In Art & Spirit, Dale Schierholt takes us inside the studios of one of his former subjects and dearest friends - the painter Harold Garde. Schierholt spent time filming Garde at work, first at his winter studio in Florida and later at his studio in Maine. While together they of course talked about Garde's art - his processes, motivations and career. Their conversations quickly fell into the familiar rhythms shared by old friends but Schierholt noticed something different in their dialogues. Garde, now at 91, had transitioned into yet another stage of his long and celebrated career. Accepting the finite amount of time he had remaining, Garde had embraced his time in the studio and focused his energies solely on making paintings, in fact some of the largest of his long career. No longer concerning himself with the next gallery show or museum exhibit, Garde was creating art on its’ own terms. In the editing room Schierholt realized that their conversations spoke to something larger than Garde and his art. In Art & Spirit the thoughts shared by the 91 year old painter offer insight into a fulfilling and successful life.
“Art & Spirit proved to be somewhat of a departure for me. While the film deals with the life and work of the Artist Harold Garde, a personal friend of mine, it also touches on our friendship and how his philosophy of living a productive and successful life has guided my own development as a working artist”.
- Dale Schierholt
