Kalamazoo Book Arts Center commemorates Paul Robbert

By Caroline Lampinen
Western Herald

Sept. 22, Paul Robbert, a Western Michigan University professor emeritus, and Kalamazoo Book Arts Center (KBAC) founding member and artist, died from prostate cancer. He was 80 years old.

There will be a memorial service Sunday, from 3 to 6 p.m., in the new KBAC Gallery on the bottom floor of the Park Trades Center (suite 103A), located on the corner of Kalamazoo Ave. and Church St.

Along with the memorial service, the KBAC will host an exhibition, “Selected Works of Paul Robbert,” through the month of October, with an opening reception during the Art Hop on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

“It will exhibit his work, mostly his printing and paper,” said Jeffrey Abshear, KBAC co-founder and WMU professor.

“Robbert joined the Western faculty in the art department in 1958,” according to his artist’s statement.

“[He] is credited with starting the printmaking program at Western when he arrived … and he also started the print program at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in 1961.”

“He didn’t let limitations hold him back,” said Bruce Naftel, a graphic design professor, who had been both a student of and co-worker with Robbert.

“He built his own equipment because Western didn’t have it.”

Robbert is known throughout the printing and papermaking world for development of new papermaking equipment and unconventional methods of producing paper.

“He was very innovative and very resourceful. He always invited you to try things you’d never done before,” said Naftel.

Robbert retired from the university in April of 1998.

Outside of WMU, Robbert was a visiting artist with various lectures and demonstrations at the University of Iowa, Museum Moli Paperer Capellodes in Barcelona, Spain, Columbia College in Chicago, Ill., Michigan State University, University of Michigan; and other national locations.

His work was most recently displayed in “Focus: Three One-Person Exhibitions,” which was on display this past April in the Kerr Gallery at the Richmond Center for Visual Arts.

Through his career he has appeared in shows in the Netherlands, Korea, Spain, and nationally in Mich., Ill., Iowa, Kan., La., Ind., Ala. and Calif.. His exhibitions numbered more than 50 before his retirement.

His commissioned work includes pieces currently residing from Numazu, Japan to Western’s own Schneider Hall; the latter is three works titled “Vanishing Triangle Series” from 1991.

His colleagues remember him with sure fondness, respect, and admiration. He was known for being experimental, enthusiastic and forward thinking.

“He was a natural collaborator … he introduced us to all these materials you’d never think about using,” said Naftel. “You were dedicated to [papermaking], and he was dedicated with you.”

More information can be found at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center’s Web site at http://www.kalbookarts.org.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 30 2008. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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