 (B. February 2, 1930) William H. Blackman was born February 2, 1930 in San Diego. He spent most of his early years in West Los Angeles. He became interested in art at about the age of 12 when he painted his first oil painting. In high school he majored in art so he could experiment with various mediums to find ways to interpret his ideas. In December of 1948 he joined the Navy and was stationed in Hawaii. After his tour of duty he returned to California and attended Woodbury College to learn about advertising and the graphic arts. While there, he met his wife Shirley, who coincidentally came from the Big Island of Hawaii. They were married on June 11, 1955 in her home town of Honokaa. When they returned he began his career in the graphic arts. In 1960 they began their family and moved to a new home in the San Fernando Valley. Meanwhile, Bill had become interested in the fine arts again. His position as an advertising production manger put him in contact with art directors and they would lunch together and then visit various art galleries in the area. He began oil painting again as a hobby. In 1964 he made an important contact through an associate at his agency. This person was a vice-president at Aaron Brothers Galleries and purchased paintings for them. They had showrooms in various major cities and sold original framed paintings to art galleries and furniture stores. He said they could possibly sell some of his seascapes so Bill began painting in his spare time. Gradually, they sold more than he could produce so Bill made the decision to leave the advertising business and devote his time to painting. In 1965 the Blackman's moved to Thousand Oaks, California. He began his career as a fine artist and to this day resides in Thousand Oaks. He contracted with Aaron Brothers to be his exclusive agents and began specializing in seascapes. After a few years he added landscapes and some other subjects. Bluebonnet landscapes and Padre Island seascapes were popular in the Dallas showroom. He and his family vacationed frequently in Hawaii and that became another source of inspiration. There, he was represented by the Davis Gallery in Honolulu. A good relationship with "Barney" Davis continued after the closing of the Aaron Brothers Wholesale Division in 1980. He painted for the Davis Gallery for about 8 years until they closed due to illness. Afterwards, he was contacted by Kobayashi Art Enterprises and has been represented by them. In 1980 he began teaching in private studios around the country, demonstrating his method of painting various subjects. During the latter part of the 80"s he was approached by Susan Scheewe Publishing to author and illustrate a book showing his way of painting. The first was published in 1990 and he has authored four other books since then. He demontrated six different instructional video tapes that were produced by his artist friend Gary Jenkins. Gary, who was helpful introducing Bill to the teaching business, was also an artist for Aaron Brothers Galleries. William Blackman is a published artist. Twenty subjects have been lithographed, six being limited editions, when he was with Aaron Brothers. One of his Hawaiian paintings "Island Mangos" was published by Kobayashi Art Enterprises. He has been represented by the following art galleries since 1980: Davis Gallery, Honolulu; Simic Gallery, Carmel; Addi Gallery, Reno; Copenhagen Gallery, Solvang, CA; Herbert Arnot, NY; Cosmopolitan Fine Art, La Jolla, CA and Kobayashi Art Enterprises. This is the official biography for Mr. Blackman drawn from his website. Work Available For Sale |
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