Robert A. Hitzig:
I love it when people ask me if I would "do" their floors when they see my work. Though I have long struggled with how best to respond to this question, their reaction to my art tells me that their perceptions about how wood can be seen and used is being challenged. Which is a good thing. I like to challenge and be challenged. Wood is commonly seen as a functional medium, used for making something "purposeful," providing a surface to cut vegetables, hold a computer, your dinner plate, a roof over your head, or to walk on. Since becoming an artist, my struggle has been to find ways of helping viewers to appreciate wood for its inherent quality, for what it is rather than for what it can do. I know it is a radical idea, but perhaps all things, people, and animals, could be appreciate for what they are as well. I hope my art can be seen as moving a viewer's perception in that direction.
And if you have to ask about my flooring schedule, I will probably struggle to find a nice, humorous, or roundabout way of saying it, but in the end, the answer will be "no."
Robert is a self-taught artist who developed his woodworking skills while constructing furniture as a hobbyist. As his work progressed, he became more and more focused on accentuating the natural beauty of the wood, emphasizing the grain patterns and figure. Slowly, he realized that the furniture distracted from the beauty of wood and that by creating non-functional pieces he could express what attracted him to working with wood.
Robert arrived at his path of fine art through a circuitous route. Although he has always enjoyed studying art, his last art class was in the eighth grade. His education was focused more on the sciences. Robert has an undergraduate degree in Geology and History from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a graduate degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Following graduate school, Robert spent three years working in West Africa, Senegal and Benin, as an agro-forester/forester with the Peace Corps. After returning to the United States, he worked for ten years with the Environmental Protection Agency in their Underground Storage Tank and Superfund divisions in Washington, DC.
Resume
Exhibits and Juried Shows
July to October 2013, Exposed (public art exhibit), Helen Day Arts Center, Stowe, VT
April 2013, Governor's Office, Montpelier, VT
February 2013, SEABA Gallery, Burlington, VT
October 2012, Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton, MA
September 2012, Art Hop, Burlington, VT
August 2012, Don't Tread On Me, Wood For Walls, Brickels Gallery, Burlington, VT
February 2012, American Craft Council Wholesale/Retail Shows, Baltimore, MD
October 2011 to August 2013, Vermont Arts Council Sculpture Garden, Montpelier, VT
October 2011, Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton, MA
September 2011, Art Hop, Burlington, VT
August 2011, Candle In The Night, Brattleboro, VT
May 2011, Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton, MA
April 2011, CraftNEWYORK, New York, NY
February 2011, American Craft Council Wholesale/Retail Shows, Baltimore, MD
Novembert 2010, CraftWestport, Westport, CT
October 2010, Paradise City Art Festival, Northampton, MA
September 2010, Art Hop, Burlington, VT
June to October 2010, Exposed (public art exhibit), Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
May 2010, Paradise City Arts Festival, Philadelphia, MA
April 2010, CraftBoston, Boston, MA
March 2010, Paradise City Arts Festival, Marlborough, MA
October 2009, Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton, MA
September 2009, Art Hop, Burlington, VT
June to October 2009, Montpelier SculptCycle 2009, Montpelier, VT
May 2009, Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton, MA
May 2009 Baltimore Fine Furnishings and Fine Craft Show, Baltimore, MD
August 2008 Vermont Artisan Design and Gallery 2, Brattleboro, VT
June to October 2008, Montpelier SculptCycle 2008, Montpelier, VT
June 2008 Art's Alive, Burlington, VT
October 2007 Providence Fine Furnishings and Fine Crafts Show, Providence, RI
September through December 2007 Burlington International Airport, Burlington, VT
August 2007 Paint the Gallery Red, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
July/August 2007, Double Vision: Cristine Cambrea and Robert Hitzig, The Lazy Pear
Gallery, Montpelier, VT
October 2006 Providence Fine Furnishings and Fine Crafts Show, Providence, RI
September 2006 Art in the Round Barn, Waitsfield, VT
September 2006 Art Hop, Burlington, VT
June 2006 Art's Alive, Burlington, VT
November 2005 to January 2010, The Lazy Pear Gallery, Montpelier,VT.
Collections
Johns Hopkins University
City of Newburyport, MA
Awards and Grants
2010 Vermont Arts Council grant
2009, Art Hop, Burlington, VT, 1st Place, Juried by Sarah Chaffee, Director, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
2008, Volunteer of the Year for work in organizing Montpelier SculptCycle 2008 and Montpelier Art Walks, Green Mountain Awards presented by Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
Publications
Into The Woods, Artist Rob Hitzig, by Lindsay J. Westley, Seven Days, February 2013
The Art Hop Carries On With Juried Shows Past and Present, Kevin Kelley, Seven Days, September 2012
Out and About, Marc Awodey, Seven Days, September 2011
Trade Secrets, Louis Postel, New England Home, Sept/Oct 2009
Art, Vermont Style, Kevin Kelley, Seven Days, September 2009
SculptCycles Spin Their Magic, Sarah Hinckley, Times Argus, June 2008
Going With The Grain, profile by Pamela Polston, Seven Days, November 2007
Red All Over, group show review by Marc Awodey, Seven Days, September 2007
Group Dynamic, group show review by Marc Awodey, Seven Days, June 2006
Education
BA Geology and History, Miami University (Oxford, OH)
MSPH Environmental Sciences, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
Copyright(c) 2009 Robert Hitzig. All rights reserved.