With his afro-perm, impossibly gentle manner and oh-so-soothing vocal tones, Bob Ross wafted ever so gently into our homes in the 80s and 90s to show us that we too could learn how to paint "happy trees" and in fact entire landscapes.
Ross's Joy of Painting instructional television show was a cable hit then, and it's only grown hotter since. Now hailed not just for his speed-painting prowess and calming demeanor but also as an ASMR pioneer, Ross has become a Netflix, Twitch, and more recently YouTube sensation (4 million-plus channel subscribers at last count).
And just this past Wednesday, streaming service Tubi announced with some fanfare that it would soon host all 400-plus Joy of Painting episodes.
What a great time then for an enterprising art gallery curator to source a solid sampling of Ross originals and put on a show. And that's precisely what Paul Crawford and the Penticton Art Gallery have done.
Originally scheduled for early March but pandemically postponed four months into the future, "Bob Ross: Happy Little Accidents" finally makes its debut when the Gallery throws open its doors Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
It's the first ever Bob Ross exhibit held outside the USA, and it's a super cool deal that it's happening right here in Penticton.
Unlike traditional Gallery openings, much of the action between 2 and 10 p.m. tomorrow will happen in the great outdoors where crowds can circulate more safely.
There'll be musicians, stilt walkers, a DJ (Splendid Bastard/Tim Tweed), tasty delights from the Thai on the Fly food truck, live painting demonstrations courtesy of a Certified Ross Instructor (CRI), and a paint-by numbers mural where guests can contribute and then sign their name.
Inside, where social distancing will be de rigeur and crowd numbers will top out at 50, there'll be wine and Cannery Brewing beer and a throwback 80's-style living room in the middle of it all where peeps can watch the episodes in which the exhibit's paintings were concocted some 30-odd years ago.
And of course there are the paintings themselves. There's one from almost each of Joy of Painting's 32 seasons, including the final work from the final show of the final season.
But as big as Saturday will be, yesterday was no slouch. Indeed, for Gallery staff and volunteers, it was quite likely the best day to date of 2020.
It was the day they finally got to open the crates housing all those beautiful Bob Ross originals. To say that everyone lost their collective minds for a few minutes is not understating the reaction.
Amongst the revelers was Gallery rep McKaila Ferguson, who had a message for those who can’t make tomorrow's opening. The exhibit, minus the opening celebrations of course, will run every single day from now through to the 13th of September. So there's plenty of time this summer for everyone's Bob Ross fix.
Indeed, there'll also be a string of Ross-style painting classes, running every second week through to the close of the exhibit. Each class will be headed by a CRI, and three of them are already sold right out. So if you're interested, you best contact the Gallery as soon as possible at 250-493-2928.
Running in conjunction with Happy Little Accidents is a pair of auxiliary exhibits, including "Speed: The History of Speed Painting in Canada," a look at Canadian artists like Levine Flexhaug (1918-1974) who worked in a similar speed-painting style years before Ross was even conceived, and the reality-challenging "En Game Air," featuring three painters who create landscapes they experience while playing video games.
Crawford, understandably, is psyched. He clued into speed painting at a young age, fascinated by artists such as Flexhaug. Initially, Crawford would buy Flexhaug originals at thrift shops "for not more than five bucks," then resell them online for a small profit.
But, he says, "When I started digging more into his life, the more credibility he had to me as an artist."
These days, he says, "Flexhaug's paintings are now worth hundreds of dollars. All because they’ve gained credibility because they've since been discovered and displayed in museums."
"So this show is really about the larger questions of what is high and low art. Bob Ross is probably one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. You can say what you want about his art, but he's the entry-level access. He's like the cannabis of the art world. He's made art more accessible to more people than anyone else."
Admission throughout the summer is by suggested donation of $5. But, said Ferguson, "One of the main things in our mandate is to keep the gallery accessible. So if you can't possibly donate, you're still welcome to come."
For more information on what promises to be a big opening day and a hugely trendy Bob Ross summer, hit up the Gallery website.
