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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2007)
Page 10 October 25, 2007 Spilyay Tyrnoo, Warm Springs, Oregon Bobb: took own path to developing artistic talent (Continued from page 1) “I’m not afraid whether or not a picture makes sense to anyone else but myself,” Bobb said. “I have a real freedom in that regard.” In Bobb’s opinion, “What is great pleasure are the freedom to make choices, do the projects that I want to do and the free dom to explore and take chances.” An important aspect of art is envisioning the object being drawn, he said. In Bobb’s opinion, “You al most have to be able to imagine what it will feel like and look like.” But that doesn’t mean he al ways knows how a project will turn o u t Actually* he said, “I’m always surprised by how well a drawing comes out.” And it’s a process that typi cally ends up inspiring Bobb to create even more artwork. He explained, “The whole experience o f doing a drawing winds up generating more ideas and more material.” ; Art is something that gives Bobb countless methods of cre ating, he said. - “I gaw an opportunity for myself as an artist to accom plish so many o f my creative ; ambitions,” Bobb said. “Such as making people look like the way I saw them: beautiful, strong and funny—like the people I saw around the community in a different light and gave them more character.” “Having a vivid imagination gave me the opportunity to put a face on some old Indian leg ends such as the Tataliya—witch woman,” Bobb said. “It also gave me the opportunity to il lu strate some C^my ,H^dhood ^nightmares. Tguess* For me anyr way, it’s sort of like therapy.” Going through school, he said, fitting in never concerned, him. • “I wasn’t in the loop of so cial or cultural peer pressure to do what everyone else was do ing,” Bobb said. “I’ve never had the feeling to be wild.” Coupled with his quiet na ture, that led Bobb to lead the life o f an outsider during his youth. “School is your first taste of categorization and social hierar chies,” Bobb said. “You don’t have to ,do much to be put in the weird category. I knew I wasn’t a bad person and I didn’t feel weird, yet that is how I was perceived.” : “It was sad, and it made me feel like I was crazy,” Bobb con tinued. “I can remember walk ing around thinking, ‘W hat’s wrong with me? They tell me I’m weird, so I guess I must be? In retrospect, I can see it that it was the people who were ganged up on and treated like freaks— probably because people who don’t have personal power like to torture those who have it?’ During that time, he said, “It was easy to project myself into these characters.” Now Bobb can look at his experiences growing up in a dif ferent light. In his opinion,. “The more pain you endure when you’re young, tiie richer your adult life will be.” , Halloween drawings by Travis Bobb. -passion or ambition for them. v>",iff1, at least, don’t learn from the written word or stuffy class- rooms, b u t from seeing and feeling,and expres$jOtei|t yiM&I form,” l^obb explained. 58i But that some of what He Teamed didn’t prove to be useful later in life. 2. “O de thing I hated in school was mathematics, but now I find out I needtit for everything ! do in my artwork,” Bobb added. Bobb also tries to use his ar tistic. talents to give back to the | community.- . Each year he illustrates post- ;ers to advertise Pi-TJme-Sha. i “1. like to draw them really dramatic, like old-fashioned movie posters,’’ he said. “It just shows everything?’ 0 1 ■ jf. “If resembles the old epic movie ’grt from the golden age , of ipotion pictures that brought out the essence in a more dra matic way,” he explained. "“But it is a challenge to come up with a completely different feel for what is essentially an annual event.” . But Bobb doesn’t create art work for financial gain. ■ “Mpney isn’t really ,a motiva tion: for tee,” he explained. “I just did if,out of a hobby.” f 1 Btilgb; §xp|ajp^d, “Jt’s ;,a|wayS; been about the actipf creating said. “I’ve never had one goal I was obsessed with,, and having known people who have, I can see it’s just a way to .set yourself up for failure.” In the future, Bobb plans, to continue creating w hatever strikes him. The ideas are already begin- ning-to form. According to Bobb, ‘5 ’ye al ways wanted to do sortie sort of really definitive illustrations of average, ordinary Indians with out all the beads and feathers but rather in a more humorôus concept because I’ve never ,re- ally sèeh anything like this done before.” ■ - For others, Bobb only advises them to stay true to themselves. “Art is experience with com prehension, truth with purpose, feelings with heart and a door I to the heart through the. eyes,” Bobb said. “Look at pictures 'wjstteyonr h«art4f:$bti r ni*e4 to .in the end, the things that sus know how they will affect people, tain you, that make you proud, listen without ego as to how people feel about what you cre you can’t buy with money “It was never a goal for me ate.” / K Y ; to seek fame or fortune,” Bobb FENDERS by ENDRES <( I don’t learn from the written word or stuffy classrooms, but from seeing and feeling, and expression in visual form. ” Those experiences are what allowed him to express, himself artistically. When a person isn’t very so cial, Bobb said, “You Have time to think and to be quietly angry and emotional. And if you’re lucky, you will develop a creative outlet to exercise those feelings.” Though he .took art classes in school, Bobb said, “Art classes didn’t turn out to be tey all time favorite?’ -*. Plus, Bobb said, “I kind of thought they were boring.” For instance, in classes stu dents are taught to draw faces using a graph method, he said. Bobb taught himself to draw faces by merely eyeing the dis tances and measurements. Drew Struzari and Sebastian Kruger are two artists that es pecially interest Bobb., An artist named H.R. Giger has also proved to be influen- j tial. According to Bobb, “He really showed me how to do bio ;- mechanical structure.” He likes to learn from other artists’ work and try to copy their style, he explained. However, he has never really tried to teach anyone else, and Bobb said that could be diffi cult since SO mucti o f what he does he learned on his own. Though he oiice tried p$\ teach his brother and his cousin, Bobb said, “It was mostly a hobby for them. It Wasn’t a Fast, Courteous 24-Hour Service. Accident Recovery. Roll Back, fo r damage-free Towing. Statewide coverage, Insurance approved. 475-6491 office, 480-9685 cell mnDRAJ Plum Bine c°T huâân Arts ând Cräfts 2132 Wtm Springs & WimSpmgs, 0232761 (S U )5S 3-m 5 ^ 11-175 6900 54 1 - 910-95 57 C C B # I 7 4 W 6