Know Your Neighbor: David Harrington Loves Bristol, Art, Community

David Harrington grew up in Belchertown, MA but is a thoroughbred Rhode Islander. His family has owned a home on Prudence Island for multiple generations. He's got Angell and Waterman genes. Given that many of the east side neighborhood streets are named after his ancestors, attending RISD as an undergraduate was very much a homecoming for Harrington. He studied architecture while there and developed a tactile appreciation and understanding of form and space, scale and proportion.

After RISD, Harrington attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied historic preservation. Nearing graduation, he told his academic adviser that he wanted to find a job in the Caribbean. His adviser scoffed at the idea. It was the early 1980s. People weren't headed to the Caribbean in search of architecture work, but when Harrington got home that very day, there was a message from the department secretary asking if he'd be interested in a job on St. Thomas working as an architectural review and compliance officer for the government. Things have always had a rather divine way of happening for Harrington.

“God has always been working in my life,” Harrington says. “I've never fussed over the big things. I'd rather worry about what I'm having for dinner.”

Harrington's mother had moved to St. Lucia for an NGO job at the U.N. while he was attending RISD. Harrington spent his vacations living there with her. He moved to St. Thomas and spent the next twelve years there. While working as an architectural compliance officer, Harrington also worked in theater. He participated in musicals at the Frenchman's Reef Hotel, performing in shows such as The Wiz and Sweet Charity. He inherited his love of singing and theater from his mother, an Emerson College grad who did radio voice-over in New York City.

Harrington also owned and operated an antique store during his time in tropical paradise, but two major hurricanes would eventually take the wind out of the local economy's sails. After the destruction of Hugo and Marilyn, Harrington recognized that it would take years for the island to recover.

From there, Harrington moved to Washington D.C. He continued his acting pursuits but attests that it wasn't working out. A friend asked if he'd be interested in taking a ceramics class with him. It was love at first touch.

“I had always done performance but never the textile aspect of art,” Harrington says. “When I did, I fell in love instantly. It was very similar to architecture. They're both about scale and proportion.”

Harrington learned ceramics blocks from the White House. He had access to the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Museums. His instructors would bring him to both museums where he could study ancient pots firsthand. He also studied in Cornwall, England with Seth Cardew, a master craftsman from a long line of English artist potters.

Harrington's mother came to live with him in D.C. after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Soon after, both his sisters were also diagnosed with cancer and his sister Sara would eventually succumb to her illness. Harrington remains very close with her sons Nabil and Nassan. He brings them to Prudence Island every summer for family reunions. His sister Barb survived breast cancer and now lives in Michigan with her two daughters Juliet and Layli.

After the death of his mother, Harrington moved to Bristol after what he describes as another “God moment.” A close friend of his who'd recently visited him in D.C . had died in a car accident. Months after the tragedy, a mutual friend of theirs called Harrington to tell him that Sandy's house in Bristol was on the market.

“It was like God whispered in my ear. I called the real estate agent and saw the house four days later.”

Harrington sold his house in D.C. and bought Sandy's house in a month's time. Six years later, he's all about the local community. He's currently on the board at Linden Place and volunteers with the Bristol Art Museum. He sings in the Bristol County Chorus and is a member of the American Begonia Society. He shares a studio in Warren with artist Candis Dixon at one of the mills on Cutler Street.  Those interest in viewing his work can contact him at dh7408@aol.com.