Roland Hobart

Roland Hobart
Born Innsbruck
Nationality Austrian
Education Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
Known for Printmaking, painting, drawing
Notable work Untitled (Urban Wall) (1973)

Roland Hobart is an Austrian artist who arrived in the United States in 1966 to participate in the L. S. Ayres "Import Fair" and later became a leading mural artist in Downtown Indianapolis, a well-known screen printing artist, and educator.[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Roland Hobart is a native of Innsbruck where he studied mural painting at an early age, and then toured for a year in Europe working at different galleries, before enrolling in the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and opening a printing business.[2]

Shelbyville

Hobart moved to Shelbyville, Indiana in 1966 from Austria and lived on the 21 acre property of Richard and Thelma ('Tee') Fleming, who helped arrange for him to stay and sponsored his art production.[3] In Shelbyville Hobart set up a studio just off one of Shelbyville's main streets and remained there until the 1980s. He was well known in Shelbyville for his work with children, famously designing a 80 x 15 foot sculpture for the 1971 Shelbyville Senior High School Prom.[2]

In 1972 Hobart designed the Shelby County flag as part of the 1972 Shelby County Sesquicentennial celebration. The green and blue flag featured "Indiana symbols for Shelby County's famous cornfields, two bears symbolizing 'The Bears of Blue River,' and a diagonal blue stripe symbolizing the waters of Big Blue River which cut through the county." [4]

Indianapolis

Indianapolis Sesquicentennial work

While Hobart worked as an artist for L.S. Ayres, his first significant commissioned came in 1970 from the Indianapolis Sesquicentennial Commission, when he was asked to create five original prints for the celebration of the Indianapolis Sesquicentennial (1971). Each of the five prints, which were unveiled in May of 1971[5] represent an important aspect of the city.

At the same time as the Sesquicentennial prints, Hobart also produced an original work for the International Conferences on Cities, a conference held in May 1971 and organized by J. Irwin Miller and Richard Lugar. This print depicts a view of the world from space, centered in a large "I" for Indianapolis. Hobart chose this design to represent all the nations present at the Conference on Cities.[2]

Urban Walls

Main article: Untitled (Urban Wall)

In August of 1973 Hobart was selected as the first winner of the Urban Walls design contest, which was sponsored by National Endowment for the Arts and American Fletcher National Bank. The contest was judged by Carl Solway of Solway Galleries, Cincinnati, sponsor of the Urban Walls project there, Benjamin deBrie Taylor of the Herron School of Art, and Sylvia Zazas of Indianapolis.[7]

Other projects

In the summer of 1973, Hobart's silk screen prints were displayed at the L. S. Ayres & Company Auditorium in downtown Indianapolis as part of a two-artist show.[8] The prints displayed were created using his own unique silk screening process which entails using the squeegee like a pint brush to apply texture to the print.[9]

In 1975 Hobart created a mural for the Great Hall of the Phi Kapp Psi fraternity on the campus of Wabash College.[10] That same year he also served as the Visual Artists-in-Residence for the Indiana Boy's School to produce murals on the interior of the building with a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission and provide instructions in silk screen printing to allow the boys to create their own t-shirt designs.[11] Hobart continued helping youth in Indianapolis create murals as part of the Urban Walls through 1976.[12]

From 1976 to 1977 he taught at the Herron School for Art and Design as an adjunct professor.[13]

In 1979, Hobart created two graphics of President Jimmy Carter, one sweating and one shivering. The graphics were made into thermostats: if the temperature on the thermostat rose above 78 degrees, Carter would begin to sweat, below 65 he would shiver.[14] The thermostats were meant to encourage citizens to stay in the temperature regulations during the natural gas crisis of the late 1970s.[14]

Hobart created the logo for the Indiana General Assembly in the 1970s, a design that is still in use today.

Bloomington

Hobart moved to Bloomington, Indiana in the 1980s where continued his artistic career, and began consulting for a variety of corporations, including Dynamesh, a company that supplies high quality mesh, screens, and screen printing supplies .

References

  1. Waldon, Mary (21 October 1966). "Import Fair To Open Monday". The Indianapolis Star.
  2. 1 2 3 Lennis, Susan (4 July 1971). "Austria's Art Export". The Indianapolis Star Magazine. pp. 14 – 16.
  3. Lamm, Jean (15 April 1973). "17-Year Dream Materializing For Shelbyville Man of Purpose". The Indianapolis Star.
  4. Sleeth, Bernard (18 June 1972). "Summer-Long Festivities To Mark Shelby Sesqui". The Indianapolis Star. p. 19.
  5. "Sequi Items". The Indianapolis Star. 11 May 1971.
  6. "Jaycees Selling Sesqui Prints". The Indianapolis Star. 21 November 1971. p. 12.
  7. "First Walls Design Winner". The Indianapolis News. 31 August 1975.
  8. Garme, Marion Simon, "Hobart art in Ayres auditorium", "The Indianapolis News", 13 June 1973.
  9. Garmel, Marion Simon, “Artist perfecting silk-screen process”, “The Indianapolis News”, 6 August 1979.
  10. "Hobart Mural". The Indianapolis Star. 31 January 1975. p. 18.
  11. "HAI Gets Grant". The Indianapolis Start. 27 March 1975.
  12. Lennis, Susan (23 May 1976). "Blank Walls A Canvas Make". The Indianapolis Star Magazine. pp. 34 – 38.
  13. Herron School of Art and Design Records, 1902-2006, Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
  14. 1 2 Mannweiler, Davie. “Sweating or shivering”, “Indianapolis News”, Indianapolis, 6 August 1979.
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