I am a native Michigander who has been working as a designer and photographer for over forty years.
I graduated from Calvin University in Grand Rapids with a degree in art in 1978.
“With the eyes of a child” is a predominant methodology in my work as an artist. Using a camera and computer I try to build images that express a spirit of wondering.
I also enjoy drawing from the deep well of art history. I am especially inspired by the magical world of Paul Klee, the lyrical world of Chagall, and the natural connections of the Group of Seven.
• I have studied with noted photographers, Ernst Haas, Freeman Patterson, and John Paul Caponigro.
• I have participated in five artist-in-residence programs — Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Acadia National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, and Isle Royale National Park.
• I was awarded a solo show at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, Michigan in the Fall of 2013. The show went on to other exhibit venues in Michigan.
• My work is currently being shown at the Uptown Gallery in Holland, Michigan and Synchronicity Gallery in Glen Arbor, MI.
• The December 2014 issue of Traverse Magazine did a feature article on my work.
• In 2016 I published a coffee table type book of my artwork entitled The Best of Sleeping Bear. The book is currently available through the National Park concessions and local bookstores and galleries such as Synchronicity Gallery and The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor.
• In May of 2022 I published another fine art book featuring over 220 pages of artwork by inspired by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Awake at Sleeping Bear is a comprehensive and insightful look at the 71,000 acres that makes this northwest corner of Michigan's lower peninsula the Most Beautiful place in America.
• I have been awarded top three artworks in several regional exhibits in the last 10 years. In the 2019 West Michigan Regional exhibit at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art my piece Cathedral received a juried award and the People’s Choice award.
• Take a look at some of the panoramas that I've captured at Sleeping Bear.
• My work can be found in many private and corporate collections.
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If you want to get a more complete picture of Bob and his artwork, check out his essays on art and making art