Greg Harkins stands behind one of the chairs that he has built a life around.
A Man of
Many Trades
Greg Harkins is renowned as a chair-maker, but that's only one aspect of this very talented and passionate man. BY SUSAN PHOTOS
'M A CHAIR-MAKER. I MAKE CHAIRS." That could be the beginning and end of Greg Harkins' story, but there's much more to this complex man. For 34 years, the Master Chairmaker has been making high quality rocking chairs for a lot of folks, including US Presidents and a Pope. "I mainly wrangled myself close enough to put a chair under them, and they kept it for their personal furniture. That's very humbling to me." Greg is humbled by many things in his life. He was born and raised in the Broadmoor area of Jackson, graduating from St. Joseph Catholic School. "I had a wonderful childhood and the most loving parents." He's got a wealth of stories from his life, such as the time he brought home a pet goat. "He was such a nuisance that we named him Barbeque. It was a joke for a long time, until he climbed on top of my friend's new Mercedes and was looking through the sunroof into the car. He shouldn't have done that. But I have to tell you, Barbeque was delicious!"
MARQUEZ
BY STEPHEN
LITTLE
He'd someday like to write a cookbook that features the recipes he's grown up on, as well as the stories behind them. "As we get older, we lose our sense of smell and taste. I'm not getting any younger. I always heard all my life that my grandmother was a wonderful cook. Towards the end of her life, anything I ate that she cooked was just bad. She'd lost her sense of taste. My cookbook will have lots of recipes for peas, since my mom could cook peas fifteen different ways. Why? Because we had a lot of peas!" After graduating high school, Greg headed to Mississippi State, where he majored in "alcohology" the first year or so. He eventually buckled down and focused on his classes, earning a BS degree in Psychology. He intended to go to graduate school, but needed to earn some money first. "My daddy paid for four years of college, but since it took me a little longer, I was on my own." Greg apprenticed under a chair-maker named Tom Bell in Thomastown, Mississippi. "Iwas really motivated to
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[ arts & culture]
TOP LEFT: The backs and bottoms of every chair are woven by hand. TOP RIGHT: Every president since Jimmy Carter owns one of Greg's chairs. BOTTOM LEFT: Greg builds his chairs using techniques passed down from the mid-1800s.
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make some money to live, so I would show up early for work, and I'd be the last one to leave. When others in the shop took an hour for lunch, I'd only take thirty minutes. On weekends, I'd collect Coke bottles for extra money. I had a plan, and I could not be defeated." Greg's plan was to be self-sufficient. 'The goal was to have no overhead. My thinking has always been that you can't put someone out of business who doesn't have anything." He rented his first shop for $25 a month and lived in a house that once belonged to his great-great-great grandparents. He eventually bought some property and moved the house to Vaughn, Mississippi, not far from his shop, and lives there to this day. Over the years, Greg has been recognized and honored for his work. He was nominated for the Governor's Award of Excellence, "a real honor, as that came from a jury of my peers," as well as being featured in a fourth grade Mississippi history textbook as one of the Mississippians who have made a difference. Every president since Jimmy Carter has one of his chairs, personally presented at the White House by Greg. Even the late Pope John Paul was gifted with one of his chairs. The chair-maker also makes a mean tamale. The family opened the Harkins Family Bakery on the square in Canton, and it was a natural place to sell the tamales. Greg has also sold the popular tamales at festivals and markets on weekends.
[ arts&culture]
"It's [chair-making] something I enjoy doing. I've built a life doing this. It's a good life, and I feel that it's important to share it with others." GREG HARKINS
TOP LEFT: Greg's shop in Vaughn can be seen from Interstate 55. TOP RIGHT: The wood comes from Greg's own property, and is cut, milled and turned all by hand. BOTTOM RIGHT: On average, a chair takes 25 hours to make.
Yet another side of this complex man is revealed when he talks about his hunting trips. "1 like to do father-son trips, because I think that's important. I have an excellent kill average, only because I have figured out over the years that you have to know where the deer are and what they're doing." He's built a comfortable cabin deep in the woods that is ideal for the hunts. "It was just going to be a big stand, then I decided to put a roof on it, and before I knew it, I added walls and now it's got central air and heat!" Also on the Harkins' property is an 1850 church, St. Anne's, which he moved from Thomastown. "It was important to the people in the community that the church be saved." Today Greg hosts private dinner parties in the church, complete with buggy rides. But his pride and joy is his daughter, Carley. "1 will be forever grateful to my wife for giving me my daughter." Greg proudly explains that Carley, a junior at St. Joe, is a seventh generation Irish Mississippi Catholic. A Fellow Member of the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi, he has also been on its Board of Directors. "1'11 be involved with the Craftsmen's Guild until I die." He is also a member of the American Craft Council and the Louisiana Craft Council. Because he learned from a chair maker who was old, Greg understands that passing down the craft to others is essential.
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TOP: Among the many uses of Greg's beautiful property is his guided father-son hunting trips. BOTTOM LEFT: What was originally planned to be a deer stand is now a comfortable cabin deep in the woods. BOTTOM RIGHT: St. Anne's church, built in 1850 in Thomastown, was moved by Greg to preserve it.
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FILMS THE RAPE OF EUROPA Thursday, Jan. 17,7:00 p.m. Mississippi Museum of Art,TheTrustmarkGrandHall
He teaches chair-making classes to others. "It's something I enjoy doing. I've built a life doing this. It's a good life, and I feel that it's important to share it with others." Although he's reinvented himself time and time again, Greg Harkins continues to remain true to himself. "I've always known who I was." Chair-maker, teacher, hunter, chef, husband and father, Greg Harkins, someone who loves the simple life, is a complex person. "life's a little bitty short thing. I've never quit doing anything I've started, I just continue to add pages to my book. I don't claim to be a master of anything. The wonderful thing about Mississippi is that anyone can make a living here. I tell my students to just be the best at whatever you do. If you are a pencil sharpener by trade, do it the best job you can. If you sharpen five million pencils in a year at a penny apiece, you'll earn $50,000." 0 For
more
information
www.harkinschairs.com.
visit
Greg's
website,
OLGA
*ADULT CONTENT
Saturday, Jan. 19, 7:00 p.m. Millsaps College Recital Hall
SOUVENIRS Sunday, Jan. 20, 2:00 p.m. Millsaps College Recital Hall
BLUES BY THE BEACH Monday, Jan. 21, 7:00 p.m. Millsaps College Recital Hall Speaker: Filmmaker Jack Baxter
TICKETS * Adults: $10 Students (with ID): $5 Festival Pass: $35, Adults & $20, Students-includes all 4 screenings Patron Pass: $ 125-includes all screenings and Sponsor Reception * For additional ticket information call 601-956-6215.