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OCAD U remembers dedicated academic and artist Michael Harmes

Black and white photograph of Michael Harmes.

OCAD U mourns the passing of academic and artist Michael Harmes, who died on January 20, 2023, at the age of 91.

The OCAD U community is deeply saddened by his passing, and sends its condolences to Michael’s friends and family.

About Michael Harmes

Michael Harmes was a dedicated academic and artist with a career in academia and furniture design. He worked at the Ontario College of Art (OCA) for over 30 years, progressing from woodworking instructor to Chair of Technological Studies, to Academic Coordinator, and then to Academic Dean. He retired in September 1996 and was recognized as an Honorary Fellow of the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).

Harmes was born in Brighton, U.K., in 1931, where he later trained at the College of Arts and Crafts. He then earned a diploma in furniture design with first class honours from the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.

In 1958, he emigrated to the United States where he worked at the Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsmen, as an instructor and assistant professor of interior and furniture design. In 1962, Harmes relocated to Toronto, where he began his work at OCA, decades before it became OCAD U.

In addition to his work at OCA, Michael undertook a number of freelance commissions, with the ecclesiastical furniture and fittings for the St. James Cathedral in Toronto as one of many examples.

Harmes lived with his spouse Jane Kemp in Nanaimo and Parksville in B.C., and in Brantford, Ontario, in his retirement. He is remembered as a husband, father and grandfather who enjoyed gardening, cribbage, darts, and woodworking projects for his family.

Source
Jane Kemp