A Life in Full

Garland Robinette was born in Texas, and grew up in the bayous of south Louisiana, the adopted son of an oil-rig foreman and his wife. While most of the boys and men around him hunted and fished, he spent most of his time drawing pictures of friends and playing the piano. The Vietnam War forged a new toughness that then accompanied his sensitivities. He returned to Louisiana with two purple hearts, battling PTSD and began work as a janitor in a local radio station. His broadcasting talents emerged when given a chance on the air and he began a life-long career as a public figure. All along the way he continued to draw eventually working in other mediums as his talent as an artist became known. Among his first commissions was the Official Papal Portrait of John Paul II during his visit to New Orleans.

Robinette participated at the John McCrady School of Art and was involved in performing at Le Petite Theater as a teenager. He then enrolled at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art under Ausoklis Ozols. He became friends with Henry Caselli and Rolland Golden whom his considers major artistic influences. From the former, he gained the courage of being able to convey feeling in his work and from the latter, a sense of color, perspective and experimentation. Periodically he participated in the life drawing classes of the lively Pone Aliquid group with Dell Weller and other local figurative painters.

The circle of Garland Robinette’s life is made complete with a return to Texas.  He and his wife Nancy, work and run their art studio in Georgetown, Texas.