Chris and Robin Rohwer, known collectively as Christopher Robin, combine photography and painting to capture life’s beauty. Chris, a retired Home Federal Bank commercial banker, photographs landscapes and adventures worldwide. Robin specializes in plein air painting. They share Christopher Robin Arts (https://www.christopherrobinarts.com/), their Knoxville studio and gallery, and have two daughters and two grandsons.
Chris Rohwer: Photography is one more excuse for me to be outside. Whether traveling the world or in my own back yard, I look to capture interesting subjects with light, lines or action to give the viewer a sense of what I see and feel. Owning a camera dates to my college days but photography only became a serious effort within the last few years.
Raised by adventuresome parents, my escapades include hitchhiking through Europe, trekking in Nepal and rafting the Grand Canyon. Adding a camera to my experiences has given me a new perspective of the places we visit. With nearly everything in the world being photographed, my goal is to find another way of seeing things and photographing them differently. Sometimes it works.
Robin Rohwer: I am always a work in progress. I paint for me. The image speaks to me and needs to be painted. For me, painting is capturing a moment or a feeling in time and place. Preferring to paint on location, in a style known as Plein Air, it is my hope to transport the viewer to my spot, to feel the wind, the smells, and the light that drew me to stop and contemplate painting. Anything may be my subject, no matter how obscure and should convey the energy and mood of the moment. Strong shapes, subtle shifts, light and shadows chorus in my head and my heart to evoke feeling with the viewer - a memory, a love, a need, a calm or a question. When one sees my finished work, it’s a piece of me and a peace in me. I am blessed.
Robin and Chris share a small studio and gallery in the Historic Phoenix Building at 418 South Gay Street where we meet the nicest people and share our craft.
