ROBERT BLUESTONE believes that creativity is the currency of the 21st century and that we will succeed as individuals, families, communities, and as a country in direct proportion to how well we grasp this concept. Robert Bluestone’s passion has been to make creativity part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. He empowers and inspires audiences to go beyond their own self-imposed limitations and doubts and see that creativity is not just the domain of artists; that everyone has it in them to be creative in everything they pursue in life. Robert Bluestone builds bridges in companies and communities by identifying the common creative bond that turns employees into empowered achievers and creates cooperative interactive forward thinking corporate teams: The Formula for Success in the 21st Century.
Robert began playing the guitar when he was seven years old. His musical journey on the guitar had him in his college days backing groups like the Eisley Brothers playing ‘Twist and Shout’; to a receiving a full scholarship for the Andrés Segovia Masterclass in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; to touring throughout the world to critical acclaim and solo recitals at places like the legendary Carnegie Hall. His decades of intense work in mastering the guitar have made him an expert on the creative process. Audiences are energized by the example of his determination and discipline in overcoming the formidable challenges and obstacles in becoming a world-class guitarist and then having a successful career touring the world. It wasn’t easy; talent only goes so far. The soul is forged in the marketplace of life. Robert Bluestone understands the marketplace. His business acumen and success as a self-managed artist in a highly competitive field have made him highly sought after to lead workshops throughout the country for artists on how to manage their own careers.
- Twenty years of speaking to business, community, educational, non-profit and healthcare groups from Nome, Alaska to Del Rio, Texas and everywhere in between
- Co-founder with his wife of Woven Harmony, Ltd., in 1992
- Thirty years as a mainstage performing artist
- Tenured professor of music on the university level for ten years
- Received the Mayor of Santa Fe’s Recognition Award for Excellence in the Arts
- In 2001 the thirteen state Western Arts Alliance gave him its prestigious Betty Connors Award.
“North American guitarist Robert Bluestone presented a magnificent concert at the Quixote Portrait Museum marking this 17th International Cervantino Festival.”
— EL SOL DE MEXICO“Rich Segovian tone…the playing is warm, alluring, and even magnetic.”
— SOUNDBOARD
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REBECCA BLUESTONE
How do you go from growing up in rural Oklahoma in the 50’s and being told you have no artistic talent to becoming an internationally known artist? Rebecca Bluestone has almost 25 years of years of exploring the idea of creativity and has come to the conclusion that creativity is not just something that happens when an artist goes into their studio – it happens in each moment of our lives. All artists are creative, but not all creative people are artists. Rebecca is passionate about reconnecting her audiences with their own unique creativity.
After struggling to find her place in the world, Rebecca came to weaving in 1984 at the age of 31. She sat down at a loom and felt like she had come home. She quickly realized that this state of total ENGAGEMENT is what allows CREATIVITY to naturally flow. Over the next 17 years she became a successful tapestry artist, ACHIEVING international recognition for her art, speaking on creativity and having her work acquired by prominent collections such as the Chicago Art Institute and the private collection of Robert Redford.
In 2001 her work life came to an abrupt halt when, at the age of 48, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Lying in the hospital after major surgery, she realized the superficiality of some of her previous goals and then decided to use her artwork as a way to communicate about the things that are truly important in life. During six months of chemotherapy she learned how The Power of Creativity is essential. We can’t always control what happens to us, but we always have a choice in how we respond and then we are able to take a challenge and turn it to our advantage. The choice we make in each moment is where creativity happens; where we see possibility when it seems there is no possibility. Together with her husband, musician Robert Bluestone, Rebecca is committed to unlocking for her audiences the power of ENGAGEMENT, the CREATIVITY that naturally flows out of that and the unlimited POSSIBILITY and SUCCESS that ensues.
- Professional artist and speaker since 1984
- Co-founder with her husband of Woven harmony, Ltd. In 1992
- Selected collections: Chicago Art Institute; Museum Arts and Design, NYC; Robert Redford; Federal Reserve Bank, Kansas City; US Embassies in Ottawa and El Salvador
- BA Humanities, Oklahoma State University
“This show, on view in a modest recycled space, can only hint at the range of work produced by its four artists, who are from different parts of the country and have significant exhibition careers…Included are weavings by Rebecca Bluestone… Subtle movement, created through graduated increases and decreases in the degree of light built into clustered horizontal bars in Ms. Bluestones Hexagram/4, encourages a rather sophisticated perceptual adjustment”.
— PHYLLIS BRAFF, The New York Times“…three works from her Four Corners series: it’s a shame they cant all be shown together, because their shifting colors and their varying patterns of small squares are closely related variations on a theme…The small squares draw no immediate associations for me, but they don’t seem random. I imagine a code that only Bluestone knows. It gives a certain mystery to a very simple composition”.
— JANET KOPLOS, Senior Editor, Art in America
