1957 - 1961
BFA in sculpture; University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
“In the interim Krebs would pursue the rather typical course of the serious student artist, majoring in sculpture at the University of Kansas with the mid-western sculptors Elden Tefft, Bernard Fraizer, Jim Bass and James Sterrit. The fact of his long artistic apprenticeship has been overlooked because he appeared to most art world observers to have been born with lasers in the sixties. This inaccuracy has cast him into the role of technocrat, an arena that the art world considers suspect, due in part I think to the vastly larger relevance our society extends to technology over the fine arts.” Jay Belloli, 1990
1960
In the summer of 1960 Rockne applied for and was accepted to assist Thomas Hart Benton, who was creating his mural “Independence and the Opening of the West” at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
“I somehow missed this very interesting posting the first time around [2015]. My guess is that what impressed Rockne the most about the experience was the ambitious scale of Benton's piece and its grand public theme. The artistic vocabulary is of course very different, but these are notable characteristics of his own mature works with lasers and other light mediums.”
- Benjamin F. Forgey, December 3, 2022
1962 - 1965
U.S. Navy Reserve, Lieutenant jg
Rockne Krebs’s first neon piece was made in 1962. While serving in the U.S. Navy he designed the neon sign for his family’s place, The Krebs Lighthouse Lodge on Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks in Missouri. His father and brother brought Rockne’s drawing plans for the sign to a neon company and had it made. Rockne’s parents and youngest brother, Art, built the entire Krebs Lighthouse Lodge. His father, Arthur S. Krebs II, had a degree in electrical engineering.
— Table Rock Lake, Kimberling City, Missouri.
— Table Rock Lake, Kimberling City, Missouri.
1963
ART and POLITICS POLITICS and ART
The Lady Birds Democratic Club founded by Lorine Lucinda Krebs
Lorine L. Krebs
b: August 1, 1917, Independence, MO,
d: July 25, 2015, Lowry City, MO
A conversation between Arthur S. Krebs, III and Heather Krebs,
October 2022
1964
“In 1964 while on active duty in the US Navy, I saw a show by a relatively unknown sculptor named Anthony Caro at the WGMA [Washington Gallery of Modern Art]. I immediately set out to meet Caro. I read no reviews, I had no coach, I needed no one to tell me Caro’s work was important! I knew nothing about the Washington art scene, had not heard of Morris Louis or Noland. As soon as I could arrange it, I went to Bennington, Vermont, and chased him around for three days before he understood that I was not there to shake his hand. I insisted on talking with him. Fortunately for me, Caro was a good person and when he recognized how serious I was we talked an entire evening.” Rockne Krebs, excerpt from his artist writing files
In 1976 Sun Dog by Rockne Krebs was the first work of art ever commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Solar and laser installation for the U.S. Bicentennial Expo Science and Technology, Kennedy Space Center.
