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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1960)
Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon Sunday, February 21, 1960 5A A 'Basic Diet' and Scarcity of Furniture Fail to Shake Their Convictions- Young Couple Wedded to Art By MARVIN TIMS Of the Register-Guard Art is an indispensable need of humanity, it is part of the oul of a child just as it was a part of primitive man's. This is just one of the many concepts of art held by a young Eugene couple who paint full time in an effort to keep the wolf from their door. But Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gilmore, who produce framed oil paintings in an old virtually unfurnished, dwelling in Eugene, are an unusual couple. They apparently don't place the dollar on a pedestal and certainly don't fear the wolf even when he glares through the window at them. Parents of three children, Miriam, 6, Michelle, 3, and Patrick, 1, Robert and Norma Gilmore have been painting for more than a decade, but it was only two years ago that they decided to make art their sole means of sup- port. Although life hasn't been easy, forcing the family to eat what Norma smilingly terms a "basic diet," the two artists have resisted the urge to raise the price of their oils. They still sell many of their paintings for less than ten dollars. Robert, who often wears a tarn when he works, said last week he feels that "in this democratic age art should be for everyone. Why should art be for just a few?" "We are making a living while enjoying the wonderful satisfaction of doing the thing we love most. We don't even have a car, but we are happy." Gilmore, who played the vio lin for 12 years before he dis covered he wanted to be a painter instead of a musician, said art is a basic ingredient of life. "Some day when man goes to the Moon or Mars, he will take a good painting with him to keep from going crazy." Norma, who obtained a Mas ter of Fine Arts Degree at the University of Oregon, said peo ple tend to place art too high or too low. "Art should be everywhere in man's life. It was, after all, the force that led the cave man out of the dark." Art, she said, has allowed truth to come down through the ages. "Wrapped like a cotton ball, art was unrolled a little in the great temples of the early Greeks and has continued to unroll down through the era of the Gothic churches, the Ren aissance to the present." While science can "crack things apart, it doesn't put LIQUIDATION CONTINUES . . HURRY FIRST COME Terms easily arranged right here at HAPCO through G E C C even At These CLOSE-OUT PRICES 20 Automatic WASHERS them back together. Art in its many forms can do this. In a sense, art has been the salva tion of mankind," Norma said. Does the average person ap preciate art? "I'm certain he does. I have talked to many people about art and have even gotten some to paint," Norma smiled. "But you must remem ber that people can't really see the value of art unless they are disposed toward it. You can't see it just by wandering through a museum. It will be there only if you want it to be." Robert and Norma paint still lifes, outdoor scenes, paintings patterned along classical lines, and so-called abstract paintings. "But in our abstracts, we have combined realistic elements," Norma said. "In one painting you can visualize a flute, for example, or a wine bottle. Most artists don't combine realism with the abstract, but we are trying to do something a little different." To make an abstract, she ex plained, the artist must start with something concrete."Paint ings have to have parts. If not, they will be nothing more than framed wallpaper." Most people, she said, think of paintings as a process of fill ing up space. "This is not it at all. You actually make space by taking away and then filling it up. Painting, in a sense, is a form of higher mathematics." What about color in a paint ing? Can it, for example, con flict with the colors within a room? Robert doesn't think so. He says a painting will make "other surrounding colors come FIRST SERVED REMEMBER EVERYTHING MUST GO! nothing held back MAKE US AN OFFER 1 ON THESE USED ITEMS 25 USED ELECTRIC RANGES L 8 USED REFRIGERATORS 20 USED TV SETS .Make us on. OFFER -Si' -J :i!,. - :: - :s5.v inly : BUDDING ARTISTS? Miriam, 6, (left) and Michelle, 3, daughters of two Eugene art ists, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gilmore, try sketching with a crayola. In the background are some of the paintings their parents have completed in recent months. alive. Did you ever see a bird or a flower placed wrong in nature? Of course not. They look beautiful no matter where they are. So it is with a paint ing." Although the Gilmores now get along on a low income, they are optimistic about the future. Says Norma: "Art is good for a man and tends to give him long life. And Robert and I can continue to paint as long as we live. Titian lived be Springfield Cof Directors of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce Wednes day endorsed the March 1 election proposal to annex the region east of Springfield to about 72nd Street. Robert Smith, Chamber mana ger, said Wednesday the Chamber will sponsor a newspaper adver BRAND fc. Keep Wolf From Door by Length of a Paintbrush U i - . - - Afl - J iwJ v k, I lk -.A yond 90 and some of his best work was produced late in life." Robert, who said he started his painting enterprise two years ago with a three-dollar investment in water colors, mats, and oils, says when you have to sell paintings to make a living, "you will put some thing into your work that people can understand." Life and art are closely inter C Endorses Annexation tisement explaining the annexa tion measure. In another action, "directors re quested the Chamber's transport ation committee to make a study of the airport situation in the community. Smith said the com mittee will attempt to determine among other things, whether air port zoning might be needed sometime in the future. General B "hAobiU-W"10 Were " ' AT 6ene? nTHES were - M " Model 7 woven, according to the Gil mores, but life passes and art remains. It is the only thing that is permanent. "Art puts order into life that can be contemplated. Any num ber of things can throw our day-to-day lives into a scramble, but the painting stands un changed eternal, "Robert said. Then, glancing at his wife, he said: "In our own way I think we are discovering the truth." Directors also instructed Smith to write to Chamber members, urging them to contact Oregon's Congressional delegation regard ing the disadvantages of the For- and Bill. This bill, now pending in Con gress, would amend the Social Security Act by including certain additional benefits, thus raising costs. 30' 3V - FULUY were ctf o Q k, 3L i - V It - 3! BIRTH OF A PAINTING Robert Gilmore, a Eugene artist, works on an abstract painting while his wife, also a painter, watches with interest. The Gilmores say they are dedicated to tha proposition that art should be within the reach of every man. Mode NO SALES V SMI "srSZ our. cost Vacuum AT TO DEALERS! j D
