Herb Roe

Herb Roe (born 1974) is a painter of large-scale outdoor murals and classical realist oil paintings. After attending the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio for a short time, he apprenticed to mural artist Robert Dafford. After 15 years with Dafford Murals, Roe left to pursue his own art career. He currently resides in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Biography Roe was in born 1974 in Portsmouth, Ohio. He spent his childhood across the Ohio River in Greenup County, Kentucky, but moved to Portsmouth while in his teens. in Columbus, Ohio and attended his freshman year there in 1992 to 1993.

In the summer of 1993 he met the Louisiana mural artist Robert Dafford when he started a mural project in Portsmouth. Roe subsequently apprenticed to and worked for Dafford for 15 years. During that time Roe worked on Dafford mural projects in Portsmouth, Ohio; Paducah, Maysville, and Covington, Kentucky, New Orleans, Louisiana; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Subjects painted by Roe as a Dafford muralist include Native American history, early settlers such as Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, industries such as river barges labor unions, African-American heritage, Roe was the only Dafford muralist to work on all of the Paducah murals, completing several of them entirely by himself. In 2009 he collaborated with Dafford on a poster project for the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Scenic Byway, in which he did the preliminary digital painting for the design. The year-long project highlights many local spots of interest.

In 2010, Roe painted two new murals in Paducah and Vicksburg. In July, he painted Evening Roll Call in Paducah, a mural depicting the 100-year history of local Boy Scouts of America Troop 1. The mural was dedicated on National Scouting Sunday February 6, 2011 with a parade and other festivities. In the fall of 2010, Roe teamed up with another former Dafford muralist, Benny Graeff, to paint the 55-foot "Run Thru History" mural in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Roe's current artwork focuses on the traditional southwestern Louisiana Cajun celebration of the Courir de Mardi Gras. It is a series of hyper-realistic depictions of costumed celebrants playing music, dancing on the backs of horses, and chasing after chickens.

Work Techniques and style

Roe conducts extensive research to develop his works and shows acute attention to detail. They are typically started as Adobe Photoshop sketches, In 2008 he was included in the Acadiana Center for the Arts "Southern Open", an annual juried show open to residents of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The juror for the show that year was Peter Frank. Solo Exhibit at the A.I.R. Studio in Paducah, Kentucky in September 2009. Masks & Mayhem – The Courir de Mardi Gras: An exhibit of Roe's oil paintings and graphite drawings of the traditional Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras during February 2012.

Murals

In 2006 Roe completed three murals in the new Portsmouth High School. The murals depicted the previous high school building (now demolished), school mascot Trojans welcoming new students into the building, and an indoor sports-themed mural at the entrance to the gymnasium. In 2009 Roe completed three sports-themed murals on the new Clark Athletic Complex in Portsmouth, Ohio. The murals depict the three sports played at the new facility: a baseball game, tennis match, and football game. In the summer of 2010 Roe added a new mural to the Paducah Wall to Wall Project, showing the 100-year history of the local Boy Scout troop. Troop 1 is one of only a handful of troops who share their centennial with the centennial of the national scouting organization itself. The dedication for the mural was held on National Scout Sunday, February 6, 2011. Roe teamed up with Benny Graeff, a fellow former Dafford muralist, to paint the 55-foot long "Run thru History" mural in Vicksburg, Mississippi in the fall of 2010 . The mural is located across the street from the Vicksburg Riverfront Murals Project on Grove Hill. The mural's subject matter is the annual 10k run through the Vicksburg National Military Park, and it shows several prominent monuments from the park.

Gallery