Bob Blackmon has been painting for about 50 years. Most of those years were devoted to painting still life in the Baroque style: realistic, with dramatic contrasts between lights and darks and dark backgrounds. While he continues to do still life (see the painting, “John Jameson and Friends” here), his numerous trips to Ireland with his lovely wife, Mary Beth, have inspired him to paint the wonderful Irish landscape. He has also developed an interest in painting sunsets (see the painting “Kinnagoe Bay, Donegal, Ireland” on the gallery page).

 

During most of his painting career he has painted with oils, but his recent sunsets were done mostly with acrylics. He displays his work at various shows and galleries in eastern New York and southern Vermont and in a gallery in Ireland.  Artists that inspire him include Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Chardin, and Homer, among others.

 

Blackmon is a member of Oil Paintings of America, Saratoga Arts, the Southern Vermont Arts Center, East Bank Arts Alliance, Colonie Art League, and the Albany Artists Group. Involvement with these groups, coupled with some interaction with the arts community in Ireland and elsewhere, makes for an extremely fulfilling art “career.”

 

In addition to being an accomplished painter, Blackmon is a retired university academic administrator. Prior to his retirement in 2005 he held positions of Department Head, Dean, Department Chair, and School Director at three universities—the University of Arkansas, the State University of New York (College of Environmental Science and Forestry), and Louisiana State University. Prior to his university career, Blackmon spent several years as a scientific researcher and administrator with the USDA Forest Service. During that period he served for several months as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Pakistan Forest Institute in Peshawar. That was a wonderful and life-changing experience.

 

Finally, Bob Blackmon lived in Mississippi during the height of the Civil Rights Movement and was actively involved, particularly in desegregation of schools there. Here in New York he continues to be involved in social justice issues, especially in the area of police misconduct and police reform. He is a co-founder of the Justice Center of Rensselaer County and recently completed a term as its president.