June Harben was born on June 5, 1929. A few months later the most devastating stock market crash in our nation’s history occurred, leading to the 10-year Great Depression. Also, that year, influenza would reach epidemic proportions in the United States. But, neither collapses in national wealth or health would deter the growth and artistic development of this thriving first-born daughter of a pioneer Florida family.
In the above picture, June is creating a painting from a photo taken near Yankeetown while on a pontoon boat at the mouth of the Withlacoochee River. The untitled result, which she donated to the Dunedin Fine Art Center, she now calls “The Wharf.” June paints, then titles, considering the opposite procedure creatively and unnecessarily restrictive.
June says she’s still trying to come up with her “masterpiece” and tends to downplay significant accomplishments. She has won awards in shows throughout Florida and in Alabama and Louisiana. A first-place winner hangs in the Bryant Allen collection in New Orleans. Her paintings are exhibited at both Tampa and Clearwater/St. Petersburg airports.
In 1997, she and a fellow art student opened the Dunedin studio, H’Art Gallery. She soon became the sole owner and resident artist. Here, she worked and exhibited her own and other artists’ paintings for 18 years.
Since its 2014 opening, Gallery 1356 on Fort Harrison Ave. has featured sculptures by owner J. Harrison Smith and works in other media, including paintings by June Harben. The Gallery, in 2018, hosted a One Woman Show – June Harben, “Florida, My Home, My Passion,” a memorable and successful solo exhibition of her original oils and pastels.
June has always loved painting and taken classes in whatever cities that happened to be home to her and her Air Force husband, Frank. This month, they will celebrate their 68th wedding anniversary. Parents of two daughters, they have two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A son tragically died in an accident in 2003. June’s two sisters remain in good health in their late 80s.
As her daughter Jo has noted, “the artist in June is not limited to painting in the studio. She has transformed her home and property into a showcase for her talent in decorating and landscaping. Her home is filled with artifacts from her extensive travels. Living on a lot blessed with grand old oaks, she has planted lush, tropical plants that offset their centuries-old beauty.”
For some 21 years, June has carefully designed the Sunday bouquets at the Unity podium to coordinate with the color worn by Leddy, whose acknowledgment of June’s talent is abundantly evidenced in her own “personal treasure” of Harben paintings displayed throughout the Hammocks’ home.
In another long-term venture at the Dr. William E. Hale Activity Center in Dunedin, June joins an established group of like-minded artists for a weekly sketching of a live model. (Many at UCC have been invited by June to serve as models, and many have accepted.)
In her downtime, June enjoys crossword puzzles, reading fine art magazines and playing with 3-year-old great granddaughter Veda.
Then, there’s the road time. No practical SUV for This nonagenarian. It was her sense of adventure that led her to purchase a classic two-seat sports car, and in that treasured BMWZ4 convertible, there’s a gutsy Gemini driver enjoying the fine-tuned engine and the wind in her hair. Ageless.