Citizen of The World
Travel informs South Land Park artist’s impressive oeuvre
By Jessica Laskey
June 2022
Robert Regis Dvorak is an artist’s artist. He paints, draws, writes and sings. He teaches. He works in watercolor, oil, acrylic, ink, etching, woodcuts and silk screen. He’s filled more than 300 sketchbooks, many during trips abroad. Even after decades as a professional artist, he has ideas that will keep him busy for years.
“When you’re an artist, you do what your heart leads you to do,” Dvorak says. “If I had any sense about me, I would have gone into music—the path was there. But I really didn’t want to. I enjoyed drawing.”
Dvorak hails from a musical family (yes, he’s related to Antonin Dvorak, the Czech composer), but knew from an early age he wanted to be a visual artist. His parents were concerned he wouldn’t make enough money. They convinced him to try architecture.
The discipline proved interesting enough that Dvorak left home in Wisconsin to study architecture at University of Illinois. He found a job at a New York architecture firm but continued to study art. He took printmaking classes and sold an etching to a Fifth Avenue gallery.
From there, Dvorak traveled the world for almost three years, drawing and painting. He started in Rome, where he worked for an architecture firm. He landed in Japan by way of the Middle East, India, Thailand and Singapore. He had his first one-man art exhibition in Tokyo. (He’s now had 24.)
Travel figures heavily in Dvorak’s work, whether in a stunning watercolor of a monastery in Folegandros, Greece, or a black-and-white woodcut of a Venice street. He has visited 70 countries, often with groups eager to learn his tips for travel drawing and painting. He credits the “rich environment” of California as the inspiration for many of his vibrant landscapes.
After his first global adventure, Dvorak earned a master’s degree in architecture at UC Berkeley. He taught for seven years at University of Oregon and two years at Cal before realizing “it was time for me to be an artist” and leave architecture.
“I was married with two small kids, so I had to bring in income,” Dvorak says. “It’s really difficult to make a living selling paintings, so I ended up teaching—and I’ve been teaching ever since.”
Dvorak has taught for every community college in the region, the UC Extension and art centers all over the country. As he grew to love connecting with audiences, he joined the National Speakers Association and has given more than 3,000 presentations to schools, associations and businesses. Speaking led to his next chapter—becoming a published author.
His first book, “Drawing Without Fear,” was published by a schoolbook publisher and was read all over the country. Dvorak loved the process and now has 12 books, including his most recent, “A Book About Nothing and Other Tips On Telling Topics.”
When he’s not teaching, traveling or working in his two studios—one at his South Land Park home and another at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica—Dvorak plots his next project, a memoir tentatively titled “Drawing on My Life’s Experience” about “being an artist and a citizen of the world.”
“Travel has been a very important part of my background and education,” he says. “I have some great stories.”
For information, visit robertregisdvorak.com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
