For the month of August, Robert Joy will be showing his artwork in our Midtown Gallery. A reception will be held on August 18th from 5 pm to 8 pm. This event is open to the public. Wine and refreshments will be served.

Robert Joy

What was it that influenced my artistic ability the most? Well, I
guess it was a little fluke in my brain and something I was
unaware of until very late in life. I had a learning disability, but
didn’t know it. I was diagnosed by my teachers as stupid and
lazy. Just apply myself and I’d be as productive as everyone else,
they said. Believe me, there would have been no greater joy in
my life than to be like everyone else.

Enjoying art and speech classes, I survived to graduate high
school – even ended up with an MA in Art from FHSU. I was
drafted, went to Vietnam, came home, got married, had kids,
went back to college, got a teaching certificate and taught art in
Great Bend, Kansas for nine years.

For me, creating is really just a matter of lines … and it’s kind of
a meditative state I get into. It’s like an addiction. I’ve got to
have it. I wake up in the morning, and all I want to do is draw.
“Robert is a Kansas original. He doesn’t draw windmills, grain
elevators or barns. His subjects are truly original, and we have
no one else quite like him here. His themes include the Prophets,
spiritual quests, love, the environment, war and peace, and the
survival of the earth itself. He, like his Welsh ancestors, is .
transfixed by the plentitude of the universe – the endless variety of
its animals, people, planets and the fixed stars. He depicts the
profusion of forms and beings, in intricate, elaborate pictures,
and he also has a deeply rooted Welsh sense of whimsical humor,
always.”
Fred Whitehead, Kansas City, KS
Independent Film Maker