Robert Perine

Throughout a long life, Robert Perine continually sought new ways to express his vision and use his creative gifts. Born in Los Angeles in 1922, he identified himself as a practicing artist from the age of six. Following military service during World War II, he graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute. He taught at the University of Alabama during 1950-51, then returned to southern California for a freelance career as a graphic designer. His most notable client was Fender Musi￾cal Instruments, for whom he created the legendary “You won’t part with yours ei￾ther” advertising campaign. Although he attempted to maintain his focus on painting, his business, church, and family responsibilities dominated his attention for nearly two decades. In 1969 he made a career change that allowed him to paint more seriously. Innovating with the medium he loved- watercolor- he departed dramatically and very successfully from its traditional use. During the 1970s and early 1980s, his work appeared in dozens of exhibitions and garnered numerous accolades. Among the institutions that own his work are the Butler Institute of American Art, the University of Massachusetts, Brigham Young University, Neiman Marcus, and the San Diego Museum of Art. Eager to expand his creative reach, Perine expanded from painting to writ￾ing and arts activism, starting with writing and publishing the history of the origi￾nal Chouinard Art Institute in 1985. Over the years, he wrote ten novels, several collections of short stories, three volumes of poetry, seven plays, and three musi￾cals (for which he also composed the music). His last major art piece was an im￾mense work called The Tribes ofXyr, which includes 372 graphite head drawings of imaginary beings grouped into fifteen tribes. For each tribe he created a symbol, an alphabet, and a tribal history. Perine also wrote “Descent into Xyr: The World of Waterling Dilper,” a novella that details his encounters with this mythical world, located in an intricate series of caves in the high desert somewhere in the southwest. In 2003, Perine was the driving force behind the opening of a new Chouinard Art School, where he was the director and taught watercolor, design, and figure drawing. Seeing Chouinard arise from the ashes was the culmination of a decades-long dream for Perine, who treasured the combination of creativity and art fundamentals the original school had provided. Perine was raised as a non-affiliated Christian. His first wife was Mormon, and he joined the Church shortly after they married in 1947. They had three daughters: Jorli, Lisa, and Terri. He became active in the Laguna Beach Califor￾nia Ward during the late fifties and sixties, ultimately serving as bishop. In the af￾termath of his career change in 1969, he and his wife divorced, and he left the Church. However, he continued to consider himself a Mormon- one who was not connected to a ward and did not go to Church but who valued its teachings. While he had many differences with the church, he also loved it deeply. In 1979, Perine married Blaze Newman, an artist and teacher like himself, who nurtured his expanding creativity. He died in November 2004, of a sudden heart attack. He taught until the day before his death.