Harman was born in Vancouver in 1927. He studied and worked as a graphic artist and illustrator for 11 years in Vancouver, Toronto, and London, UK. He had a very successful career illustrating covers for Harlequin and Corgi Romances in the 1950s while at the Slade School of Art on London. When he returned to the West Coast, he taught sculpture at the Vancouver School of Art/ Emily Carr College of Art and Design for 14 years. He carved figures in clay and revived an interest in lost-wax casting. In 1963 Harman built a foundry in North Vancouver, the first large sculpture foundry in Canada. In 1978, he opened a larger foundry in the old Letson and Burpee Foundry building east of Vancouver's Gastown where, as well as casting his own works, he also cast works by Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, and Joe Fafard. He cast the Bird of Spring on the old courthouse (Vancouver Art Gallery) steps. In 1989 the foundry was moved to Gibsons, BC. Harmon died in January 2001. Honours & Awards include: 1951, O'Keefe Art Award for Canadian Painters under 30; 1973, elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy; 1996, Order of British Columbia.