chris haberman: the art of pets

by kindest permission of the artist

Jill is a human. Audrey is a Cairn terrier.  Both are my friends, and they took me on a lovely long walk on my most recent Portland visit.  They thought I would really appreciate Audrey's favorite shop, Meat for Cats and Dogs, so we stopped by.  And that's how I found Chris Haberman.
Chris has a selection of pet portraits up at Meat - you can see some up above.  I thought they were knowing and fun.  Every different pet brings its own different joy, and I got that from Chris' work.  So I dropped him a line, and now here's some of what I know:

Chris Haberman is a working painter, writer, muralist, curator and musician, native to Portland, Oregon. Aside from painting, he has published poetry, journalism and fiction; being awarded the Tom Doulis Fiction award, the Wilma Morrison award for excellence in journalism from Portland State University and is a lifetime member to the Academy of American Poets.
 All of Chris Haberman's artwork is created recycled objects, found material from the streets and alleyways of his hometown. A discarded cabinet door or table top quickly becomes the backdrop for an integrated puzzle-poem of figures and text, focusing on subjects like people, politics, the region, pop-culture, media, music, film and literature. 

That is not it by a long shot.  Probably I should just send you to his Facebook page to begin encompassing it all.  Drop by The Pet Museum's FB page and look for a video of Chris working; here's another one from YouTube.  On the particular pet front, he has a 3-year-old Pom (named Kona), and he's offering to do portraits of people's pets at Meat during the next 2 months...16x16, $50. Audrey should get her portrait done!