Arts Directory

About

Artist Bio

Bob Doster was born and grew up in Lancaster SC. Oldest of six children himself and five younger sisters into a family of high achievers. Bob had his first exposure to art from his grandmother who was a Sunday afternoon painter. Then in his father’s sculptural steel shop where he let Bob play with a blow torch at the age of 8, from then on he was hooked with the sculpture bug. After graduation from high school he married and had two children by the age of 19, then opened a grocery store. For the next five years he worked 16 hrs. a day 7 days a week to make a success of the business. He then sold the store and went back to school. Where he earned his MFA from Clemson and a BFA from the University of South Carolina. Bob’s career spans forty three years as a working sculptor with art work placed worldwide and he has taught more than 150,000 students aged 4 to 80 as a visiting teaching artist with the SCAC helping students create sculptures for themselves or as a legacy gift for their schools in the two Carolina’s and Illinois.

Artist Statement

My creative process begins with a shape I see in my environment. It might be a leaf that reminds me of the childhood experience of jumping in a pile of leaves or a curved piece of paper which makes me think about riding the waves at the beach. I then build on the shapes to create a sculpture. Some pieces are whimsical and others have a profound meaning about the society we live in. If I were a tree each limb would represent a series I am working on as my ideas grow so does the tree of my life.