Robert Bibler and Carol Hausser papers

Robert Bibler was born in 1948. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, and his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While completing his MFA, Bibler worked with John Morrison to co-found The Amherst Film Cooperative in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1972. Bibler and Morrison developed film schedules for the Cooperative and organized public film screenings held at Hampshire College, the Amherst Folklore Center, and venues on the University of Massachusetts campus. In 1973 Bibler began teaching part-time at Mt. Hood Community College, in Gresham, Oregon and at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. In the fall of 1974, he was hired full-time to develop the Art Program at Chemeketa Community College, where he taught drawing, painting, design, printmaking, and film studies and served as chair of the Art Program. While teaching at Chemeketa, Bibler also developed the Film Studies Program with Leonard Held, Ph.D., an instructor in the English department. In the fall of 1974, a film studies curriculum that included the study of film directors, genres, and cinema history was established at Chemeketa Community College using funds received from a two-year Program Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. These funds also enabled the creation of a weekly campus film series, The Wednesday Evening Film Series, which showcased a diverse selection of movies. The Wednesday Evening Film Series was open to Chemeketa Community College students and the public. Bibler and Held coordinated the series together until Leonard retired in 1996. Bibler continued to coordinate series programming and publicity at Chemeketa Community College until his retirement in 2003. In 2004 The Wednesday Evening Film Series was relaunched at the Historic Elsinore Theatre, in partnership with Chemeketa Community College, offering big-screen presentations in a newly restored 1926 movie palace in downtown Salem, Oregon. At this new location, Bibler coordinated the selection of movies, authored publicity, and wrote or edited the educational program notes distributed at the screenings from the fall of 2004 until the summer of 2015. Bibler has exhibited artwork professionally since 1974. His drawings and paintings utilize classical techniques and traditional genre subjects to explore his interest in implicit narrative, film history, and Renaissance art through figurative representation and symbolism. His works can be found in private and public collections throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, as well as in cities in the eastern United States. One of Bibler’s paintings, the official portrait of former Oregon governor Neil Edward Goldschmidt, was on display at the Oregon state Capitol from 1993 until 2011. Bibler was a member of the Blackfish Gallery in Portland, Oregon and was represented by the Lidtke Fine Art Gallery in Seattle, Washington and the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, Oregon. He currently resides in Salem, Oregon with his wife, artist Carol Hausser.