Forty Countries on Canvas: A Morning with Bob Rankin
On Tuesday, September 8, the first meeting after Labor Day, a painter joined us for breakfast. Bob Rankin is a lifelong Raleigh resident, an eighth-generation North Carolinian, and one of the best-known artists in the Triangle. He talked with us about his paintings and the travel that inspired them. Our thanks go to member Tim Chalmers, who sponsored the program.
A Teacher First
Bob's story starts in the classroom. He earned his art degree at East Carolina University. Then he taught art in Wake County public schools for 30 years, at Ligon Middle School and at Sanderson, Garner, and Millbrook high schools. In 1990 the North Carolina Art Education Association named him Secondary Art Educator of the Year. He retired from public school teaching in 2000, but he did not stop teaching. He still runs painting workshops, and he keeps in contact with many of his former students.
He does not claim that his talent is the reason for his success. "I have a little bit of talent, but I can outwork anyone," he told WALTER Magazine. His 50 years of work in the studio support that statement.
The Places Behind the Paintings
Bob has traveled to more than 40 countries, and the places he sees go into his art. He is known for large abstract acrylic paintings that are full of color and that come from nature and from the places he has visited. A teaching assignment in Italy became a series of landscapes. Trips to Iceland gave him a series based on volcanoes. His work has been shown at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville and in an artist exchange in Marrakesh, Morocco. It is also in more than 30 corporate collections.
Bob brought four of his paintings and put them on easels at the front of the room: a seascape with waves on a beach, a city skyline, a round underwater view of a coral reef with small fish, and a large abstract in teal, green, and yellow. Each painting showed a different part of his range, from realistic scenes to pure abstract work.
Building Raleigh's Art Scene
Bob also helped build the Raleigh arts community. In the late 1970s he started Art in the Village, which became Artsplosure in 1980. In 2009 he helped start the Raleigh Public Art and Design Board. He has also served on the boards of Artspace, the Visual Arts Exchange, and the Raleigh Arts Commission. His awards include the Raleigh Medal of Arts, induction into the Raleigh Hall of Fame (2015), and induction into the Wake County Public Schools Hall of Fame (2016).
Why We Serve
Our club puts its effort into education and youth development, so Bob's story is familiar to us. For 30 years he gave Wake County students his time, his skill, and his high expectations. After he left the classroom, he gave the same effort to the whole city. Festivals, public art, and gallery walls exist in Raleigh because he did the work.
That is Service Above Self: a person uses the gifts they have to make things better for the people around them. Many of those people will never know his name. The Four-Way Test asks whether what we do is beneficial to all concerned. When a teacher opens a student's eyes, or a city gets more color, the answer is yes.
Come and Join Us
We meet every Tuesday at 7:30 AM at Carolina Country Club, 2500 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, and on Zoom. Each week we hear from people who make our community better. Bring your coffee and your curiosity. We will save you a seat.
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