Steve Harris

You wouldn’t think it flipping through his portfolio or admiring the many pieces adorning his studio, but Cocoa Beach artist Steve Harris' low grades in art class nearly kept him from graduating high school.

At a very young age, Harris showed exceptional artistic promise. When he wasn’t surfing, boating, water-skiing, fishing or wakeboarding in the water surrounding his parent’s Stuart home, Harris could be found drawing scenes informed by his surroundings. When his kindergarten classmates had long put down their crayons for recess, Harris could still be found coloring, entranced by imaginary vistas and subjects. He continued to excel in sketching, drawing, and painting well into his teens, but nothing prepared him for a senior year screen printing project.

Click here to view a few of Steve Harris' paintings

“I just found it too boring and time consuming,” Harris remembers. “I was too absorbed in my other artwork to be bothered with screen printing and I just fell behind.” As graduation approached, he realized he’d fail the class unless he completed the project. “I buckled down and caught up during lunch and after school and managed to graduate.”

Harris’ parents encouraged him to enroll in Ft. Lauderdale’s Art Institute where he honed his innate talent for illustration, eventually majoring in commercial art. After a year living in Spain, Harris brought his graphic skills to several advertising companies. Though he created a slew of well-received logos and award-winning designs, he soon found that his lack of computer knowledge limited his chances of promotion and other employment options in the field.

Luckily, another innate talent for assembly earned him various positions building aircraft components, framing top-dollar paintings, designing boats, and at one time, conceiving some unique display carts for Disney and Universal Studios. Throughout this period, his facility with ink, pencil, and paint kept his fertile mind active, all the while dipping into a deep well of ocean-borne experiences for inspiration.

“There was a point where I felt like I’d hit a brick wall in my chosen profession,” Harris recalls. “Me and computers just don’t get along. There was so much emphasis on technology and old-school illustrators just weren’t as respected. All along though, I knew that if I kept my enjoyment for art, I’d succeed.”

A move to Cocoa Beach back in ‘95 gave him that opportunity. After securing a shop at Freedom 7, Harris created designs for local surf and fishing contests, built signs for local businesses and painted a mural for Natural Art surf shop. A colorful logo for the Ann Lia gift shop in downtown Cocoa Beach is the latest addition to his large portfolio.

But to get a true idea of Harris’ artwork, one should visit his Cocoa Beach studio. Inside, you’ll find a wide array of pieces which capture the essence of beachside living, from surfing, boating and fishing to simply lounging in the sand. Whether colorfully fanciful or rooted in reality, his work stands out for its meticulous attention to detail.

Shades of his days designing pleasure craft are witnessed in the boats he incorporates into many pieces. Their finely-rendered rigging and sleek hull lines bob atop crystal blue water, while their rods bend against ocean breezes as they putter slowly back to port under a blooming sunset sky. A gleaming airboat in one painting skims the surface of an inland swamp as a gator writhes out of its path.

Other paintings stand out for that same respect for intricate, almost photographic accuracy. One depicts the teeming energy of nearby Patrick AFB with an inclusive curved view of all this unique coast offers. As surfers ply the waves, a cargo plane banks overhead, offset by arcing jets and a fragile flock of pelicans coasting shoreward. Just past the swaying sea oats sit a line of parked cars, and beyond, across an open stretch of A1A, a looming cream-colored airplane hangar. The scene is so evocative in its familiarity that one can almost hear the colliding sounds of nature and man-made contrivance.

Another is an homage to the Cocoa Beach Pier which is shown stretching out toward the horizon under wispy clouds and that omnipresent airplane towing its rippling banner. Both idealized and very real, the landscape embraces the palpable essence of the area: the sights, the sounds, the smells, the very feeling of sunlight beating down on the surrounding sands. A popular landscape of Sebastian Inlet is similarly stirring.

Harris is also an accomplished sealife artist and many paintings feature indigenous fish, crustaceans, and sharks. His published illustrations for “Turtles’ Way: Loggy, Greeny & Leather,” a children’s story by Mara Uman Hixon, stand out for their vibrant colors and scientific accuracy as well as an abiding respect and admiration for these treasured creatures.

His collection of original beach-themed Christmas cards has earned him international recognition, with repeat cutomers from as far away as Europe and the Middle East requesting orders. They come in batches of 20 like prints, but a mixture of several different designs can be prepared.

The beauty of Harris’ work lies not only in its faithful depiction of beachside life, but in its accessibility and open-heartedness. Whether you’re a native or a winter visitor, you can’t help but be drawn into his world.

Steve Harris’ studio can be found at 68 S. Orlando Ave. in Cocoa Beach and samples of his work can be found online at: www.stevejharrisart.com. Call (321) 868-0760 for purchase information, Christmas card orders, and custom work.