(Artwork by Newhart)
Bob Newhart is an abstract artist based here in Bend, who was selected as the Artist in Residence for the Bend Visitor Center for the month of July. His visual work as a painter is heavily influenced by his love of music; jazz and classical musicians like Miles Davis, John Coletrane, Thelonious Monk, Bach and more inspire his every brushstroke, transforming music from an auditory experience to a visual one.
Newhart was raised across the country, primarily in California and Hawaii, however he switched schools often. The seventh and eighth grades came with 14 school changes, which he says directly impacted the way he interacts with the world. His only education in the art world would be a fourth-grade art class he took in Hawaii, where he put on a one-boy art show in his school’s library.
Selling his first painting in the tenth grade, Newhart saw a life of creativity in front of him. His education took him all over, from studying Zen and the Mahayana Tradition of Buddhism to architecture at Cal Poly, and finishing graduate school with the University of Cincinnati.
His diverse experience and educational background eventually led him to founding the Innovation Center, where he was able to help individuals and organizations on their journeys to success, through creativity, and of course, innovation. He developed a process that he dubbed “intentional innovation,” which centers on finding and celebrating the networks and patterns between creativity, music, art and innovation.
His work with the Innovation Center led him all over, from being an on-screen host in films and TV shows to appearing on radio shows, publishing articles and being an internationally sought-after public speaker.
These days, Newhart spends more time in the studio than the office. “Much of my art is about an eternal quest to embrace uncertainty and put it to music,” he said. “It’s about leaving expectations and judgements behind because they infect us with impatience, disappointment, anger and rigidity. Sometimes we think that expectations allow us some degree of control, when in reality, those expectations control us.”
Freeing himself from that control, Newhart goes into his artwork in ways that many classically and professionally trained painters would not; with no plans, simply letting the music guide his hand.
As a result, his work evokes a raw emotion. His art is layered in experiences and tells an evolving story through abstract strokes. He says that when an artist leaves things like expectations and control in the past, “they can move on to experience the natural combustion that comes from the mix of wonder, spontaneity, imagination, creativity, serendipity and fun.”
Newhart’s work was on display at the Bend Visitor Center for the month of July, but that wasn’t his only big contribution to Bend’s art scene that month. Newhart helped coordinate a new idea aimed at making Downtown Bend’s First Friday Art Walk more family friendly, or at least, less overtly focused on complimentary beer and wine.
The Art Detective’s Club was a one-time (and hopefully, soon to be regular) event during First Friday that encouraged guests to frequent different Downtown businesses to acquire a stamp or passport sticker, marking their participation and helping each business draw in customers for reasons outside of free alcohol.
Newhart says that the event was a popular success, with multiple businesses asking for a repeat event, and many people participating; Newhart even says that the number of adults who participated was surprising, but absolutely encouraging.
While the Newharts (Bob and his wife Wyndee) may not be up for running the Art Detective’s Club, they encourage the organizers of the Art Walk to consider the concept, and potentially make it a regular addition.