Robert C. Morrison

Robert Clifton Morrison passed away on April 25, 2013, after a lengthy decline.

He was born in Billings on Aug. 13, 1924, the only child of Lloyd C. and Elsie Talgo Morrison. He grew up in Billings, attending McKinley School, Lincoln Junior High and Senior High School where he graduated in the class of 1942. From an early age, Bob was never in doubt that he would be an artist. While still in his teens he took drawing and painting lessons from Leroy Green and J. K. Ralston, spent much of his free time riding around Billings on his bicycle painting and sketching from nature, and by the time he was in high school was considered the class artist - nearly every page of the 1942 Koyote features his drawings and cartoons. Bob attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., for only one year before entering the U.S. Army, serving in the ASTP and learning Russian before being sent to Europe where he served in Patton's 3rd Army, 89th Division, as an intelligence scout. After the war was over, he remained in Europe for almost two years, his Army duties allowing him plenty of time to travel and soak up the art history of France, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Bob returned to the U.S. in 1947, finished college, and married Berta McPike, a fellow Carleton student, in 1948. In 1949 after graduation, Bob attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for graduate study and gained his Masters in Art History in 1950, spending summers in Taos, N.M.,  where he was exposed to the vibrant Southwestern art community which had a lasting influence on his work. After New Mexico, he and Berta returned to Minnesota briefly before moving to Billings in 1951 to settle down and raise a family. Bob taught sixth grade at Jefferson School for several years and then worked from 1955 to 1967 as Superintendent of Art Education for School District #2 before becoming a faculty member at Rocky Mountain College, teaching art and art history classes until his retirement in 1997.

Although he considered himself primarily a painter, his interests and talents covered a wide range of areas in the arts including printmaking, calligraphy, typescript design, letterpress printing, theater and puppetry. He was always proud of his Norwegian ancestry and in the early 1980s, took several sabbatical trips to Denmark and Norway where he lived for a time and immersed himself in Scandinavian art and culture, becoming conversant in Danish and Norwegian. Later, he led college tour groups to France and Italy to study art history. He was a member of the committee that founded the Yellowstone Art Center in 1964 (now YAM). In the early 1990s, he served two terms on the Montana Arts Council. He was a founding member of the Stillwater Society and Big Sky Scribes and a lifelong Phi Beta Kappa member.

Bob's artistic career spanned many decades and he is well remembered for his paintings, prints and calligraphy. He was a born teacher as well as an artist and he inspired many people. He will be sadly missed by his family and by all of his many students from over the years.

Bob was preceded in death by his wife Berta and son Bruce as well as his cousins Dan Hagerman, Mary Lynn Eschler and Larry Talgo.

He is survived by his son Jim of Billings (Debra Dudley, children: Tom, Jessica, Emily, Holly), daughter Barbara of Missoula (Jim Taylor, children: Cecily, Jocelyn, Will, Matt), and daughter Judy of Kennewick, Wash., (Don Stewart, children: Lexy and Jamie), and cousin Patrick Andrews (Barbara) of Billings.

A non-denominational memorial service will be held to remember Bob and his work on Friday, June 7, at 5 p.m. in the Bair Student Center at Rocky Mountain College. Memorials may be made to Rocky Mountain College, Carleton College or the Yellowstone Art Museum.

Bob Morrison

Bob Morrison