BOB MAURER
My paintings are my thoughts and impressions of life and my imagination. Sometimes literal, sometimes abstract, occasionally deep space and other times flat… two dimensional. I shuffle them to be original in thought as well as style with the hope that my knowledge of art shows an informal class!
Bio: Born in Brooklyn, NY, Bob received formal art training at Cooper Union and the School of Visual Arts in New York. While there, he met the love of his life, a fashion illustrator, and married her 3 weeks later. In 1959, Bob and Lydia moved to Denver, Colorado to start a family that would eventually include four children. While in Denver, Bob worked as the art director for ABC TV. He later opened Studio 10, a graphic design company that counted Pepsi among its clients. Avid campers, they decided to move to the foothills of Boulder, where Bob became a graphic designer for the National Center of Atmospheric Research.In 1972, the call of the mountains grew stronger, and Bob and Lydia moved to Lake City, a small town high in the San Juan range. For the first time, Bob and Lydia worked together as fine artists. They bought a 100-year old cabin and hand-built an art gallery that also housed their studio and print shop. After many years in this rustic mountain town, Bob and Lydia moved to Grand Junction to open an art school and gallery.
In 1985, after the oil shale industry and the city’s economy collapsed, they moved to the Chicken Farm Art Center in San Angelo, Texas. Here Bob and Lydia continued to develop their craft painting and teaching classes at the art center and on the local public television station. In 1986, Bob took the plunge into computer design with the purchase of his first computer, an Apple Mac Plus. Although they enjoyed a great deal of success in San Angelo, Bob and Lydia missed the mountains. In 1990, they moved back to Colorado and settled in Gunnison where they opened a studio and small gallery. They also joined the Paragon Gallery in Crested Butte, a cooperative where artists exhibit their artwork and give back to the community by donating their time and a portion of their profits.
In January 2007, Bob’s life as a husband and artist took another unexpected turn when he said goodbye to his wife, partner, and creative muse after nearly 50 years of marriage. Lydia had only recently been diagnosed and treated for cancer. Her memory and life continue to inspire and inform his work.
During his long career, Bob has been prolific in both the quality and quantity of his work. He has completed more than 1,200 oil and watercolor paintings, many of which have placed first in art shows and competitions. His work has been shown in the Denver Art Museum, the Smithsonian, and in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad. In 2006, Bob’s watercolor “Wildflower Medley” was selected as the official poster design for the annual Crested Butte Wildflower Festival.
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