Harris - Cies Art Gallery of Walker Valley, NY. Lets solve this ceramic mystery!

Throwing this little blog out into the world in hopes we might be able to crowdsource more info about these incredibly cool 80s/90s era fine artists!

Background: 

Me, child of the 80s and 90s, caught a typical 'midlife nostalgia wave'. Started pecking around for pieces of home décor in that '80s Style' we all know. This was back when you could still get an original Patrick Nagel canvas for under $20K. My, how times (and trends) change! What once was insufferably out of fashion is now, apparently, in hot demand. 

Stumbled into this great husband/wife team of Barbara Harris and Sandy Cies, two artisans based out of Walker Valley, NY who seemed to be most prolific in the 1980s/90s and whose artistic style is very much reflective of the era's popular aesthetic.  

Overall, there's really no meaningful info on the web about them (and right now, prices of their stuff on ebay reflects this) but they definitely deserve to be better researched and I know I'm not the only one interested in pop art from this particular time. 

Per ebay observations, some pieces just signed "Harris" were more commonly dated in the mid 1980s and a bit more 'conventional' in the "very 80s" look. 

                                                          

Later on, pieces marked Harris-Cies - and dated in the late 80s but well into the late 1990s - swerved more into Keith Herring meets the color palette of Lisa Frank- so great!

The last internet mention of Harris-Cies as a working studio (that I could find, please feel free to send anything newer!) was a mention of them showing at the Craigsmoor Historical Society (Craigsmoor, NY) in 2003. 

https://www.recordonline.com/story/entertainment/local/2003/08/18/quilter-s-program-set-for/51152360007/

The Objective of this Blog: 

* To find out as much info as possible about the artistic work-product of Barbara Harris and Sandy Cies and the Harris-Cies Gallery.

* To find out what happened to Barbara Harris / Sandy Cies. Per internet research, they are mentioned on the published obituaries of their parents, who both lived very long lives. Are Barbara and Sandy still around? I hope so!

* To learn any positive information about the gallery or the artisans!

* To network with other collectors, before prices blow up (haha)