Ted Harrison is one of Canada's virtually all popular & darling creative person whose love of the l& and population of the Yukon has brought him national acclaim. His distinctive painting style is colourful & sophisticated eventually retains an guiltless charm. He is besides an internationally recognized author and illustrator of children's books & has spent lot of his career teaching art to tikes of completely ages. Edward Healthy Harrisin was natural on August 28, 1926 with his twin sister, Algar, in the village of Wingate in County Durham, England. His father was the pitman & his mother the "miner's wife". Ted attributes his early interest withinside art & project to encouragement from either his parents, particularly his mother world health organization got an interest in fashion design and photography. As the nestling, he spent several hours drawing & his fondest memory was illustrating a book of MG motor cars at the age of Twelve. His talents were besides recognized by grammar school teachers who encouraged him to farther pursue his talents at Art College. Inside 1943, he enrolled at the West Hartlepool College of Art and began to study art and design in earnest, but prefer more young men at a instance, his education was interrupted per Second World War. Following [[military service], he returned to art school and in 1950, received a Diploma of Design. The following year he received a teaching certificate from the University of Durham and began a twenty-eight year career in Education. He taught at schools in England, Malaysia, New Zealand and finally came to the Yukon in 1967 where he received a job to teach in "the land of the mighty Moose – where weaklings need not apply". He and his family settled in Carcross and in 1970 moved to Whitehorse where he taught art to secondary school students and adults until 1979. After that time, he began to work as an artist full time. In 1993, seeking a more moderate climate, he and his wife, Nicky, moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he currently lives and works. Ted Harrison credits the work of English painter, Norman Cornish, for inspiring his life long quest to paint people and places. He was also profoundly in fluenced by the curvilinear shapes of Maori art during his stay in New Zealand. He greatly admires the work of Austrian painter Hundertwasser, Japanese print maker Katsushika Hokusai and the American painter Winslow Homer. But, the strongest influence on his life and art was living in the land of the Yukon, "where he found his Waterloo!"

His work can be found in numerous private and public collections throughout Canada and in England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Germany and Japan. In 1987 he received the Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian culture and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Athabasca University in Alberta in 1991 and an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in 1998. Other honours include being the first Canadian to have book illustrations selected for the International Children's' Book Exhibition in Bologna, Italy.