Miki Harder is an expressive individual and her energy is contagious. She smiles from ear to ear as she recalls moving from Sunnyvale, California, to Colorado Springs when she was just a daydreaming 10-year-old.

“When I was a kid, I always had a crayon in my hand and I loved horses,” she said. “So my mom and dad got me horseback riding lessons, and all I wanted to do was draw and ride ponies. When we moved to Colorado from California, I worked hard and, dream come true, I got a pony. Art was always on the side.”

Harder said her parents facilitated her creative and educational interests by keeping paper, crayons and other classic art supplies in stock. She would draw cartoon horses, but she has struggled with embracing her inner artist for most of her life.

“I grew up thinking art had to be a certain way,” Harder said. “It did not appear to be the non-linear way I saw life, so I always second-guessed myself. I separated cartoon illustration from ‘real art.’ I think that is what kept me from doing art professionally. I never thought that I was doing it the right way, so I kind of had this imposter syndrome.”

She transitioned to drawing cartoons because they felt like a safe way to express the light-hearted and off-kilter side of the world around her. After graduating high school, Harder attended Fort Lewis College, where she planned to earn an associate degree in biology and then transfer to Colorado State University to become a forest ranger. But transitioning to college was difficult for her, so she took a semester off from school and worked at a day care in Colorado Springs. After rethinking her future and with encouragement from her parents, Harder decided to pursue a degree in both art and biology at FLC instead. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1990.

“I ankle-waded into art but I didn’t take it seriously until years later,” Harder said. “I loved the sciences but didn’t really understand what my place would be in them.”

After college, she spent the next 20 years working at regional restaurants such as Carvers Brewing Co., Diamond Belle Saloon and Ore House, to name a few, and has been a ski instructor at Purgatory Nordic Center for 30 years.

Through these different experiences, Harder made connections with many people who needed an artist to design logos or T-shirts for their businesses. She enjoyed helping others bring their creative vision to life.

So, when the San Juan Mountain Association invited Harder and 28 other artists to participate in a public art project to raise money for environmental education programs called Pumas on Parade in 2005, she was excited and nervous.

“It was the first time that I publicly acknowledged, ‘I am an artist,’” she said. “I didn’t want anyone to judge me for being bad, for not being good enough, for not doing it the way it was supposed to be done.”

The kind public reception gave Harder more confidence to pursue art full time. She applied for and was accepted as an artist in residence at Aspen Garden Station that same year and Great Basin National Park in 2016, where she participated in interactive programs. These experiences solidified her passion for art and the beautiful places it could take her.

“Artist residencies are fantastic,” Harder said. “They used to be these isolating experiences, which can be wonderful, but Great Basin switched it up. The resident was responsible for facilitating weekly creative workshops for visitors. I did two bird-spotting tours and two hikes into bristlecone pines to sketch. One afternoon while sitting under one of those trees, it dawned on me that my three favorite things had been combined. I was outside, I’m connecting with people and I’m drawing! It was exactly where I wanted to be.”

Since then, Harder has expanded her skills and overcome challenges, like marketing herself as a creative artist. She currently sells artwork at Studio & Gallery on Main Avenue in Durango and the Valkarie Gallery in Lakewood. She also collaborates with authors illustrating children’s books and completes commissioned projects for clients.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world, and I’m really grateful,” she said. “I want to thank every person who believed in me more than I did. I rest upon the shoulders of so many amazing individuals. I absolutely love and relish this life I get to live.”