Hobart Brown
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sculptor and the founder of Kinetic Sculpture Racing
Kinetic sculpture race
Kinetic sculpture races are organized contests of human-powered amphibious all-terrain works of art. The original event, the Kinetic Grand Championship in Humboldt County, California, is also called the "Triathlon of the Art World" because art and engineering are combined with physical endurance...
.
Early years
Hobart Brown was born in Hess, Oklahoma, to a fifteen-year-old mother who migrated across country to California on the back of her husband's motorcycle. He later described it as his classic OkieOkie
Okie is a term dating from as early as 1907, originally denoting a resident or native of Oklahoma. It is derived from the name of the state, similar to Texan or Tex for someone from Texas, or Arkie or Arkansawyer for a native of Arkansas....
experience, mirroring the great migration captured in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
and other stories of the Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
years.
Brown went to high school in Los Angeles a couple of classes after Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, whom he remembered by her real name and describes as "a quiet, plain little thing - not at all what she became later."
Adult life
After a stint as an airplane mechanic with the U.S. Army in Cambrai - Fritsh Kaserne Darmstadt, Germany, and time spent running hot rods with his friends on local empty roads, he decided in 1962 to become an artist and moved to Humboldt County, CaliforniaHumboldt County, California
Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of California, located on the far North Coast 200 miles north of San Francisco. According to 2010 Census Data, the county’s population was 134,623...
. Arriving in 1962 with his wife and two sons, he immediately opened the first of several Hobart Galleries; the first in Eureka, California
Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
, others in Trinidad and finally Ferndale, California
Ferndale, California
Ferndale is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. Known for its well-preserved Victorian buildings, the city's population was 1,371 at the 2010 census, down from 1,382 at the 2000 census...
.
Hobart had four children, three boys and one girl.
Hobart was instrumental in helping Morris Graves
Morris Graves
Morris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
settle in his beautiful home nestled in the hills outside Loleta, California.
During northern hemisphere winters until 2006, Hobart migrated to Australia, where he was first artist-in-residence at Happ's Winery, later at Leeuwin Wine Estates
Leeuwin Estate
Leeuwin Estate is an Australian winery based in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia.-History:Leeuwin Estate was established in 1969 by Denis and Tricia Horgan...
in Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River is a town in the South West of Western Australia, located in the valley of the eponymous Margaret River, south of Perth, the state capital. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River....
where his public welding studio on their patio and display of his art in the winery itself were popular stops on the hourly tours.
In 2006-07, Hobart was unable to travel to Australia as his increasing debility due to the advancement of his particularly severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. Following several months of being in and out of treatment facilities, he suffered a stroke on May 17, 2007. He died of pneumonia in the Redwood Memorial Hospital
Redwood Memorial Hospital
Redwood Memorial Hospital is a community hospital in Rhymney which has twenty-one General Practitioner beds, two of which are used to provide a respite service. The hospital also has a Minor Injury Department...
on November 7, 2007.
Hobart's gallery was sold in January, 2009 to local business owners.
Kinetic Sculpture Races
Kinetic sculpture race
Kinetic sculpture races are organized contests of human-powered amphibious all-terrain works of art. The original event, the Kinetic Grand Championship in Humboldt County, California, is also called the "Triathlon of the Art World" because art and engineering are combined with physical endurance...
, almost by accident when he modified his son's tricycle to a five-wheeled, decorated "Pentacycle" and another local artist and gallery owner, Jack Mays, challenged him to a race down Main Street on Mother's Day.
Raceday came, so did ten other challengers. Neither Hobart nor Jack won the race, that honor goes to Bob Brown (no relation) piloting his Kinetic Turtle.
The races continue. 2007 was the 39th running — although the race is no longer just down the street. It now is the longest human powered sculpture race in the world. The course covers approximately 42 miles of sand, water, pavement, hills, more water, roads and freeways from Arcata to Ferndale.
Meanwhile, Hobart continued to sculpt and start other races. About ten Kinetic Races occur every year, from Baltimore to Western Australia, the spirit of "Adults having fun so children want to get older" infects individuals everywhere it lands.
His later years were spent battling a disfiguring and crippling rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
, while his spirit — and creative energies — remained undiminished. He continued his twice yearly peregrinations from north to south in search of the warmest, driest times of the year.
Exhibits, Collectors and Awards
Hobart's collectors include President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, Congressman Don Clausen, LA City Museum, U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, Riverboat Casino Las Vegas, California Department of Transportation, the College of the Redwoods and more than 500 individuals and companies.
Hobart created the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Perpetual Trophy by commission from the Party.
Over the years, Hobart received many awards including listings in Who's Who Worldwide, being made an honorary Rotarian and annual proclamations from both the Eureka and Arcata City Councils.
Not unsurprising for such a tireless showman and local booster, Hobart was covered by a full range of media including:
- Television - ABC, CBS, CNN, Disney, NBC Today Show, Nickelodeon, Weird Houses and Weird Wheels, Game Show Network, and more.
- Movies - "It will Have Blinking Eyes" an award-winning documentary about the Kinetic Sculpture Race by China Blue films shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
- Print - National Geographic World, Popular MechanicsPopular MechanicsPopular Mechanics is an American magazine first published January 11, 1902 by H. H. Windsor, and has been owned since 1958 by the Hearst Corporation...
, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Smithsonian Magazine, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, Perth Australia Time, Times-StandardTimes-StandardThe Times-Standard is the only major local daily newspaper covering the far North Coast of California. Headquartered in Eureka, the paper provides coverage of international, national, state and local news in addition to entertainment, sports, and classified listings...
, Arcata Eye, North Coast JournalNorth Coast JournalThe North Coast Journal is an alternative weekly newspaper serving Humboldt County, California. The Journal is published in Eureka, California and includes coverage of the arts, news, personages, and politics of the region....
, Humboldt Independent and The Eureka Reporter.
- Radio - broadcaster for six years and many interviews since.
- Publications
- Kinetic Sculpture Racing, A Complete Guide: Founder Hobart Brown Tells All - a guide to Kinetic Sculpture Racing and its underlying philosophy. ISBN 1-879312-07-7
- Author and co-author of numerous articles in newspapers and local journals.