{"id":31055,"date":"2023-10-13T23:36:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rod-hubble-exhibits-art-at-farmington-museum-and-visitors-bureau\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:33:28","slug":"rod-hubble-exhibits-art-at-farmington-museum-and-visitors-bureau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rod-hubble-exhibits-art-at-farmington-museum-and-visitors-bureau\/","title":{"rendered":"Rod Hubble exhibits art at Farmington Museum and Visitors Bureau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Rod
Rod Hubble has produced more than 3,000 paintings during his remarkable career. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Local artist Rod Hubble\u2019s exhibit at the Farmington Museum and Visitors Bureau winds up Oct. 31. His prolific art production exceed 3,000, with 130 currently on display.<\/p>\n

Hubble, born in Clovis, New Mexico, in 1947, he started painting as a self-taught artist professionally in 1973. He was raised in Farmington area after moving to the city at age 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved around a lot,\u201d he said, as his father worked as a driver of a propane truck.<\/p>\n

Many of the works are for sale, some have been sold, and others are on loan from various galleries or private owners.<\/p>\n

Hubble has founded 5 galleries over the years, including Taos, Santa Fe and Farmington. He closed the last one in Farmington in 2018 when \u201chealth issues\u201d forced him to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I just decided not to do the retail thing anymore, but it was always successful,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

At his two Farmington locations, Hubble displayed the work of other artists, including a potter and jeweler. One of his first business partners was a woodworker, who made \u201cbeautiful furniture,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so very fortunate to have been married to drawing all my life,\u201d Hubble says in his artist statement. \u201cNot only the last 50 years, but well before. I have favored drawing with my old school pencils. It was always what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubble provided the Tri-City Record<\/em> an informative tour of his exhibit, which he said took three years to organize and assemble.<\/p>\n

One of the first paintings, a monochromatic, was eye-catching. Hubble said it was an early painting \u201conly blues, gray and white palette\u201d \u2013 only from imagination. The image of a wolf jumped out. \u201cYou\u2019ll find all kinds of things, faces \u2013 rarely planned, but occasionally,\u201d and mostly incidental to his work.<\/p>\n

The diversity, including water and nature scenes, fruit, animals, portraits, pencil drawings \u2013 even very small, detailed paintings on rocks, of Hubble\u2019s work is remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnguish in Repose,\u201d painted in 1973, depicted a bearded man wearing a royal red bishop-type hat. From his imagination, Hubble said \u201cMaybe a King\u201d is the title of the character.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started drawing, and I knew what I wanted \u2013 I think I made a mistake (got ink somewhere) so he had to be in repose, so I had to put him reclining rather than sitting or standing,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

Hubble said that from the time he was 12, he wrote a lot of poetry and thought that would be his medium. During this time he used a calligraphy in much of his work, including his signature. \u201cAutumn Capture,\u201d a three-stanza poem, was framed with reddish leaves and written with calligraphic text.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfolding gold impels my eyes to watch, I catch the gentle sage that fills the gorge,\u201d it begins.<\/p>\n

He discussed another painting, \u201cSummer Gone Into Winter,\u201d that depicted what appeared to be a forest goddess with long, flowing blond locks and a green cape and a bare tree branch in the background.<\/p>\n

The sequential exhibit moved from the 1970s to the \u201880s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get much from the 1970s. The pandemic had started when I was gathering work, and I couldn\u2019t get over to Colorado where my career began.\u201d Hubble said, adding that it was in Manitou Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1973, I had moved over there and accidentally became a painter instead of a poet.\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhilosophy vs. the System,\u201d 1983, was a small pencil drawing of a wizened, bearded man wearing a turban, creatively backed by old newsprint with white backdrop, tastefully framed in gold. Hubble started with a photograph and added the hat and beard, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaybreak,\u201d an acrylic painting featured on the exhibit invitation, was a captivating nature scene. \u201cI use a lot of water in my acrylic and let it drip and create puddles and I pad it with a rag or a towel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hubble used pastels to \u201csoften\u201d the image on one of the works,<\/p>\n

He pointed to a painting \u201cin loving memory\u201d of his nephew, Scott.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlower Muse\u201d was largely from imagination, but \u201cit\u2019s hard to say they\u2019re from imagination because you observe life. You know? I see you. I understand your anatomy,\u201d Hubble said, adding that you have to \u201csee anatomy to understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rod
Rod Hubble explained how to paint eyes that follow the viewer from any angle in his \u201cFlower Muse\u201d painting. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cYou notice that wherever you stand her eyes follow you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That skill is accomplished by understanding how eyes work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was painting your portrait, for example, and you were looking at me when I painted you. Your eyes in the painting would follow the person, any person, who was looking at it,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

Hubble\u2019s \u201cGallinas de Spencerville\u201d (1984) was done when he had a studio in his parents\u2019 barn. \u201cThese chickens were my neighbors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Reedgatherer,\u201d he portrayed a woman who was \u201cvery much like a sister to me.\u201d He said her family and his were very close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought she was beautiful and had seen this field of reeds in Aztec. \u2026 I thought that would be a beautiful place to pose a model,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

More than half the paintings will be returned to their respective galleries or private collection.<\/p>\n

Plein-air painting, meaning \u201cin the open air,\u201d is one of Hubble\u2019s favorite, but he\u2019s not able to get outside as much as he\u2019d like to. \u201cPlein-air paintings are usually very fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hubble\u2019s time in Taos took him outdoors to capture the beautiful landscape. \u201cTaos Rain,\u201d painted in 2006, featured a foreboding black, purplish sky over a colorful, surreal field of dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say I spent on this 24-by-30 (inches) painting about 24 or 25 hours,\u201d Hubble said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRain at Rio Grande Gorge\u201d was produced from a photo because the rains came in while Hubble was plein-air painting. \u201cTaos Meadowlands\u201d (1996) grabs eyes, emotions and senses.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cTaos
\u201cTaos Meadowlands\u201d is a favorite at the exhibit. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cAnd many. many people love this one. I think it might be favorite painting in the exhibition,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I turned around to leave it started to rain \u2026 and this beautiful rainstorm was happening over Taos mountain,\u201d Hubble said, adding that he produced 2 paintings from that excursion.<\/p>\n

His \u201cSacred Heart of Divine Mercy,\u201d depicting Jesus Christ with rays of light, including one emanating from a wound in his hand. It creates a powerful, thought-provoking image.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cSacred
\u201cSacred Heart of Divine Mercy,\u201d draws upon Rod Hubble\u2019s study of the Catholic religion. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hubble said he was studying the Catholic religion because everyone there (in Taos) was of that faith. He said throughout his life he\u2019s done paintings of Christ, particularly during the Easter season. None has been of this scale or \u201cimportance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the painting is just the underpainting and he still needs to finish it with added colors. If Hubble decides to do more work on the painting he said he would likely work from a print, adding more colors, because \u201cI also like it very much this way.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hubble said that most paintings begin with drawing, and in this case it started with a sketch on an envelope. He said he used his own hands in the mirror to create the hands.<\/p>\n

Hubble taught privately and at San Juan College for six years.<\/p>\n

Moving into the works from the 2000s, a painting of a horse taking a sip of water was next to one of two horses grazing high on a cliff. Hubble explained that while driving he had seen the horses perilously high, raising the question of how it got there.<\/p>\n

He said they were driving back from Window Rock all along red cliffs. \u201cWe both looked up and saw the tiny white horse right on the edge of the precipice with an old mare behind. \u2026 We talked about the horse for months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cAge
\u201cAge and Innocence II\u201d (2021) has interesting back story. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hubble\u2019s
Hubble\u2019s expertise at capturing water scenes is obvious in \u201cWhispered Lake-Vallecito.\u201d (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hubble said water is his favorite scenery to paint, as his piece \u201cWhispered Lake \u2013 Vallecito (2016) demonstrates his prowess at realism in capturing water and reflections of trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater captures the reflection of the images on its surface and in a contrasting duality with what it reflects it becomes an artist itself. So I merely collaborate with the water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finally, Hubble said two plein-air paintings were paired to show the desired full view of a tree because one canvas wasn\u2019t large enough to capture the scene. Hubble said many times artists will do a small plein-air study to work from on a large painting.<\/p>\n

Hubble said he tries to paint three or four hours every day, but does take a day off occasionally. He planned to go hiking the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, life is full, and there are other things you have to do in life. But, \u201cthese are all my children. I really dedicated my life to art,\u201d Hubble said.<\/p>\n

Hubble\u2019s work can be seen at www.rodhubble.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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