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Rick A. Robbins Bio

I was born in Dayton, Ohio, in December, 1961. We lived there until we moved to Chicago in 1964. There my father studied at the University of Chicago, pursuing his M.A. and Ph.D. My sister was born in September, 1964. My father completed his doctoral work, and we moved to Champaign, IL, in 1968, where he started teaching at the University of Illinois. My mother returned to her career as a primary school teacher.

My parents were the first generation in their families to leave the farm for college. Being raised by parents/teachers, we would return each summer to the farms of the grandparents. This pattern of traveling and revisiting our homesteads influenced my desire for the outdoors and rural settings. These were very special years for me. Growing up in the mid-west, and in a college town, I was introduced to all types of culture and a heightened awareness of how people lived. Example: my parents were a host family for international students. We participated in numerous and different cultural events with people from all around the world. My parents promoted academics, the exploration of the outdoors, mechanical skills, and the exploration of self-interests.

As a student, I struggled academically, because I was drawn to nature and what the physical world had to offer. As a family, we traveled throughout the United States all the way up to the end of my high school years. At an early age I had no doubt that I was going to head west. After graduating high school, struggling to find my place in the world, I found two callings. One was to pursue a degree in Art. The other was to fight fires in the western states and Alaska. Looking back now, I could not have asked for anything more of my childhood, adolescence, and teen years.

At the age of nineteen, I received a phone call and was offered a job to fight fire in Wells, Nevada. This is when I "left home" for the first time. What I saw and experienced in my first season as a wildland firefighter would set the stage for living a nomadic lifestyle until the age of forty. But I was also pursuing my Bachelor's degree back in Illinois and would finally graduate in 1986 at the age of twenty-five. It was at this point in my life that my world was torn in two. Do I pursue a Master's degree in painting or do I pursue a career as a wildland firefighter? I chose to fight fire.

I would have to say, looking back, that the pursuit of my firefighting career overshadowed my art career. As a firefighter, the people I met, the places I went, and the fires that we encountered had such a profound effect on my life. I found out how easily a pristine valley or mountainside could be forever changed by fire in the blink of an eye. I also found out how fragile life is. Fellow firefighters perished on the line, and then I was injured. Broken and exhausted, I was unable to pursue this career and lifestyle any longer. This led to years of turmoil, pain, and anguish. I felt empty and incomplete. I did not know where to turn.

After eight years of bouncing from job to job, place to place, fading in and out of relationships, I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of my life. I had lost the ability and desire to explore. With the help of my parents, my sister, and people that I found out were truly friends I finally regained my strength, courage, and the ability to move within my life again. It was at this point that the canvas, the brush, and the paint became available to me again.

Now at the age of forty-six, I once again look back at those years and realize how fortunate, lucky, privileged, and rewarding those years actually were. Sometimes I can't believe that I am actually still here. But I am. My past is so embedded in my memory, both good and bad. But this is what I have and this is what I know. As I move forward, I am moving with my past, accepting the hard-life lessons I have learned and reaching out and stepping into a new light. This has led me back to the studio, roaming the desert and being mobile and free. There are new passions: the art of installing a hardwood floor; being an uncle, a brother, a son, and a friend of many. I also find myself playing hockey again, hunting with my buddies, and, of all things, collecting marbles. Now, having this world at my finger tips, I find myself finally pursuing my other dream ... painting in my studio.

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