Robert Sankner » Ohio Artist Registry

Robert Sankner was born in 1951 and raised in Carteret, New Jersey, a small suburb across the river from Staten Island, with a thirty minute drive into Manhattan. He now lives in Hamilton, Ohio, about twenty five miles from Cincinnati.

Robert Sankner’s interest in art started early with comic books, especially Marvel Comics. He had a letter to the editor printed in Spiderman #22. Sankner even designed and painted his own Spiderman sweatshirt.

Then, in the 1960s, his major art (and life) interest began with the paperback publications of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and John Carter books. As well as the classic stories themselves, they introduced Sankner to the cover artwork of Frank Frazetta and Roy Krenkel as well as the illustrations created for the Burroughs hardcover books by J. Allen St. John. The dynamic action, color and heroism of the art grabbed him and never let go. Sankner was hooked. His lifelong goal was now to be an illustrator.

In 1965 Warren Publishing issued the classic horror magazines Creepy and Eerie featuring the artwork of many great comic artists. Sankner became enthralled with the many styles of artwork in their pages and honed his drawing skills by copying their work. He had a drawing published in the fan pages of Creepy magazine when he was 15.

Starting high school in 1965 he became known as “the artist”. Sankner created drawings at the request of his teachers to be displayed in the classroom. His art teacher remarked that hewas an artist and not artsy. He entered his first formal art show at the age of sixteen and won an honorable mention. It was during this time that Sankner discovered his next major art influence, Andrew Wyeth.

In 1969 it came time for college and Sankner wanted to attend Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art in order to further develop his artistic skills. However, like for many people,his parents couldn’t afford the tuition. He applied and was accepted into Newark StateCollege, mastering in Fine Art. He was able to pay for his own tuition by working duringthe summer and throughout the school year, sometimes working two jobs at the same time.

College gave him valuable experience working in different media. However, Sankner’s main interest was in drawing and painting. He studied under two fine artists in their own right, Mike Metzger for painting and printmaking, and W. Carl Burger for life drawing. Sankner did well in all his art classes, however he admits that sculpture and jewelery making were not for him.

One of the highlights of his college days was when he and two other art students organized an art show themselves on campus called “Four Old Jersey Artists”. This was warmly received and garnered local news coverage. Sankner also made a nice sale of one of the pieces from the show. Another highlight of the time was that he was able to participate in a student exchange program and spend a semester in England studying at the Worcester College of Education.

A great benefit to Sankner was his proximity to the art center of New York City: Soho. He would often drive into Manhattan and spend the day visiting the art museums and especially the galleries of Soho. Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Franz Kline! Abstract Expressionism as well as the other art movements of the time played an important role in developing Sankner’s art. He loved the strong movement in Kline’s paintings as well as the playfulness of Jim Dine’s work. Sankner had to reconcile his love of the abstract and his love of realistic work. He created a series of work concerning the female nude (no surprise there for a young, longhaired, hippie artist) with a whimsical tone. Plus, he still wanted to be an illustrator, and he still loved Andrew Wyeth’s artwork.

Sankner graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Art in 1973. Faced with the fact that college gave him no marketable skills he was talked into going back to college for an Art Teacher Certification. He received that in 1975. Unable to find a teaching position he made a decision that was going to affect the rest of his life.

In October, 1975,  Robert Sankner joined the U. S. Army. He attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery. “Field Artillery and Fine Art are both FA, right?”, he asked. He served in Texas, Oklahoma, and Germany.

Sankner continued to create his art throughout his Army career. He exhibited and won awards in local and Army-wide art competitions. In 1992 Sankner was selected to be a member of the Army Art Team sent to Panama to document Army activities in that country.He spent three months in Panama and produced over a hundred pieces of art. This work is now part of the US Army Center of Military History Army Art Collection. Some of his work appeared in two art books published by the US Army Center of Military History.

Sankner retired from the U. S. Army Reserve after serving his twenty years. In 2005 he answered the call for retired soldiers to return to active duty. Sankner volunteered for Afghanistan and served there for a year working with the Afghan police force. He later returned to Afghanistan and spent three more years there working as a contractor with the Afghan army and police forces. He returned home for good in 2012.

Since then Sankner has worked full time on his art career. He hasn’t forgotten his desire to be an illustrator though. He has a book cover and two album covers graced with his paintings and has produced many illustrations for small press projects. Along with this Sankner has continued to work on developing his artistic vision. He takes his inspiration from nature and his experiences around the world. He believes that his talents and abilities are a gift from God and that he has a special duty to use his gifts to provide a means for people to appreciate the wonders of the world we live in.