About the Artist

Painting landscapes, still life, Native Americans, and portraits, is my passion. Since childhood creativity has been at the core of my existence. It's always thrilling to experience the moment a painting takes on a life of its own. A final adjustment of value or color and suddenly it sings with a pure voice.

I consider each painting an opportunity to create a work of art exhibiting both beauty and timelessness. It's satisfying to know that it could one day become a cherished heirloom and provide pleasure for generations. I feel I've been blessed with a talent that can bring joy to the lives of others. I want to meld the physical and spiritual characteristics of each subject I paint into the most telling work of art possible. Conveying the essence is paramount.

I look to the great masters past and present, such as Andrew Wyeth, Sargent, Cassat, Parrish, Rembrandt, Monet, Vermeer and many others. My challenge as an artist is to strive for the standard of excellence they have established.

I continue to carefully study the paintings available in museum collections and galleries around the country. During my regular pilgrimages, as I meticulously examine each piece, I'm always considering the best way to incorporate what I observe into my own work. Special attention is paid to the artistic concept employed and the emotional content communicated. I constantly strive to expand my understanding of art and to reach the next plateau. It�s a lifelong process of studying, learning and hopefully growing.

The Garden of Artistry
Fri, Jul 25, 2013 - Sun, Jul 27, 2013
Friday 1:00 to 5:00 Saturday 10:00 to 5:00 Sunday 10:00 to 3:00

Ponderay Garden Center
477703 Hwy 95 North Ponderay, ID 83852
Sandpoint, ID 83864

The Garden of Artistry
Jul 26, 2013 - Jul 28, 2013
Ponderay Garden Center
477703 Hwy 95 North Ponderay, ID 83852
Sandpoint, ID 83864

International Society of Acrylic Painters
Jul 12 - Aug 12
15th Annual Open Exhibition
San Louis Obispo, CA
Holbein Merchandise Award
Black Horse Art Supply

Paint the Trail Paint Out
Aug 23-29
Arts Alliance and Redtail Gallery
Friends of Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail
Sandpoint, ID
Honorable Mention

Best of Show Award
3rd Annual Scotchman Peak Plein Air Paint Out & Art Sale
Outskirts Gallery
Hope, Idaho
Sep 24-26, 2010

13th Annual ISAP International Open Exhibition
August 7 - September 5, 2010
Santa Cruz Art League Gallery
526 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4622
(831) 426-5787
www.scal.org

'Rescued & Redeemed'
Found Art: AW I Exhibit
6/18/10 - 7/25/10
Pend Oreille Arts Council
The POAC Gallery, The Power House
120 Lake Street
Sandpoint, ID

Masters in Miniature Invitational
CM Russell Museum
Opens - July 29, 2010
Event and Sale - September 11, 2010
400 13th Street North
Great Falls, MT 59401
(406) 727-8787

'Escaping Reality'
Abstract Expressionists
4/30/10 - 6/14/10
Pend Oreille Arts Council
The POAC Gallery, The Power House
Sandpoint, ID

12th Annual ISAP International Open Exhibition
Santa Cruz Art League
526 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA
August 8 - September 6, 2009

2nd Annual Online Signature Members Show
International Society of Acrylic Painters
June 15, 2009

The Winter Salon Figure Drawing Group Show
Redtail Gallery
Sandpoint, Idaho
April 10 - April 24, 2009

2008 PaintAmerica Top 100 Winner
PaintAmerica Association
Cornell Museum - Old School Square, 4-30-09 to 6-13-09
Delray Beach, FL
and other venues

2008 ________________________

'Water, Water Everywhere'
All-Media Paint-Off Challenge
1st Place Award
Artist's Network, The Artist's Magazine
Oct 28, 2008

1st Annual Scotchman Plein Air Paint Out & Art Sale
Timberstand Gallery, Oct 10
Outskirts Gallery, Oct 11
Sandpoint, Idaho
Oct 8 - Oct 11, 2008

'Anything Goes' Exhibit
Oct 10 - Nov 30, 2008
Pend Oreille Arts Council
The POAC Gallery, The Power House
Sandpoint, ID

2008 Western Regional Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils
Oil Painters of America
Devin Galleries
Coeur d� Alene, Idaho
Sep 12 - Oct 11, 2008

Robert Bissett: Recent Work
Redtail Gallery - Grand Opening
Sandpoint, Idaho
July 27 - September 10, 2007

10th Annual ISAP International Exhibition
(International Society of Acrylic Painters)
Jack Richeson Award
May 5 - June 17, 2007
San Luis Obispo Art Center
San Luis Obispo, CA

39^th Annual Art Auction and Exhibition
March 2, 2007
Yellowstone Art Museum
Billings, MT

"A Retrospective", Solo Show
Sep 15 - Nov. 27, 2006
Art Exhibit Program
Pend Oreille Arts Council
Northern Lights Lobby
421 Chevy St.
Sagle, ID

�POAC's Own: In the Minds Eye� Exhibit
Sep 15 - Nov. 27, 2006
The POAC Gallery
Pend Oreille Arts Council
Sandpoint, ID

38^th Annual Art Auction and Exhibition
January 27, 2006
Yellowstone Art Museum
Billings, MT

�Tropical Escape� Exhibit
Nov., 05 - Jan. 06
The POAC Gallery
Pend Oreille Arts Council
Sandpoint, ID

"Festival of Trees"
Tenth Anniversary Gala Auction
Fry Healthcare Foundation
December 10, 2005
Bonners Ferry, ID

"Native Americans: Alaska to

Mexico

"
Solo Show
November 2004
Naples Gallery, Naples, Idaho

Projects of Distinction Merit Award
Stitt's Dome Home, Manitowoc, WI
ABC, Wisconsin Chapter�� 2004

Marion de Sola Mendes Memorial Award, 39th Annual Exhibition of the National
Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, National Art Club and Lotus club,
New York City, 1992

Watercolor

U.S.A.

, 1992 National Exhibition,
Springfield Art Museum,
Springfield, MO,1992.

Tri-Valley Cultural Arts Council Show
First Place, Two Dimensional
Palmer, Alaska�� 1980

3^rd Annual Statewide Juried Art Exhibition
Resurrection Bay Art Guild
Seward, AK� 1980

American Art Collector
September 2008 issue
OPA Western Regional Show
Page 96, 97 - featured

"Self-portrait - Robert Bissett Paints a little of himself"
Page 20-23
Artisan Northwest, Spring 2006
Article by Barb Coyner

The Sun-Sentinel article from Sunday, 14 Nov. 2004 - About the dome house
that survived Hurricane Ivan on Pensacola Beach, Fl. Lower right hand corner
identified as a source for the full page article: "SOURCES: Jonathan Zimmerman,
zdomes.com; Robert Bissett, designer; Mark and Valerie Sigler, domeofahome.com;
Monolithic Dome Institutes; safeharbordome.com, Pensacola News Journal,
Sun-Sentinel research." (Emphasis added)

Tradition Moving Toward the Innovative, An Interview with Robert Bissett;
Denise Thompson; Northern Journeys, An Arts Magazine; April/May/June 1999.

Acrylic Painting Techniques
Featured along with Dean Mitchell and William Hook
Ed. by E. G. Killeen with Leah Rachel
Killeen, North Light Books, January, 1995, 135 pages
Explores the creative potential of acrylics.

The Straw Bale House, Steen, Steen, Bainbridge; Chelsea Green Publ.; 1994.
Paragraph on page 76.

1967 - 1973: Pilot US Air Force:
C-141 Starlifter, HH-43 Husky, C-7 Caribou.
First Pilot, Rescue Crew Commander, Aircraft Commander, Instructor Pilot.
Two tours

Viet Nam

.
FAA Airline Transport Rating.

1972 - Present: Carpentry, Contracting, Construction Inspection, Construction
Supervision, Construction Management, Architecture, Building Design and
Architectural Illustration.

Washington State University
Pullman, WA
B. of Architecture, 1975
Summa Cum Laude

Washington School of Art 1970-1971

Air Force Academy
Colorado Springs, CO
B.Sc., 1967

Studied personally over the years with more than a dozen master painters in a workshop setting.

�Not corny.� Better than Machetanz.� Merits being sent to Seattle to be properly framed.�
Acrylic does all you want.� No need for egg tempera.� Superb talent.� Ed. Betts

This critique of a painting brought from home was given at the end of a five day workshop in front of the assembled attendees and reproduced from my notes.� Mr. Betts first removed the panel from its unfortunate frame.� 1980 was the year I started painting full time.� Fred Machetanz was an established Alaskan artist whom I had the pleasure of knowing since we both lived in Palmer.

Edward Betts is a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Watercolor Society, and is a professor emeritus of art at the University of Illinois. He holds a BA degree in history of art from Yale University and an MFA in painting from the University of Illinois. Born in 1920 and brought up in New York City, he attended summer sessions at the Art Students League from 1935 to 1942, and as a full-tine student there from 1946 to 1948, joining the University of Illinois School of Art and Design in 1949.

Betts has been represented in virtually every important national exhibition, including major surveys of contemporary American painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, as well as other national exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, Denver Art Museum, San Francisco Art Museum ad the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His paintings have been included in international exchange exhibitions in

Japan

Brazil

England

Mexico

Australia

, and

Canada

.

He has received more than seventy exhibition awards, is a three-time winner of the $2000 First Altman Landscape Prize at the National Academy of Design and seven awards at the American Watercolor Society, including two Silver Medals of Honor. His work is represented in sixty public and corporate collections, such as the Fogg Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Portland (Me.) Museum of Art, Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company, Continental Grain Company, Prudential Life Insurance Company, and Tupperware International.

In February 1983 American Artist Magazine featured Betts as one of fourteen "living legends" in American Watercolor. He has written Master Class in Watrcolor, Creative Landscape Painting, Creative Seascape Painting and Master Class in Water Media, a revision of the earlier Master Class.

Last Rescue For The 38th

Two U. S. Air Force pilots were rescued from the sea by an HH-43 crew from Det 7, 38th ARRSq, after they ejected from their battle-damaged F-4 Phantom. The rescue detachment is based at Da Nang Afld where the survivors had been attempting to bring the crippled aircraft.

Maj Floyd R. Lockhart, pilot of the helicopter, said, "We scrambled out over the bay and were orbiting the area when the pilots ejected," he said. "We could see the chutes and contacted our control point for clearance to go in for the pickup. We went in and picked up one man then went for the other - it was as simple as that!"

Operating the rescue hoist were SSgt Louis J. Maloney and SSgt Joseph J. Gula, Jr., airborne firefighters from the 366th Civil Engineering Squadron and attached to the 38th.

"We spotted both people in the water and they gave the thumbs up sign signifying that they were okay," Sergeant Maloney said. "We sent down the penetrator and the first survivor climbed on. We pulled him in and then went after the other one and did the same thing."

Alc Leon J. Raska, helicopter mechanic, helped the men through the helicopter door to safety. "It really went smoothly," he said. "Everybody seemed to get right in there and do the job. It was really like a textbook rescue."

Sgt Richard G. Cobbett, a medical technician from the 366th USAF Dispensary and attached to the 38th, examined the survivors and found them in good shape and good spirits."

Copilot on the rescue mission, probably the last to be carried out before deactivation of the 38th, was Capt Kenneth R. Bissett.

BIRD'S EYE VIEW - An HH-43 rescue helicopter, lower left, from the 38th ARRSq is shown rescuing the crew of a battle-damaged F-4 Phantom which plunged into the sea, right, near Da Nang. In left photograph is the Pedro crew from Det 7 that made the saves. Left to right, TSgt Cobbett, SSgt Gula, SSgt Maloney, A1C Raska, Capt Bissett, Maj Lockhart. (USAF photos)

Until recently, the men who manned and maintained the HH-43's at Da Nang Afld were members of Det 7, 3rd ARRGp. Before that, their unit was attached to the 38th ARRSq, since inactivated. Now the group is known as the "Pedro Division" and is a part of the 37th ARRSq at Da Nang.

One thing that hasn't changed, however, are the rescue and similar activities which the veteran unit has been per�forming for seven years.

The following are missions performed while the unit was operating as Det 7, 3rd ARRGp.

Rocket Attack Medevac

Two sergeants, wounded after a night rocket attack on the base, were medevaced by an HH-43 Pedro crew consisting of Capt Kenneth R. Bissett, Jr., pilot; Capt Ralph H. Bell, copilot; SSgt John W. Bryant, helicopter mechanic; and Sgt Grant L. Matsunaga, medical technician.
The alert Pedro scrambled during the blackout, picked up the wounded men and then delivered them to the 366th Dispensary helipad two miles away. During the flight and landing, the base was still blacked out and a second attack was a strong possibility. Afterwards, the helicopter returned to the alert pad - ready if needed.

LBR Mission

A Det 7 HH-43 scrambled with a fire suppression kit after notification that a battle-damaged F-4 was inbound with a negative fuel reading. As the rescue helicopter began to orbit the field, the crew saw that the F-4, on final, had begun to roll. Anticipating ejection, Maj Floyd R. Lockhart, the Pedro pilot, deposited the FSK adjacent to the runway and immediately took off again. At the same time, the rescue crew saw both F-4 pilots eject and notified the tower. Within a minute or two after landing the survivors had been picked up by the HH-43 and were on their way to the hospital. Others manning the HH-43 were Captain Bissett, copilot; A1C Leon J. Raska, helicopter mechanic; SSgt Louis J. Maloney and SSgt Joseph J. Gula, Jr., firefighters; Sgt Richard G. Cobbett, medical technician.

At-Sea Rescue

In another mission, an HH-43 crew from Det 7 used the Kaman-designed forest penetrator rescue seat with its flotation collar to rescue a Vietnamese sergeant from the South China Sea.

Capt Charles W. Miller and his crew responded after notification that a man on a raft about a mile off-shore was drifting out to sea. Two passes were made during which the loud hailer was utilized to call to the nearly naked survivor in both English and Vietnamese; however, no response was received.

The Pedro crew prepared for a possible inert recovery using the forest penetrator with a flotation collar. On final approach the rotor downwash rocked the raft violently. The survivor became semi-conscious and fell out of the raft, which was blown 100 yards away by the downwash. Quickly, Sergeant Bryant maneuvered the penetrator within the rescuee's reach and he grabbed it. Captain Miller held the helicopter in a low hover and the Vietnamese, still semi-conscious, was brought aboard. Later, it was learned from the hospital that he was responding to treatment for heat exhaustion and exposure.
Other members of the Pedro crew were Capt Bell, co�pilot; Staff Sergeant Wallace H. Long, Sergeant Maloney and Sgt Terry R. Miller.

Accident Airlifts

Two other medevacs were also made by Det 7 crews. One, at night, was classed as "life or death" and involved air transporting a critically-injured sergeant from the 366th USAF Dispensary to the 95th Evac Hospital. The patient, who had been thrown from a truck during an accident, was having difficulty breathing and was also losing blood from several lacerations. Members of the HH-43 crew were Captain Bissett, pilot; Capt Alvin J. Machtmes, copilot; SSgt Jesse L. Uzzell, medical technician; Airman Baska, helicopter mechanic.

On the other mission, an airman whose foot was seriously injured after a forklift fell on him, was airlifted to the hospital in an HH-43 piloted by Capt Kenneth B. Schroeder. Captain Bissett was copilot; TSgt Jon H. Young, pararescueman; and SSgt Robert Cruz, firefighter.

Pedro Division At Work

Under its new designation as Pedro Division, 37th ARRSq, the Da Nang unit responded to a request for assistance after a civilian on a motorcycle collided with a pickup truck at night and suffered multiple fractures. The accident victim was taken to the 366th Dispensary. Captain Bell and his crew were on a local flight when the emergency call was received. The helicopter landed near the dispensary and the accident victim was placed aboard. Shortly afterward he was delivered to the 95th Hospital. Time from alert until the injured man was delivered to the hospital-10 minutes. Other members of the Pedro crew were Capt Charles W. Miller, copilot; Sergeant Cobbett, SSgt Randie M. Olson, SSgt Robert Cruz, and Sergeant Miller.

DaNang Unit Medevacs VC Suspect

Shortly before 3 a.m. the Pedro alert crew was notified that a Viet Cong suspect had been shot in the chest while attempting to penetrate the base perimeter. Due to the seriousness of the suspect's wound, evacuation to the 95th USA Hospital was requested.

After the initial scramble, Captain Miller and his HH-43 crew landed 75 feet outside the base perimeter. The patient and a Vietnamese security guard were taken aboard the helicopter and it headed for the hospital. On the way, Sgt Grant L. Matsunaga, the medical technician, bandaged the suspect's wound, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and otherwise aided the patient. A few minutes later, Pedro landed at the hospital and the injured man was taken to surgery.

Others manning the HH-43 were Capt Michael F. Schmidt, copilot; A1C Leon J. Raska, flight mechanic; SSgt Louis J. Maloney and Sgt Ronald G. Treadwell, firefighters.

On another Pedro Division mission, an HH-43 crew evacuated an airman who had been struck in the mouth by a strut on a C-123. The flight to the hospital was made at night and over known hostile territory. Captain Bell was pilot and Captain Schmidt was copilot on the mission. Other Pedro crew members were A1C Robert S. Bos, helicopter mechanic; Sgt Terry R. Miller and Sergeant Treadwell, firefighters, Sergeant Matsunaga, medical technician.

http://www.h43-huskie.info/RotorTips/RotorTips-Nov-Dec71-p24.htm

BACK TO WORK EXPERIENCE

Best of Show Award 3rd Annual Scotchman Peak Plein Air Paint Out & Art Sale Outskirts Gallery Hope, Idaho Sep 24-26, 2010

13th Annual ISAP International Open Exhibition August 7 - September 5, 2010 Santa Cruz Art League Gallery 526 Broadway Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4622 (831) 426-5787 www.scal.org

Best of Show Award
3rd Annual Scotchman Peak Plein Air Paint Out & Art Sale
Outskirts Gallery
Hope, Idaho
Sep 24-26, 2010

13th Annual ISAP International Open Exhibition
August 7 - September 5, 2010
Santa Cruz Art League Gallery
526 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4622
(831) 426-5787
www.scal.org