NOLA, which obviously was canceled. It was tough trying to find a new home. Curt was rescheduled to have the repairs in Shreveport. This change introduced us to a town with a very active artist’s community and affordable houses.

Curt and I started vending at craft fairs and art show every weekend. At one of the events Curt met Marty Young and the two started the Red River Smith Blacksmith Club.

Curt was very generous sharing his blacksmithing skills with countless school groups, clubs and organizations. The two of us taught art with Shreveport Parks and Recreation and the Renzi Center.

Soon, he began to expand his talents and started to paint. Often his message was environmentally influenced. Several of his pieces were included in the Marlene Yu Museum shows and national art critic Lauren Smart spoke about his powerful piece “Too Late?” in an art competition — a dead fish (metal) floats upside down in a toxic world.

His styles vary from cartoonish creatures in lousy true world settings like the lobster looking up at the black oil starting to drift down on him, “Not Again” stated in the cartoon bubble.

Curt has also picked up many pointers watching the world-famous Bob Ross. These techniques have helped him sharpen his skills, but his goal is to paint like the world-renowned Peter Ellenshaw. The Norton Gallery had a room with a dozen of his masterpieces and Curt would spend hours gazing at the works. From a distance the mountain is majestic, and up close it is scumbled layers of paint. Once he realized that, the art of painting became clearer.

Finding work in film

With the hurricanes hitting the coast, Shreveport became the “Hollywood of the Ark-La-Tex,” bringing jobs and opportunities. Curt was busy in the movie industry. He was an “extra” who was often picked by the film crew for special appearances.

He can been seen dancing across the screen in “Skateland.” In “Cool Dogs” he can be seen nine times in the subway tunnel scene. In his Escher-like appearance he wears a tan coat with a green collar. With the action takes and cuts he can be seen walking in one door yet coming out across the hall, culminating in the villain pushing him aside.

Curt took advantage of Louisiana’s movie training course and learned the ins and outs of special effects like creating snow, faux explosions, gory latex guts and so much more. The team put together this film using all their new skills.

Unfortunately, Gov. Bobby Jindal destroyed the movie industry in Louisiana, causing all the great movie jobs to go to Atlanta. It was time to leave town.

Go West!

Five years ago Curt and I visited Oregon for the first time and were hooked. After a brief house hunt we found a place in Oakridge. Our first three years were spent driving up every gravel road we could find taking pictures and exploring.

“Moving to Oregon has really changed my life,” Curt says. “Nature has always been an inspiration, and traveling through Oregon has really influenced my new work.”

In 2019 we created Hippie Day Tripper, a free online Pacific Northwest travel zine. Curt is the driver and a photographer. The idea is to help grow Oregon tourism which helps local businesses thrive. COVID-19 has put that project on hold until 2022.

Curt has always loved to tinker and explore new techniques and skills. With the heavy smoke and looming fires, blacksmithing was out of the question. Bored and looking for a challenge,  he bought a cigar box guitar kit, put it together and started strumming.

Curt is now building cigar box guitars from scratch. He is designing each one with a theme. He is enjoying merging his blacksmithing, woodworking and jewelry skills in new directions.

Once the world is open, there is no telling what direction Curt’s life will go. The one thing I know for sure it is going to be an amazing adventure.

Oakridge artist Su Stella is also a travel writer and occasional contributor to The Herald. Read about her adventures with Curt Harville in their online magazine www.HippieDayTripper.com