matthew d. wittmer
contact me
sustainingtraces "at" gmail.com

Robert Plummer: The Printmaker of Reeds Spring
by matthew wittmer

Bob, summer 2005, by m.wittmer             Bob's self portrait, 1976
                  Bob Plummer by M. Wittmer, 1995               Self portrait, Bob Plummer, 1972

Bob Plummer spent over 20 years of his life making prints at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.  A native  of Reeds Spring, Missouri, Mr. Plummer earned his MA at the University of Missouri in the late 1940s.  Fascinated with art, he spent over two decades serving as the Arts and Crafts Supervising Specialist at the U.S. Air-force base in Naha, Okinawa.  There he assisted countless enlisted men find direction in art.  While there, he created oil paintings of the landscape.  Upon his retirement in 1972, Bob returned home to Reeds Spring.  Over the next 22 years of his life, he produced countless intaglio prints at SMSU by continually auditing the printmaking classes each semester to use the university's facilities on the third floor of Ellis Hall. He was on campus at least three times a week and the campus is about an hour's drive from his home.  His printmaking work largely depicts the surrounding mid-western landscape.



Bob in Ellis Hall print shop, 3rd floor, early 1990's
My friendship with Bob began in 1990 when I had my first printmaking class at SMSU.  For the next six years, I grew to learn much from Bob and began making trips to visit him in Reeds Spring where we would often go landscape sketching at some of his favorite locations and eat at "Papouli's," a local greek restaraunt.  I attended a solo exhibition of his at the Reeds Spring art gallery, where Bob wore a tux!



  Bob printing in Ellis Hall, 1994.     With Bob in 2003   Bob with printing supplies in the mid-1990's.  
Bob ceased making prints around 1997 or so, due to deteriorating eyesight.  Although I moved outside of Missouri in 1997, I continued to visit Bob every time I came home, and I would also make what was to become an almost ceremonial trip out to Kimberling City Missouri as well, where Bob had much of his work for sale at a local lakeside gallery where he volunteered.  Bob passed away in 2004 but I continued making the journey to his gallery and the staff there would permit me to look though the huge stacks of his work.  Some of my work was mixed in with his at the gallery because half of his work went to the gallery after he died and the stuff I had traded with him over the years remained mixed in with his. 





Where Bob is buried.






 Final resting place






 R.I.P.
 


Copy of Bob's last wishes and obit.
Copy of Bob's funeral wishes and his obituary draft obtained at his funeral.
In June of 2008, I was sad to see that every bit of Bob’s work has been removed from that Kimberling City gallery.  What remains of Bob’s work, for me now, exists in my personal collection and the many prints that he left behind at the SMSU print lab that I also visit occasionally.   His work is also in the collection of the Springfield Art Museum, and many locals of the Reeds Spring area not to mention my network of friends and family, whom I usually gave a Bob print.
   Visiting in 2002.         One of my last visits with Bob in 2003.
This page is dedicated to spreading awareness about Bob’s work by providing an online gallery to images of the prints he either traded me or that I purchased from him.  I've also included some of my photos and drawings I created of him over the years.  I hope this platform, and his imagery, serves as a useful reference for those interested in contemporary landscape imagery as well as those interested in using the internet as a vehicle for knowledge sharing.  Bob's ambition in life, he told me, was to become a printmaker.  He did that when he retired, and did it masterfully.

                                                                            Matthew Wittmer
                                                                           September 2008




Bob sketching outdoors, summer of 1995
Bob Plummer, summer of 1995
By M. Wittmer

The Virtual Gallery of Printmaker Robert Plummer's prints
Born: 1919  Death: 2004
Works featured on this webpage were created by Bob between 1972 and 1996.
Some of my drawings of him are included and noted as such.

The images of Bob's work on this page were either scanned or simply taken taken
with a digital camera.  Prints that I already have framed I simply photographed in the frames
and as you may see, tungsten lights or ideal photographing techniques were not employed.

The intent of this site is to share the spirit and nature of Bob's work, not to provide
articulate, high resolution scans.  Most of the etching dimensions are between the size of
a playing card and that of a place mat setting.  A few are larger.

This page is brand new and I'll be adding images to it.  I hope to incorporate
scans of prints that my friends and family own as well.  In this respect, be sure to
refresh your page each time you visit, to ensure you're getting the latest images.

PHOTO INFORMATION
Most every image on this web site is my own unless noted.  This page is different in that
I am posting my photos of another person's artwork as a memorial to that person.  I am unaware of any surviving relatives of Bob.  If any relatives find this page, please contact me by clicking on the "contact me" link at the top of this page if there are any issues you are concerned about regrading intellectual copyright.
In no way am I attempting to claim authorship of any of Bob's works.  By sharing images of his work here on my website, I hope to expand awareness about his work, which deserves to have an opportunity for a global following.





Drawing for an etching he did for me.

Drawing by Bob Plummer, 1995.













Print Bob did in response to my interest in tornados.

First tornado etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.














Tornado print he did in response to my work on tornados.

Hand colored etching edition by Bob Plummer, 1995.













Another tornado print he did...

Cyclone etching by Bob Plummer, 1996.















One of the first prints I got from Bob.

Chair etching by Bob Plummer, 1992.












We sketched at this loction quite a lot in 1996.

At the K-12 fishing access landing, etching by Bob Plummer, 1993.













He frequently did editions in color, usually 4 plates.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1990.














Okinawa village

Color etching by Bob Plummer, undated, likely pre-1990.













Evergreen Cemetery

Cemetery etching, undated, by Bob Plummer, likely pre-1990.











Church Street, 1992.

Church etching by Bob Plummer, 1992.












This is a local area, but not Bob's personal house.

House etching by Bob Plummer, undated.
















Bob loved making skinny plates.

Panorama etching by Bob Plummer, 1992.
















One of Bob's etchings that uses bold color.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1994.










This is how Bob looked, standing and smoking outside. By m.wittmer.

Quick doodles of Bob outside smoking.  By M.Wittmer, mid 1990's.










A rare color woodcut from Bob. Not too many of these.

Color woodcut by Bob Plummer, 1976.


















Drawing for the etching. This one is fairly good size.

One of Bob's preparation drawings for a large etching.














This was done in 1995. James River.

Large etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.
















Bob lived near these villages in Okinawa.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, undated.

















He did these horizontal images near the last part of his career.

Panorama etching by Bob Plummer, 1994.















On the couch facing his front door.

Bob in his house facing the front door.  Photo by M. Wittmer.









A rare one. Only saw this one once. Site is a mystery.

Tree etching by Bob Plummer, undated.















Tiny print from Bob.

Tiny etching by Bob Plummer, 1987.














My sketch of Bob, sometime in 1994.

I went sketching bridges with Bob one summer in the 1990's.  Here's a
sketch of him in action, with his fixative on the ground near his feet.  
By M. Wittmer.
















Drawing for an etching. Playing card size.

Hill drawing by Bob Plummer, undated.
















A proof. This one he later handcolored.

Hill etching by Bob Plummer, undated.


















Rare woodcut. Well, there are a couple.

Color woodcut by Bob Plummer, 1986.












Classic trees. I remember he said he really liked trees when we talked about this image as he made it.

Panorama etching by Bob Plummer, 1994.














Classic color tone.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.













Aquatint only.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1996.

















He did this one from a photo of his vacation to St. Kitts.

Hand colored etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.














This guy rocked.

Another one of my sketches of Bob drawing outdoors.  Mid 1990's.
By M. Wittmer.













Classy, 50's sharp angular, John Wayne look.

Etching by Bob Plummer, undated.














Bob would ink all plates for color runs, smoke a cigarette, then print the print.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1993.










He had a series of bridges, but this is only one of them.

Etching by Bob Plummer, 1990.












From his Okinawa days...

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1985.












Line only, no other techniques yet...

Line etching proof by Bob Plummer, 1995.















He developed this from a sketch on one of our sessions.

Final proof with softground by Bob Plummer, 1995.













Another vacation image

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.














Small favorite.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1989.















Developed from a plate that had baked ground on it, that chipped when needled.

Line etching through chipping asphaltum by Bob Plummer, 1988.











A personal favorite...

Etching by Bob Plummer, 1995.














Small stage proof

Etching proof by Bob Plummer, undated.













Another drawing of Bob by m. wittmer

Bob drawing the landscape in 1995.  By M. Wittmer
















Bob did lots of floral arrangement images. I only have a couple.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1994.














almost stamp sized.

Color etching by Bob Plummer, undated.
















Another Haniwa figure

Color etching by Bob Plummer, 1985.
















First line etch proof.

Line etching proof by Bob Plummer, undated.












My print of tornados that Bob is in bottom right.

I worked Bob into the lower right corner of this etching.  By M. Wittmer, 1995.










Detail from print above.

Detail of Bob in my print above.  I included him because he and I were sketching
for the landscape I used for the tornado print.








On the front porch, 2002.

Plummer in 2002.  Photo by M. Wittmer.












Bob on a hill, by m.wittmer

My doodle of Bob sketching on a hill in 1994.  By M. Wittmer.





Bob loved the dark forest.

Etching by Bob Plummer, 1989.




Receipe's from Bob Plummer


Bob swore by the beer bread.






Bob's tasty yeast roll.






Bob's Paradise Pumpkin Pie

How to bake the pie...




Some rhyming from Bob...

Dirty or not - you decide...






The following images of Bob's etchings were contributed by Chad Woody,
who also knew Bob and owns many of his prints.  
Welcome to Woody's Plummer collection:






Chad, Bob and I would sketch these bluffs from time to time.

We used to sketch these bluffs, Chad, Bob and I.















2 of 4 smaller bridge images Bob made at one time.

These are two of four of a small series he did on Hootentown Bridges.














One of the last images Bob ever made.

One of Bob's final etchings.  Inspired by the part in
McBeth about soup ingredients, newts and eyes and such...











These images he used photos and memory to create.

Ryakyuan House, undated.












These trees are at K-12 fishing access point.

These are the trees I used to sit near when
I would go sketching with Bob at the K-12 fishing
access location.












A relatively rare image. I've not seen this one around much.

Bob frequently used the entire plate for tree textures
in the last five years of his etching career.














Bob loved sycamores.

Young Sycamores, undated.


© All images on this site copyright by Matthew D. Wittmer unless otherwise noted, such as the following: The original etchings
of Bob Plummer featured on this site are owned by the publisher or have been provided by others that own
his original etchings.  The publisher claims no credit for authorship or intellectual property rights of Robert Plummer's work.  No effort
of financial gain is being established by showcasing Plummer's work on this webpage.  His work is reproduced here for
educational purposes only and to ensure that his art can receive more global recognition.