THE LEGACY OF
BOB ROSS
How an iconic artist impacted Muncie and the world
A zine by Emily Gralak, Martina Myers, Michelle Majeski, and Julia Robben
An Introduction Everyone knows Bob Ross - His soft, calming voice, his iconic red afro, and his remarkable skill with a brush. What many people don’t know is that Ross spent many years of his life living in Muncie, IN and influencing the community’s culture. As inspired by Ross’s love of art, the purpose of this zine is to show how art, particularly painting, has played a role in Muncie’s community. Not only did we look at Ross’s artifacts in the Minnetrista, but we also interviewed art students at Ball State University about their own artwork and how they came to be artists. Just as Bob Ross had a starting place with his art and showed his passion, we want to show up-and-coming artists at Ball State University.
Table of Contents The Legacy Begins... 4-5: A Brief History 6-7: Inspired by Bob
The Legacy Continues... 8-9: Angel Winchester 10-11: Sydney Brundige 12-13: Natali Bacon 14-15: About the Authors
Courtesy of Minnetrista Heritage Collection
The Legacy Begins A Brief History of Ross’s Life and Work
Courtesy of Minnetrista Heritage Collection
When Ross was in the 9th grade, he dropped out of school and went to work with his father as a carpenter: a job that ultimately cost him part of a finger on his left hand after an on-the-job accident. Ross joined the air force when he was 18 years old, and was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska. This is where he took his first painting lessons at the United Service Organizations Club and became “hooked” on painting. After leaving the military, Ross worked for a TV company that showed William Alexander, the man who Ross learned his wet-on-wet painting style from and ultimately became his largest TV rival. During that time, Ross struggled with money and couldn’t afford a weekly haircut. The afro that eventually became part of his iconic look was not intentional, but rather the result of financial hardship. He said that he hated the afro, but he felt inclined to keep it because of its trademark value. In 1983, he started his show, “The Joy of Painting.” While Ross worked on “The Joy of Painting,” he was never paid for a single episode. However, he did also publish about 20 books and 100 other videos that he did receive payment for. Ross was a gentle soul on television because he couldn’t be a gentle soul during his 20-year stint in the military. His job had been to yell at the cadets whose beds were not properly made or whose trunks were unfastened. Along with being gentle, Ross was also humble. In
his art career since he was 18, Ross painted over 30,000 works, but never sold any of them. He also rarely displayed any of his work. In fact, during his lifetime, Ross only ever allowed one public institution to display his work – the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie. When asked about why Ross didn’t display his artwork in museums he said, “Most painters want recognition, especially by their peers. I achieved that a long time ago with TV. I don’t need any more.” When Ross died in 1995, most of his artwork went to charity or to PBS.
Karen Vincent, the director of collections at the Minnetrista, allowed us access to the work that the Minnetrista had in its collection. What makes the above painting unique is that Ross did not work on it alone; Edmund Ball, the creator of Ball Jars, worked alongside him on this painting. Ball’s signature is more prominent than Ross’s, which is ironic because, according to Vincent (who was there when the painting was made), Ross did probably 95% of the work while Ball did the other 5%.
Inspired by Bob Around the World Full-back tattoo of Bob Ross by artist Wade Rogers of Blacklist Ink in Joplin, Missouri Re-posted by Catherine Clark from the blog “Offbeat Bride.” She says “Some of my earliest memories came from my ASMR-filled hours blissing out to Bob Ross. ... Softspoken men became my weakness forever.”
A cross stitch pattern of Bob Ross being sold on Etsy by Hugsandwitch.
“Boundless Bob Ross” by DeviantArt user TheCharles. The artist called Bob a “Mildmannered hero of the people.”
The Legacy Continues The Legacy of Bob Ross - the love of artwork - continues today in Muncie. Many years have gone by and art styles have changed, but artists still strive to present their artwork to the world. The Ball State students featured in this zine are examples of artists who are continuing the Bob Ross legacy in Muncie.
Angel Winchester Sophomore Visual Communications Major Angel Winchester’s photography teacher inspired her to pursue digital art and design beginning in the 11th grade. “She helped me realize that nothing made me feel the way I did when I was creating something,” Winchester said. When it came time for Winchester to consider her plans after high school, she had a major criteria that needed to be met. “My number one criteria in picking a college was that they had to avidly care about the arts. But walking around Ball State and seeing the multiple performance halls, theatres, music buildings, art studios, and the museum—I just knew that this was the school for me,” she said. Winchester spends her time working in and out of class on her projects. Her focus is to put in the time and effort required to create “good art” which demands long hours spent in the Arts and Journalism building. Winchester sees the value in devoting all this time to her craft. “Progress is inevitable with incoming knowledge and continuous practice. … My increased awareness of artists,
styles, and mediums has influenced each project as I move forward,” Winchester said. In terms of her favorite techniques, she said, “I enjoy scumbling and I abuse a lot of paintbrushes with my aggressive techniques.” Winchester’s goals as an artist are “to constantly learn and improve, to make art as long as possible, to be financially stable, and to always do my best with what I have.” She views art as a way of life. “Art is not just a major or a profession. … It is a constant pursuit for knowledge, perspective, meaning, and expression. It’s a beautiful mess,” she said.
Lips Acrylic on Canvas Spring 2016
Mystery of the Waters Acrylic on Bristol Board Spring 2017
Untitled Acrylic on Canvas Spring 2016
Sydney Brundige Sophomore Art Major: Drawing Concentration Sydney Brundige has been around art her whole life, but really began to flourish when she started her education at Ball State. She got her roots from her parents who both studied architecture. “My mom made an effort to sign me up for art classes and those types of things when I was younger. I always wanted to be an artist. … Since college, I’ve improved immensely from actually taking art classes and figure drawing and that kind of thing,” she said. Brundige originally wanted to come to Ball State for the animation program, but when she was not accepted into the school, she was forced to change her plans. She focused on the drawing program and even picked up a creative writing minor. “It was the storytelling aspect of art (that made me want to pursue it). … What I want to do is related to telling my own stories and creating my own worlds instead of doing the manual labor of creating somebody else’s world,” she said.
Brundige doesn’t have a favorite artist, but she is inspired by the stories she reads. “Reading certain comics (is inspirational to me) because I can see the way the art tells the story, and it’s very interesting because there are a lot of different formats for telling comic stories,” she said. Some of these stories have inspired Brundige to explore new techniques,. Her time at BSU has allowed her to pursue new paths. “My goal as an artist is definitely to tell my own stories. I have a lot of different story ideas and I think it would be interesting to see those out on paper, whether that be in a children’s book, comic or graphic novel,” she said.
Voices of the Past Broken Music Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas Fall 2016 Fall 2016
Natali Bacon Senior Graphic Design Major
Natali Bacon started pursuing art in high school, and in college she found new techniques to explore. At BSU, she has expanded her love of painting in new ways. Oil painting is Bacon’s favorite kind of physical painting style. She says that she sticks mostly to abstract because those are what others like the best, and she also says that she loves to paint portraits. However, oil paintings take so long to dry and so long to finish that she started looking into digital paintings. “I mostly just try to find new techniques and try a bit of everything so that I can better myself and try to find my own style,” she said. Bacon soon realized all of the benefits to digital painting when she realized how she could manipulate the digital paint much easier than she could with a real paintbrush. Bacon says that most of her inspiration comes from music, or something she has read. Her favorite artist is Van Gogh and she is inspired by him, but Bacon says she would rather be original than copy someone else. She says she stresses over plagiarizing because it’s a big deal in the art world. She works hard to find her own style;
She spends 18-20 hours, or more depending on deadlines, every week working on art of some form. Bacon stated that her goal is to become an illustrator. She says that it’s a difficult path to take because you have to work for a long time before you can make any real money from illustrating. All around, though, Bacon just wants to, in the words of her boss, “live her best life.” She said, “My goals are mostly just about being successful and happy.”
Master Study Oil Paint Fall 2014 Meditative Maze Charcoal and Pastels Spring 2016
About the AUthors
Michelle Majeski
Julia Robben
Julia is a sophomore English Education major, minoring in Theatre and Gifted and Talented Education. Her favorite painting is Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”. She enjoys coloring, reading classic novels, and traveling.
Michelle is a junior double major in Public Communications and Telecommunications. She is a proud member of Alpha Chi Omega and is their current Alumni chair. Her favorite artists is Murad Osmann.
Martina Myers
Martina is a sophomore majoring in English Education and minoring in Creative Writing. She is involved with the Ball State Debate Team. Her favorite artwork is the series “The Course of Empire” by Thomas Cole.
Emily Gralak Emily is a freshman Public Relations and Strategic Communication major. She is an Account Coordinator for Cardinal Communications. Her favorite artist is Andy Warhol, for his quote “art is what you can get away with.”