Paul Rogers Harris Papers

Paul Rogers Harris was born in Dallas, Texas in 1933. He graduated from the North Texas State College (now University of North Texas) in Denton, Texas in 1954 with major in art and minor in education. He went on to teach at the elementary and high school levels from 1954-1960. From 1960-1965 Harris was the art director of the Dallas Independent School District’s educational television program on KERA-TV, the Dallas PBS affiliate. During this time Harris also established and supervised the Children’s House at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, an experimental program for teaching art to children ages 5-12.

In 1965 Harris moved to New York City to undertake graduate work at New York University. While in New York, he also worked in the education department of the Museum of Modern Art as a Lecturer (1966-1968) and Coordinator of Educational Services (1968-1970). While at MoMA, Harris also coordinated Claes Oldenburg’s Documents of the Ray Gun Theater in conjunction with Oldenburg’s solo exhibition at MoMA in 1969.

Harris returned to Dallas in 1970 to be the Head of the Department of Art Education at Southern Methodist University, a position he would hold until 1974. Harris became the director of The Art Center in Waco, Texas. He went on to curate 95 exhibitions in his 12-year tenure. He also began his career as an independent curator at this time, curating the inaugural exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art’s new education space called Gateway Gallery in 1984. Harris left Waco in 1986 to become the Director of the Craft Guild of Dallas, a position he held until 1988.

Harris transitioned to an independent curator, establishing Paul Rogers Harris Exhibitions in 1988. He curated numerous exhibitions at Dallas-area galleries, highlights include The Texas Printmakers, 1940-1965 at the Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University in 1990; and Breaking into the Mainstream: Texas African American Artists at the Irving Art Center in 1996. Harris was also a consignment dealer and executor of the estates of two Dallas-area artists, Barbara Maples and Coreen Spellman.

Paul Rogers Harris is also an artist himself, designing two holiday cards for MoMA in 1968 and 1971, and exhibiting work in competition exhibitions and other local galleries.

Harris died in 2019.