Hobart Brown - Adult Life

Adult Life

After a stint as an airplane mechanic with the U.S. Army in Cambrai - Fritsh Kaserne Darmstadt, Germany, and time spent running hot rods with his friends on local empty roads, he decided in 1962 to become an artist and moved to Humboldt County, California. Arriving in 1962 with his wife and two sons, he immediately opened the first of several Hobart Galleries; the first in Eureka, California, others in Trinidad and finally Ferndale, California.

Over the years, the Hobart Galleries has represented more than 150 local artists - launching several careers and providing much needed exposure to younger artists by adding them to an established stable of better-known names.

Hobart had four children, three boys and one girl.

Hobart was instrumental in helping Morris Graves settle in his beautiful home nestled in the hills outside Loleta, California.

During northern hemisphere winters until 2006, Hobart migrated to Australia, where he was first artist-in-residence at Happ's Winery, later at Leeuwin Wine Estates in Margaret River, Western Australia where his public welding studio on their patio and display of his art in the winery itself were popular stops on the hourly tours.

In 2006-07, Hobart was unable to travel to Australia as his increasing debility due to the advancement of his particularly severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. Following several months of being in and out of treatment facilities, he suffered a stroke on May 17, 2007. He died of pneumonia in the Redwood Memorial Hospital on November 7, 2007.

Hobart's gallery was sold in January, 2009 to local business owners.