MODE: Bob, you prefer to be
a solo artist in the singular, as opposed to artists
in the plural. Why is that?
Bob: No particular reason,
I’m a member of the Harrisburg Art Association,
so I’m not a hermit.
MODE: How long had you been
back in the states after your service in Vietnam when
you came to Harrisburg?
Bob: I got out of the
service in ’67. I arrived in Harrisburg in
’74.
MODE: What did you do
between Vietnam and Harrisburg?
Bob: Well, as far as art, I
was a commercial artist for a couple of department
stores and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. I was
an illustrator.
MODE: You’re an avid
biker, ever join up with any groups?
Bob: Nope, always
liked to bike by myself or with my wife, Amy.
MODE: Bob, in the
early 1970’s, you operated your own artist shop
in Harrisburg. Will you fill us in on some of those
details?
Bob: Well, when I
first moved here I heard that Bob Mumma, he’s
now deceased, would support the arts and he would
sometimes, you know, back people. He asked what I
needed, he took a look at some of my work, and then
he gave me a shop. It was right down on Walnut
Street. I had that for two-and-a-half years. He just
gave me the use of the space. He was a good guy.
MODE: What was the
Harrisburg art community like back then?
Bob: Some were
willing to put pieces of artwork in my shop for sale
by commission, I was only charging 20 percent, and
that’s probably why I went down the tubes.
(Laughter.) I had tried another art shop before, but
with this art shop, I finally started selling my
work, that is, until the law put the clamps on me. I
made a four-by-eight-foot sign and put it out on the
sidewalk. It said "Help support your local
starving artist." I sat out there with my hoses
and a little table, and I brazed. The people loved
it, they started coming in right and left. I was
really starting to sell my work. Sure enough, the
police came along and said I couldn’t do that.
They said it was a safety hazard.
MODE: So no
drive-by culture, huh.
Bob: No drive-by
culture, no.
MODE: Bob,
returning to Vietnam now, how much of the artist in
you did you have to leave behind in the states, and
how much of the artist did you discover went to
Vietnam with you?
Bob: I got a
chance to do some sketching over there. I don’t
know, during that time I wasn’t thinking too
much along the lines of artwork to be truthful with
you. I was looking more on the lines of saving my
ass. It’s mighty rough to try and build a
sculpture when you’re trying to keep your ass
from getting shot off, you know what I mean?
MODE: So you left
the artist behind and saved the artist’s behind.
Bob: I’ve
always thought about art, and there were things in
the jungles that you might look at and think, wow,
that’s beautiful. After I was shot up, with my
injuries I could not return to an infantry group
again, so I was shipped back to Hawaii. I had a
special brace that I had to wear on my leg. Once I
was hitch hiking back from town and this guy picks me
up. I find out that he’s the General. So I just
told him how bored I was and that I had studied art
at a vocational school and had taken a few courses
here and there in college. The very next day he made
me the ceramics instructor for the whole base. I got
a chance to use the welding shop. It was right there.
After my duty was over, I was over there making
sculptures again. Those are the ones that fell out of
my military lockers when they would come by to do
their formal inspections. Oh, how embarrassing.
MODE: When was the
first time you picked up a torch? How did you get
introduced to that form of art?
Bob: In eleventh
grade, I went to a vocational high school. I was
studying textile at the time, and my teacher asked if
anyone would be interested in doing a sculpture, and
learn how to weld. That was the first time I ever got
an A+ on anything. I stayed there that whole year and
just learned to weld. The best grades I ever had were
right there. I knew that was where my nitch in the
art field was. When I draw and paint, I feel like
I’m just run of the mill, but with my
sculptures, that’s another thing entirely
because that’s making it three dimensional.
MODE: Bob, as a
teacher, you had the opportunity to recruit other
young people into the field of sculpture. Is that a
door you would like to see opened again for you in
the future?
Bob: Yes. Yes I
would.
MODE: Talk about
your past experiences in teaching. Any person or
event that you can look back on and say, "Yeah,
that was a time when I made a difference"?
Bob: I’ll
give you two. One was when I was a ceramics
instructor in the Marine Corps, and I taught a bunch
of girl scouts to help them earn their merit badge.
They all came back a month later and sang Happy
Birthday for me. They thought that much of me that
even after the class was over they came back. The
other one, I was teaching heritage days up in Perry
County, at Susquenita School, the sixth and seventh
graders. I showed them how I hammered out my metal,
how to use a torch. They all had to bring sunglasses
with them that were UV protected. I wouldn’t
allow them to be out there if they didn’t have
the UV protection because I didn’t want them to
hurt their eyes. Each one would come up and I’d
show them just how the metal shines so they could
flow the brass over it. Guess what? That entire class
wrote me letters and out of those letters I had six
of them that said they wanted to be artists and
sculptors when they grew up. That just made me feel
so good. The people that I remember most were my
teachers, and especially my art teachers. And I can
tell you every art teacher that I had from the time
that I was in fourth grade and won my first art
prize.
MODE: Bob, as an
artist, what encourages you and keeps you moving?
Bob: Well,
obviously, if I sell a sculpture, that encourages me
quite a bit, it inspires me. Then I don’t feel
like I’m just treading water, or running in
place. You keep doing your sculptures and you always
want recognition. I feel that most artists want
recognition and acceptance whether it’s from
their peers or from the public. And there’s
nothing more thrilling than selling one of your
pieces of artwork.
MODE: Conversely
speaking, what is it that discourages you as an
artist?
Bob: Well, I would
say the most discouraging thing is when there is no
opinion at all on my artwork. If someone looks at my
piece of artwork and they say, well, I could have
made that or it’s a bunch of trash, or if they
say, hey, I love the piece and it’s wonderful,
that’s fine. It’s when they come in and
they don’t have any opinion at all. I’d
rather have my artwork at least sway them one way or
the other as opposed to, this blank stare. And then
there’s the politics that seems to seep into art
which I guess is inevitable, but nevertheless,
discouraging.
MODE: Bob, your
artwork requires you to travel around the Country.
Are there some comparisons you can make between the
Harrisburg art community and that which you see when
you travel in other places? Are there common
denominators or are there really some important
differences between tribes?
Bob: I go to craft
and art shows with my metal sculptures. I’ve
found that the Florida area, for the type of art work
I do, is more conducive to selling pieces mainly
because I have a wildlife theme on my craft items,
and I’m right down there in a port where they
have porpoises, they have the manatees, and yes,
I’ve sold twice as much down there as I have up
here.
MODE: And what
about common denominators among artists and their
tribes?
Bob: I don’t
see that much of a difference as far as the love of
art. If you have a love of art, you’re going to
see that whether you’re in Florida or here in
Harrisburg. Along cultural lines, some would accept,
let’s say, an abstract nude...as opposed to here
they want to put a covering on it. I think they may
be a little more liberal other places. You know, art
is art.
