Published: April 28, 2008 03:47 pm         

Bob Hoover's artwork on display at city hall

Although he may say he is from Columbus, OH, Bob Hoover's artwork is more reflective of the Great Depression, an Ohio village, Crossville, and the "DownEast" coast of Maine. After 32 years as an artist in the Columbus Dispatch newsroom, two summers with his wife, Betty, house-sitting a cottage in Stonington, that overlooked lobster boats on Penobscot Bay, his next move was to retirement living in Fairfield Glade. Five years ago, the Hoovers moved to Uplands in Pleasant Hill.

His paintings reflect his life and interests. You will see a rough built bandstand with the Adelphi community band concert on a warm Saturday night in 1957. This was painted from memory. A small clapboard church of the Depression era, near Mingo Junction, OH, was painted around 1995. This is where Hoover's school teacher's father preached for $5 a Sunday to supplement income. In Maine, an overview depicts a rusty commercial fishing boat skimming by, with the village of Stonington in the background.

In Crossville, among others is a watercolor of the grain elevators after the hailstorm of 1990. Also painted in 1990, from an original photo in Bob Patton's Plateau Properties office, is the first train to Crossville in 1900. Color was added and also the people who are seen dressed as those were in the original — in their Sunday best.

In Pleasant Hill, the Smith house, envisioned around 1920, shows Dr. May Wharton making a house call. A "Tin Lizzie" sits parked alongside. From information available, Tennessee was the first state to have license plates and those were blue with white numbers.

Oil paintings of lighthouses done in 2008 are also to be on display, so there is an over 50-year retrospective of the artist's work.

The display may be seen in Crossville City Hall during the month of May, along with some paintings for sale.