SIL - Nov / Dec 2021

When asked about his favorite project, Harris returns to the Celtic Cross as being
the most decisive for his career, and as holding the most personal meaning.
Sculptures by Harris can be
found scattered across Indiana and
beyond. His limestone bust of the late
Edgar Whitcomb, a former Indiana
governor, is located in the Statehouse
Rotunda in Indianapolis.
“Gov. Whitcomb was fascinated
with the Celtic cross, enjoyed visiting
the winery, and stopping by to
watch the progress on the sculpture
of him. He put the final touch on his
own bust,” Harris said to indicate the
friendship he had shared with the
former governor.
“Under the Buttonwood” is a
Harris sculpture located in front of Indiana
State University’s Federal Hall
in downtown Terre Haute, the home
of the University’s Scott College of
Business. This limestone carving of
a buttonwood leaf commemorates a
1792 meeting beneath a buttonwood
tree (morecommonly known as sycamore)
on Wall Street in New York
City where 24 stockbrokers signed an
agreement establishing the New York
Stock Exchange.
Harris has also created several
sculptures for the town of Cannelton.
The “Welcome to Historic Cannelton”
sign is his rendering of the Cannelton
Cotton Mill, a National Historic
Landmark.
The cotton mill, completed in
18 • Nov/Dec 2021 • Southern Indiana Living
1851, was once the largest industrial
building in the United States
west of the Allegheny Mountains. It
closed in 1954 and was restored as
an apartment complex in 2003. The
building’s most striking features are
100-foot twin towers in Romanesque
style, which are replicated on Harris’s
sculpture.
Like many of the structures in
Cannelton’s historic district, the mill
features locally quarried honey-colored
sandstone, a distinctive signature
of this river town and of Harris’s
sculpture.
Perry County’s Veteran’s Park,
located beside the County Museum
in downtown Cannelton, is the site
of one of Harris’s more recent sculptures,
“Together We Serve.” Made of
powder-coated steel, Harris designed
this work as a tribute that recognizes
the sacrifices, not only of soldiers,
but of their families. Viewed from
the front, a soldier with a weapon
is prominent. Created with a loosefitting
uniform, the soldier’s gender
is not recognizable. This soldier is
flanked by a father and child, which
can be seen when viewed from the
side, and a mother and child on the
other side. The sculpture serves to
keep the struggles of the entire military
family alive in our consciousness,
reminding us that those who
serve do not serve alone.
The Daubys, owners of The Blue
Heron winery who commissioned
Harris to create the Celtic Cross, also
commissioned several other sculptures
by him. Harris created the large
intarsia doors at the entrance to the
winery. Made from catalpa, ash and
sassafras woods, they portray the
winery’s signature bird.
Gary Dauby also pointed out an
incredibly unique sculpture created
by Harris: a small bronze replica of
the Celtic Cross, which can be used
by the blind to “see” the cross. “This
cross is not cast bronze,” Gary Dauby
said. “Harris carved it from bronze.”
Dauby continued, “I have watched
blind guests at the winery bend over
this piece intently touching every
nook and crevice.”
When asked about his favorite
project, Harris returns to the Celtic
Cross as being the most decisive for
his career, and as holding the most
personal meaning. “A thousand or
2,000 years from now, that cross will
still be standing unless it is destroyed
for some reason,” Harris said. That
fact must give him an incredible feeling
of accomplishment. •
Top: (clockwise) Carved door at Blue Heron Winery; Carved
welcome sign for Cannelton; Bronze replica of Celtic Cross.