Harry Hasheian, 77, artist and educator

Harry Hasheian, 77, of Chestnut Hill, an artist and educator, died Saturday, July 18, of a pulmonary embolism at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

He and his family were lifelong Philadelphia residents, and his work was known throughout the region.

Mr. Hasheian said his drawings and paintings were influenced by the "raw, divine clumsiness" of the German Expressionists.

In addition, the work of painters Wassily Kandinsky and Arshile Gorky, he said, allowed him to experiment with the "visually sophisticated doodle."

"I am motivated to make drawings by the company I keep and because I have no choice but to do it," Mr. Hasheian said on his website. "Sometimes they represent my thought processes like talking to myself out loud, making plans, proposing possibilities.

"Henri Matisse said his work was successful if it provided a mental armchair at the end of the day. With me, think electrified Barcalounger instead."

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Hasheian was the son of John and Azniv Hasheian.

He graduated in 1956 from West Philadelphia High School. Mr. Hasheian attended what is now the University of the Arts, receiving a bachelor's degree in art education in 1960. He went on to earn his master's degree in fine arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Hasheian joined the faculty at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science in 1961, and was assistant professor at Edinboro University in northwestern Pennsylvania from 1965 to 1984.

He taught at institutions including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Cabrini College, Mercyhurst University in Erie, Salem (N.J.) High School, and the Green Tree School in Germantown.

Mr. Hasheian served for three years, ending in 1990, as director of visual communication at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. He also taught at the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill.

Four pieces of Mr. Hasheian's work hang in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His work also has been shown at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. His work is held in various private collections.

"The predictable element of Harry's work is that it is unpredictable, full of surprises, inimitable humor, and provocative imagery," collector J. Wilson Snow said on Mr. Hasheian's website. "His work is not a business, his work is an inquiry into what it means to be an artist."

Mr. Hasheian received the Thornton Oakley Medal for Creative Achievement and the Bocour Award for Excellence in Painting.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn Malmberg Hasheian; a daughter, Molly Papazian; a son, Max; three children from a previous marriage, James Hasheian, Hester Hasheian, and Gwen Hasheian Norton; a sister; two grandchildren; and nieces and nephews. His former wife, Joan Duncan, also survives. A sister died earlier.

A memorial service was Saturday, July 25.