Rosemary A. Dobbins

Rosemary Ann Dobbins ( Robbins; September 14, 1927 – October 24, 2006) was an American artist and photographer. She is most well known for her work as a technical illustrator and concept artist for NASA, where she created some of the most recognizable artist-rendered images of the American "Space Age". Beyond her NASA career, she was a multi-talented studio artist, photographer, and calligrapher.

Early life and education

Rosemary Ann Robbins was born on September 14, 1927, in a small but comfortable house on Maple Street in Hornell, New York. Her parents, Marta and Albert W. Robbins, already had three boys when Rosemary arrived. They viewed her as a "gift". Rosemary was completely paralyzed but still able to breathe; she struggled for several years but was able to overcome it through the use of revolutionary new therapies developed by Elizabeth Kenny. While she regained the ability to walk, her left side remained weak for the rest of her life.

In her early teens her oldest brother and protector, Albert Jr., suffered a head injury from playing college football. This was during the leather helmet era. The trauma to his brain was so severe he had to be committed to a sanitarium where, after many years of care, he eventually died.

At the beginning of WWII, Rosemary's two remaining brothers, Fred and Gary, both volunteered for military service. While still in high school, Rosemary herself worked as a volunteer in the local hospital where her duties included caring for returning soldiers, as well as victims of the 1944 polio outbreak.

In 1946, Robbins graduated from high school and completed secretarial school that same year. Immediately upon graduation, however, Rosemary was stricken with scarlet fever. She overcame this too, managing to recover just in time to start her first semester at art school. Airbrush Illustration, Lunar Rover Concept Art, Apollo Mission, Rosemary A. Dobbins NASA From 1947 to 1950, Robbins studied at the Albright School of Art, part of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, the buildings of which today house the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. As a member of the artistic community in Buffalo, Dobbins had many connections to the art scene in New York City, where she traveled frequently and interacted with several well known artists of the period, many of whom would later collectively be known as the New York School. She was heavily influenced by both the Modernists and Abstract Impressionists of the era, yet also possessed a deep love for the painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Career Pre-NASA career

Robbins began her career while still in high school working as an artist for the Glidden Pottery in Alfred, New York. At her father's suggestion, she went to secretarial school even as she applied to art school. She was ultimately accepted into the Albright School of Art at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. To support herself she worked summers at the local Birds Eye Frozen Foods factory while living in a tent which she shared with two refugee students from the Netherlands. the newlyweds were stationed in Huntsville, Alabama. Upon reentering civilian life in 1957, they moved to California. Lt. Dobbins had been recruited by Lockheed's "Skunk Works", In 1958 Lt. Dobbins was recruited back to MICOM in a civilian capacity to be a Unit Chief in the Propulsion Laboratory; his work in R & D at Redstone fell under the umbrella of ABMA and would eventually be used in the Apollo Program. Edward B. Dobbins Jr. was part of the team that engineered the retrorockets that separated the stages on the Saturn V. Upon their arrival back in Huntsville, Rosemary Dobbins was immediately hired by the newly formed NASA to be one of the key figures in the Art Department at the Marshall Space Flight Center working in both technical illustration as well as concept art. While waiting for her security clearance, Dobbins used the time to perfect her free hand lettering and calligraphy for technical illustration, eventually mastering nearly every form.

Dobbins remained at NASA for almost a decade, working during the formative years of the American Space Program. She was also one of the first women in her division to be promoted to management. Artistically, the work was exceedingly challenging as it pre-dated the age of computers in graphic design. Most illustration work was done by airbrush, and all blocking and lettering work had to be done by hand. She worked on every major NASA project including the Juno II, Mercury, and Gemini Programs, but her main focus was on the Apollo Program, and beyond. Some of her later work even included concept art for a future planned moon station. Her illustrations were used in countless presentations, programs, and NASA publications. In 1960, NASA split from the U.S. Army Missile Command. When this happened Dr. Edward Dobbins Jr. chose to stay with the Army.

Post-NASA career After leaving NASA, Rosemary Dobbins established her own studio, which included a darkroom, and continued to hone her skills in art through study at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She became a close friend, student and colleague of local artist Jack Dempsey who had been hired by UAH to create their new Art Department. Dempsey tried to recruit Dobbins to teach at UAH, but she declined. While she had accrued over 400 college credits of study beyond her art degree, and was Phi Kappa Phi, she never completed a Bachelor's.

As she grew older, she actively fought to right whatever wrongs she encountered. In high school she earned the nickname "Rocky" because she chose to wear her brother's warm flannel shirts and pants to school in winter in an era when girls were only allowed to wear dresses. She was threatened by her Principal with suspension if she did not go home and change, but she stood up for her rights and health. In the end she prevailed, and girls at Hornell High were allowed to dress warmly thereafter.

Later years and death

Apart from a few years when she moved with her husband to Texas to care for his aging parents, Dobbins spent her later life on Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville, Alabama, a city she had come to love very deeply. Her work increasingly highlighted social issues or the wonder of nature. In the last few years her weakness from polio finally took its toll, compounded by other health conditions including a stroke; her hands began to tremble. Knowing she could not continue to produce work at the same high standard, in the late 1990s she gave up artwork altogether. She shifted her creative energy instead to music and mastered the clavichord.

After a loving 53 years of marriage, and a long successful career, Dobbins died on October 24, 2006, of heart failure. Her husband Edward passed away 6 years later in October 2012. Their daughter, Dr. Holly A. Dobbins, follows in their footsteps, furthering the cause of social justice and preserving and curating her mother's work. Rosemary and Edward Dobbins' memorial] is located in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama.

Illustrations