Robert A. Hitzig:
Wood is art. The natural grain patterns found in wood – the shape, the color, and texture – are a perfect starting point for art. I love wood and believe that beautiful wood sculpture can start with the natural designs that exist in the wood. The goal of my work is to accentuate what is already there so that the viewer can see and appreciate wood for its natural beauty.
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
August 2008 Vermont Artisan Design and Gallery 2, Brattleboro, VT
September through December 2007 Burlington International Airport, Burlington, VT
October 2007 Providence Fine Furnishings Show, Providence, RI
October 2006 Providence Fine Furnishings Show, Providence, RI
November 2005 to Present The Lazy Pear Gallery, Montpelier,VT.
Juried Shows
June to October 2008, Montpelier SculptCycle 2008, Montpelier, VT
June 2008 Art's Alive, Bulington, VT
August 2007 Paint the Gallery Red, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
September 2006 Art in the Round Barn, Waitsfield, VT
September 2006 Art Hop, Burlington, VT
June 2006 Art's Alive, Burlington, VT
Collections
October 2008, Dog Walker, City of Newburyport, MA
Education
1986 BA Geology and History, Miami University (Oxford, OH)
1988 MSPH Environmental Sciences, University of North Carolina
(Chapel Hill)
Work Experience
1989 to 1992 Forester, US Peace Corps (Senegal and Benin, West Africa)
1994 to 1998 Environmental Scientist, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Underground Storage Tanks, Washington, DC
1998 to 2004 Environmental Scientist, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Emergency and Remedial Response (Superfund), Washington, DC
Since Nov 2005 Co-owner and curator of The Lazy Pear Gallery, Montpelier, VT
Copyright(c) 2006 Robert Hitzig. All rights reserved.