A painting pilgrimage
‘Bob Ross Experience’ allows his fans to immerse themselves in PBS painter’s life
MUNCIE, Ind.— Lexi Vannwas losing her race with BobRoss.
The 19-year-old from Carmel, Indiana, sporting a bushy brown Bob wig that defied the stiffHalloween afternoon breeze, dipped her brush into a pool of purple paint and began tracing the outline of a mountain range, taking her cue froman episode of “The Joy ofPainting” on a screen set up on the lawn.
ButRoss, whose curly perm and soothing voice were at odds with his breakneck pace, finished hiswork, titled “Sunset Aglow,” five minutes ahead of her. “As soon as he started going with the trees, Iwas lost,” Vann said, her cheeks flushed.
Shewas among the more than 100 fans of the PBS painterwhomade the trek— in her case 50 miles, but others came fromas far away as Arizona— for the sold-out opening day of the “BobRossExperience,” a $1.2 million permanent exhibit and painting workshop series in the city where the beloved television host filmed his show from1983 to 1994, and inspired generations of fans with his yes-you-can positivity.
Their pilgrimage brought them toRoss’ former broadcast studio, painting workshop and temporary art gallery sheltered in a collection of buildings that are nowpart of the Minnetristamuseumand gardens. Fans dressed as the painter sampled ice tea— a signature that he sipped between takes— and tried to recreate “GrayMountain,” a vibrant landscape from 1992, in aworkshop led by a certifiedRoss instructor. Revelers meandered along a winding boulevard in a costume parade, with winners receiving BobRoss bobbleheads, complete withminiature brush and bucket.
“This is fantastic,” Brett Estes, the Best Bob winner said, outfitted in a Bob wig (froma costume shop), beard (real) and light blue button-down. His brushes were tucked in the front pocket.
But the crown jewel awaited fans insideRoss’ studio, the former public television stationWIPB,
inside theLuciusL. Ball House (the family gave the country the iconic glass kitchen jar).
Fifteen masked visitors per hour, with timed tickets, could pose withRoss’ easel, palette and the set of brushes he used to create what he called his “happy little trees.”
“Wemade it ascloseas possible to howit appeared when he filmed here” while still accommodating visitors, GeorgeBuss, vice president of visitor experience at Minnetrista, said.
TheExperience— offeredWednesday through Sunday— is akin to an Easter egg hunt. Items that belonged toRoss, like the brushes he used on the show, are safely behind
acrylic. But everything else is fair game to touch.“We reallywanted people to be immersed in the space,” Buss said. “We have little discoverables everywhere, andwe knowpeople will findnewthings each time they visit.”
Ross lovers can slip on a vintage J.C. Penney shirt like the ones hewore on the showor flip through a stack of his fan mail. And they can pore over shelves full ofRoss essentials like a jar ofVicksVapoRub, which he used to clear his sinuses to ensure a smooth, velvety voice, and the hair pick he kept in his back pocket to fluff out his perm.
But the ultimateRoss Zen awaits fans in the far corner of the studio, where a painting of a misty mountain rests on an easel, one of some 30,000 (including copies) that the artist boasted of producing in a 1991 interview with The NewYork Times.
Anepisode of “The Joy of Painting” plays on the cameramonitor— and visitorswhostep in front of the easel will find themselves standing inRoss’ shoes. The experience can be overwhelming, leaving some visitors in tears.
They can also step across the hall into a re-creation of a 1980s American living room, its shelves filled with suchmemorabilia as a Bob Ross Chia Pet and aBob Ross toaster. “Wewanted to also showBob as fans watching at homein their living roomknew him,” Buss said.
Jessica Jenkins, vice president of collections and storytelling at Minnetrista, said that while critics saddleRoss with a reputation for kitsch, she’s thrilled to finally see him getting the recognition he deserves. The SmithsonianMuseum of American History acquired four BobRoss paintings and a selection ofmemorabilia last year, and while themuseumhas not announced its time frame for exhibiting them, the
BobRossExperience currently displays six of the 26 paintings in the Minnetrista collection.
“Lots of people don’t view Bob as a real artist, which is upsetting because he made it simple on purpose forTV,” Jenkins said. Shewalked over to a Ross seascape— a gift from Ross’ widow— on thewall in theBall home. “This is vastly more than what he did on television,” she said. “These are the ones he took his time on; the ones he did for him.”
Also on view is an exhibit of 29 BobRoss paintings that have never been publicly displayed in Oakhurst, a historicBall home nearby.
Jenkins acknowledges that themiddle of a pandemicmay seem like a strange time to kick off an interactive exhibition like this one, but she says everyone could use a dose ofRoss’ calm and positivity right now.
“My biggest fear in getting into this projectwas that I’d find out hewasn’t the person I thought he was,” Jenkins said. “But the BobRoss you see on TVis completely sincere. He put everyone else first constantly. Iwas like, ‘Oh, thank God, hewas not a jerk.’”