Later in Chicago, IL
Finally, in late 1950 he felt ready to go out and see if he could compete with his contemporaries. He had returned home to Chicago and had his sights set on the advertising empires that lined the streets of Michigan Avenue.
He ended up securing his first job there as an editorial artist for the “Chicago Daily Times Newspaper.” After cutting his artistic teeth with the Daily Times, he went on to become the “Art Director” for the “American Weekly,” a Hearst publication.
After that immersion to further hone his skills, he decided to freelance again for a while until one day when fortune truly came looking for him. He landed the best job of his young life and signed on to be the “Chief Staff Artist” for the Prudential Insurance Company of Chicago. It seemed that paying his artistic dues all the years had finally done the trick.
Santa Barbara, CA
In 1964, after a ten-year run on Michigan Avenue and all his young life growing up in Chicago, Rags and his wife, Shirl, took a leap and moved the family to Santa Barbara, California. They had finally become tired of the principal seasons the Windy City was famous for, August and Winter. So he asked for a transfer to a Prudential Life office in, of all places, Santa Barbara, California.
Rags and Shirl sold much of what they owned, loaded up my brother Cary and I in the car, and we followed a Bekins moving truck across the country to Santa Barbara. All this in a period of seven days. We went from the “Asphalt Jungle of Chicago to the very small Hedonistic beach community called Santa Barbara in California. Upon arrival, much to Rags’ dismay, the job opportunity he was hoping for was no longer available.
A disappointment, but with his resilient character, he was able to move on without much of a hitch. With his background in newspaper art, he had the confidence to seek employment with a very small paper in that town called the “Goleta Advisor.” We ended up living there in Goleta, the town bordering Santa Barbara.
This paper was so small that not only was he hired to do all the original art for the advertising sections, but it was also his job to deliver all the papers in a broken-down 63 VW microbus at the end of each week. Some departure from the glory days he had forged for himself working on the big art boards for the advertising empires along Michigan Ave in Chicago. But fortune was about to smile upon Rags one more time in his career.
There was to be one last new beginning for Rags’ career in the 1970s. This one he just did not see coming. He landed the position of “Staff Artist for the Santa Barbara County School District” and continued there for the next thirty-two years until he retired in 2002.
Santa Barbara County School District Staff Artist – 1970s
And to think, not only had he never finished High School, and of course, he never went to college or obtained a college degree, never stepped foot inside an art school. Although back in the day, he had to profess more than once that he was a graduate of “The Chicago Institute of Fine Arts” just to get his foot in the right doors. Not at all your typical background prerequisites required for working for a large educational system. He got the job at the county based solely on his creative natural talents and his very upbeat demeanor as an artist. He was a true Alumni of “Life’s School of Hard Knocks.” And in a short period, he became very well-known for the unique and creative approach to the work he executed for all the educational programs that he was tasked to represent.
To see the life and times of RAGS in a pictorial history, click here.
No computer
This was long before the days of computer graphics and design software were utilized, but Rags wouldn’t have wanted that anyway. It wouldn’t have made sense to him or been organic to his process or style. He needed to draw with his hands and feel the paper’s surface.
Looking back now, it’s funny to think that for Rags, man did triumph over machine. In all the years that he served the County, even with the implementation of Computer technology for every business, Rags’ desk never had a computer on it for all the years he was working there.
One lasting and final mark
We’re proud that there’s a lasting, final tribute to his work as the Staff Artist for the County. He designed the logo for the “Goleta Union School District” back in the late 1970s, and at this writing, that logo our father designed is still in use. It’s embossed in everything that connects the district with the world. From County vehicles to uniforms, letterheads, and all building signage for the school district. It is a simple image of an adult holding the hand of a younger person and pointing the way for them. We think it’s a perfect image for how we feel about our father.
From the time of his retirement until his passing in 2007, Rags still was actively making art. He finally had the opportunity to relax the more conventional attitude he had to apply to his work for others and get back in touch with his personal and somewhat unconventional approach. He continued to produce a large volume of work right up to the time of his passing. He still liked to say he had a “Keen Eye for the Passing Scene.” What a wonderful treasure trove he left for us all to enjoy and marvel at.
Rags passed in Santa Barbara, California, in October 2007.
