In the mid-1960s, he met Zita Mellon, an elderly art teacher in Allendale, South Carolina. However, his love for art was never far from him. His first job after college marked the beginning of a successful 11-year high school coaching career at three schools. I can't remember a day passing that I did not do a little sketching of some sort." "My interest in drawing and painting was never replaced by my newly chosen courses in education, but it seemed more practical at that time. In college I sensed a feeling that making a living for an artist was for the very few," said Harrison. "At the time, I never really saw any future for me in fine art. Torn between his love of art and the enjoyment of athletics, he pursued a dual major in art and physical education. During his years at Denmark High School, he was the "class artist" and after graduation, he began his college career at the University of South Carolina. Her investment in his first art kit led to a lifetime of work. Harrison credits his mother with providing the encouragement for him to develop his artistic interests beyond that of sign painting. I simply want to communicate my message to the common man on the street who claims to have no knowledge of art but does know what he likes." I hope that my paintings need no explanation. "With my art what you see is what you get. They were an important part of our past," Harrison said. The subjects I’m interested in certainly need to be captured in books and on canvas.
"I sincerely try to put meaning to all of this in hopes it has some historical value. His strong feelings for rural America touch on every aspect of earlier ways of living, and his subjects - railroad stations, churches, one room school houses, country stores, covered bridges, and farm buildings - representing the spirit of an agrarian society. Reminiscent of his earlier experiences as a sign painter, his work is known for chronicling earlier twentieth century rural life. Now, an established artist and writer, Harrison has more than 100 limited edition reproductions to his name. Cornforth, was the first of more than 100 similar signs he painted over the next few years and shaped the future work of this South Carolinian in many ways. The Coca-Cola sign that he began that day with his mentor, J. Jim Harrison's journey as an artist seems to have begun when he first climbed onto a sign painter's scaffold on the side of McCartha's Hardware in Denmark, South Carolina.
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