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When viewing the works of Roberta Wesley, you are instantly aware of the striking spectrum of her subject matter. Pastoral scenes, gentle remembrances and romantic nostalgia somehow co-exist with waves of rampant elephants and tigers flying through lightning drenched skies. The creative diversity of her portfolio is evidence of the intense enthusiasm that fuels her artistic vision. She is an artist actively exploring and seeking to communicate life’s many expressions and viewpoints.
She was born to rural schoolteachers in the small town of Happy, Texas and finished her first painting at age 12. She studied drama at West Texas State University, art at the University of Texas, and received her degree in art from Texas Woman’s University. Graduate work later continued at North Texas University.
After experimenting with many different mediums and styles she settled upon alkyds. Alkyds allow great play with light and may also be richly worked in detail, among the artist’s fascinations. The light bathing Wesley’s canvasses illumines them, creates a glow. Her technique is controlled, yet mysterious.
Roberta’s originals grew in demand through her associations with some of the finest galleries in the United States. Although grateful for this long awaited recognition, she began to see success as both a blessing and a curse. There seemed to be constant pressure to produce the same most popular subjects again and again. A solution to this problem came through the publishing of reproductions on paper and canvas. This allows her freedom to spend the time needed to fully develop and detail subjects that interest her, and then move on to the excitement of new inspiration. Ravensburger HistoryRavensburger Spieleverlag GmbH is a German game company and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named "Journey around the world".
At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, Art Instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial Patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well as Russia.
Before the First World War, Ravensburger had around 800 products. The publishing house was damaged during the Second World War and continued to produce games in the years of the reconstruction. The company focused on children's games and books and specialized books for art, architecture and hobbies, and from 1962 grew strongly. The company started to produce jigsaw puzzle games in 1964, and in the same year opened subsidiaries in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 1977 the company split into a book publishing arm and a game publishing arm.
Today there are approximately 1,800 available books and 850 games as well as puzzles, hobby products and CD-ROM titles at Ravensburger and its subsidiaries, which include Alea for "hobby and ardent game players" and FX Schmid for games and children's books. Ravensburger products are exported to more than fifty countries.
In September 2010, Ravensburger broke Educa's record for the world's largest jigsaw puzzle of 24,000 pieces. Ravensburger's new puzzle design by late pop artist Keith Haring titled, 'Keith Haring: Double Retrospect' breaks the Guinness Book of World Records measuring 17' × 6' built from 32,256 pieces and comes with its own dolly cart for toting. |
