Robert M. Fisher

Robert Miles Fisher (November 12, 1928 – August 19, 2007) was an American abstract artist in oils, watercolor, charcoal, and welded sculpture.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Robert moved to Plainfield, Vermont in 1946, and began attending Goddard College. It took him eight years to finish his degree, as he worked his way through college. Robert's degree thesis at Goddard was on international communities. He was not yet painting seriously until moving to New York City, where he was offered the opportunity to work with Hans Hofmann at his New York School.

In the 1950s and early 1960s Robert received two large commissions to work for other sculptors, Ibram Lassaw (one of the founders of the Abstract Artists Association) and Herbert Ferber. He went on to produce welded sculptures of his own, exhibiting in juried shows, selling, and receiving commissions, notably for a "...large stainless steel piece in which the mirror finish ... picked up the reflected the colors of the sun and fall leaves." Robert considered this "...to be a piece using modern techniques and materials, yet following the ancient polychromatic form of the Greeks and Egyptians."

Mid-1960s, Robert moved back to Vermont permanently, so he could live less expensively and thus devote more time to creative endeavors. That did not stop him from getting involved in the Civil Rights Movement. By the end of the 60's, he spent a total of two years working in Mississippi, most of it helping develop cooperatives for low income people. He continued such community work until his death, mostly working with groups serving low income families and children, and organizations helping the families of those in prison. One example of such ongoing outreach work is "Street Angel Diaries." Robert donated the rights to use "about thirty" of his paintings of street people to help raise awareness of the plight of the homeless. "Street Angels" is a multimedia project first presented in 2005 in Los Angeles, to great critical acclaim. In 2006, the program was presented eight times at the Boston Court Theater in Pasadena, CA, and in 2007 in Cape Cod. Robert had "...been doing paintings of street people on and off for many years."

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