The Makers: Diego Harris Builds Big Steel Sculptures for the West
By Kathleen Scavone
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Some people believe that if you are named for an artist, you have an obligation to become an artist. In the case of Lake County artist Diego Harris, who was named after Mexican artist Diego Rivera by his artist parents, the aphorism rings true as he has been creating art for most of his life. Lately it has been in the form of huge welded steel or corten metal sculptures that can be 16 feet tall, which he is selling all across the west. Also called weathering steel, corten steel differs from regular steel in that it contains alloys of chromium, nickel and copper that all combine to make it more durable than other steel, as well as allowing sculptures to acquire the orange-to-rust patina Diego prefers.
Harris’ metal sculptures are found in most Lake County towns, such as his distinctive dragon on Clear Lake in the town of Clearlake and at Austin Park Beach, where, if you are angled correctly, Lake County’s volcano, Mount Konocti, can be seen under the belly of the beast. A metal panel he created stands in the Middletown Square Park where the library and senior center are located. The panel is situated on the wall of the outdoor restroom facilities and depicts beautiful metal mountains, stars, trees and baskets. His work is found in Napa, Mendocino and Sonoma County parks, art trails and more.
With his large original sculptures sold or displayed in homes, art venues and parks across the West, including in Utah, Colorado and Oregon along with the Napa Art Walk and Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens and on up to British Columbia, he is happily busier than ever. His metal sculpture “Rhythmic Dance,” an abstract figurative piece, is featured with more than 100 artists from around the United States as part of a two-year Santa Rosa Public Art Walk in downtown Santa Rosa. The exhibit will be disassembled in August 2027.
Harris, who moved to Lake County in 1997 from southern California, was born in 1988 in Ensenada, Baja California, to American artist parents Sherry and Derek Harris.
Since he was 5 years old, Harris has enjoyed selling his art in outdoor craft stalls with his mother, a former real estate agent who enjoys creating gourd art and baskets. His father thrives on painting landscapes and abstract art, and his parents both sell their work in the Antiques Mall in Upper Lake. Even as a child, Harris designed wire jewelry. Later it was carved wooden canes and then photography.
Harris began scavenging metal to make projects when he found that metal art was his true passion after taking a 2007 Mendocino College welding class. He received his associate of arts degree there in 2013. He found items such as old rebar and discarded mufflers that could be repurposed into his creations. He was hooked on the shapes and symmetry he created as well as the interesting asymmetrical shapes he noticed in nature. Today most of his projects require a balance of thoughtful sketching and planning before he purchases metal to explore what happens as he makes his art. His designs include whimsical curves and some spirals from nature where he blends other shapes to build each one-of-a-kind piece for his clients and shows.
Harris said he has several projects in development at the moment, and he’s also involved with shows that are purchasing sculptures from him. He just won a contest in St. George, Utah, to be the centerpiece sculpture for the Art Around the Corner show there. They are also buying a sculpture he made last year, titled “Rip Tide,” to be part of their permanent collection. It is currently on the Geyserville Sculpture Trail. Another he sold in Parker, Colorado, is titled “Spiral Vortex.”
He said he likes the variety of landscapes he travels within in order to deliver his work.
“I sold a sculpture to a couple up in British Columbia back in September and drove it up there,” he said. “It was titled ‘Tidal Wave,’ and it was at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in the Art in the Gardens show. Now I have a new piece there titled River Guardian.”
He has just finished a 12-foot-tall copper fountain for a couple in Lakeport.
“I don’t usually make fountains,” he said, “so this was a pretty unique project.”
“For more than a decade, Diego Harris’ sculptures have captivated guests at our garden by the sea,” said Roxanne Perkins, director of communications at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. “I am always struck by the movement in his work, with sweeping curves that echo plants reaching for the sun and the waves beyond our bluffs. A longtime featured artist in our biennial exhibit with the Arts Council of Mendocino County, Diego brings both talent and generosity to each installation. ‘River Guardian’ stands along the path to the Dahlia Garden. By late summer, it will be framed by a vibrant tapestry of blooms and a peek of the ocean beyond. It is well worth the walk to experience art and nature side by side”.
As if all of the projects mentioned were not enough, Harris is also working on a project with the The Middletown Art Center to create three treelike sculptures for the county park there to memorialize the Valley Fire of 2015 that burned more than 76,000 acres. He is pretty far along in the design process and even had a town hall meeting there last month. The project, called “Rooted in Place,” also involves murals in three county parks around Clear Lake and is funded by Parks California.
To view Harris hard at work in his Upper Lake gallery at 375 E. Highway 20, Space J, it’s best to call ahead at 707-548-0624.
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Kathleen Scavone, M.A., retired educator, is a potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora and Fauna Tour of a California State Park,” “People of the Water” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She loves hiking, travel, photography and creating her single panel cartoon, “Rupert.”
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