Robert Parks, MFA
Professor
Robert Parks is an Oklahoma native and an alumnus of OSU, where he studied Architecture before discovering the Department of Art, printmaking, and Professor J. Jay McVicker, under whose guidance, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1969. Professor Parks received his Master of Fine Arts degree in intaglio printmaking from the Newcomb Art School, Tulane University, New Orleans. While at Tulane, he studied with and worked with internationally regarded printmaker, Jim Steg, and studied such diverse disciplines as papermaking, off-hand glass, and batik. After graduating from Tulane, he established a studio and worked as a waiter, valet, and short-order cook in New Orleans, before accepting the opportunity to return to OSU, where he joined the faculty of the Department of Art in 1971. During his tenure at Oklahoma State, his teaching responsibilities included drawing, design, and intaglio printmaking, after the retirement of his mentor in 1978. In 1990 he accepted the opportunity to become a lecturer in art history, where he taught in the ancient and medieval areas, and he served as director of the Gardiner Gallery. Professor Parks has done residencies at the College of Visual and Performing Arts, U-Mass, and The University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, where he was able to renew his love affair with papermaking. He has exhibited nationally, and his work is held by the State of Oklahoma, Newcomb Art School Graduate Archive, Brainerd Gallery, State University of New York at Potsdam, and the McAuley Gallery, Mount Mercy College, in Cedar Rapids, IA, as well as other public and various private collections.