Mt Kisco Native is Intuitive About His Art

Photo by Sara Hart

Hari Edgar Palacio grew up in Mt. Kisco, went to Fox Lane, got a BA at Westchester Community College, a BS from SUNY Purchase and a Masters from Manhattanville College. A very creative mind at his disposal, Palacio has since made his mark across multiple disciplines.

He’s performed in Nepal with one of that country’s biggest rock bands, he’s had his artwork featured in exhibitions locally and internationally and has had two books published in the last several years. “I have always been into art - just because I was surrounded by it,” said Palacio. “It has informed my life.”

He got a pretty good lead in from his mother. Born in the Dominican Republic, she was a florist master and a tailor who also had a book published from her sewing and pattern making expertise. “I guess that’s where part of my writing skills come from,” he said.

She came to America in search of a better life and educational system and settled in Mt Kisco in the early 80s. A locale that Palacio still loves for its large Latino population. “You have a lot of people who understand your experience,” said Palacio.

But his love of the area doesn’t just come from an insular point of view. “It’s like you’re in a submarine, under water in a sea of consciousness, and there’s a periscope to zoom up. Latin American is one consciousness, then there’s Russian communities, Jewish communities and all the other communities,” he asserted. “They all come together in the sea.”

Taking in the immersion, he did his thing in school as an artist but feels he owes a debt of gratitude to a babysitter who really nurtured his creative juices. “She kind of curated the story of my artistic life,” he said of Sandra Thomas, who is now the Reverend at the Mt Kisco Baptist Church.

Even so, he took a detour that put his educational instruction on the arts in the backseat. With a greater purpose driving him, Palacio left Fox Lane for the New York Military Academy, where the arts weren’t really prioritized. “My brother wasn’t doing well in school, and my mother sent him there. So I followed,” recalled Palacio, who is also a New School graduate.

Of course, he found time to scribble and sketch, but he also learned the importance of being in step. “Like if you make your bed in the morning, that’s the first achievement of the day,” he said. “It adds up.”

The cumulation eventually led to a Liberal Arts degree at Purchase in 2011 and his education masters from Manhattanville in 2018. Along the way, his art has been exhibited in Peekskill at the Roberson Gallery and the Energy Movement Center and the School of Visual Arts in NYC. HIs work also returned home when the Artistanal Gallery in the Dominican Republic put his work on display.

A style that he calls “intuitive” and gets the call from above. “My art is about how to get closer to God,” he revealed.

Ambrosia, his first book, takes a similar vein. A poetry/prose chat book that also tries to narrow the gap, according to Lee Anne Norman. “Hari’s unique voice provides readers space to explore the complexities and intimacies of the human condition with compassion, love, and care,” wrote the editor of Settlement.

In this and the Finishing Line Press 2019 release, he knows about complication. Diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, Palacio eventually produced another book called Sutras of Tiny Jazz and suffices as an allegory to the disorder. “The voices that one hears, it’s like Jazz - a cacophony of sound,” he informed.

A collection of poems previously appearing in publications such as Storm Cellar, Quail Bell Magazine and Coffin Bell, the poet refers to the vast myriad as the frenetic mind and the intent is to help manage the disarray. The goal is to live life in a frequency where you can experience things without being affected by all the extreme fluctuations and not dominated by them, Palacio instructed.

Still, he can kick back with his own sound, and you can find his original music on Oregon Kool-Aid, Amazon and YouTube. In addition, Palacio frequently plays guitar gigs in NYC, and had the chance to play with La Gran Mawon, which is one of the most famous Dominican Republic bands in the country. The music not stopping there, his guitar took flight to Nepal where he jammed with Deepak KC.

So obviously out and about and hoping to make a difference, his art has a simple mission. “I hope people are able to see things with lucid eyes and experience the world in a different way,” he concluded.