Bob Higgins

Bob was born on May 12, 1946 in Toledo, Ohio, to Gale and Angela Higgins (nee Wilusz). He was the third of ten children, a family that consisted of five boys and five girls. His father Gale worked as a pipefitter at Libby Owens Ford Glass Company in Rossford, Ohio for 46 years. His mother Angie stayed at home caring for the growing family while Bob was young. She began working outside the home when Bob was in high school. Bob’s parents provided a stable home and loving upbringing in mid-century, mid-western America.

The family home was located at 3220 Kimball in the Old West End of Toledo. It was less than a mile to Rosary Cathedral School where Bob attended school through grade 8. He attended Central Catholic High School in Toledo, graduating in 1964. Bob met his lifelong friends Jim Mazerny and Larry Wodarski while at Central.

Growing up Bob was an active youth. He was proud of his morning paper route delivering the Toledo Times and proud making money cutting neighbors’ lawns in the summer and shoving snow in the winter. He enjoyed athletics, particularly baseball. He played catcher on his team at Joe E. Brown park.

Also notable during his early boyhood is his fondness for two of his mother’s brothers. His mother’s youngest brother, Louie, was a commercial billboard sign painter. Bob admired the fact that Louie was self-employed, a matter of importance to Bob. Bob’s earliest introduction to art was Louie’s commercial sign business, although Bob was never interested in commercializing his painting. His mother’s older brother, Walt, was a significant influence on Bob. Walt spent significant time helping out at the Higgins household. For instance, Walt helped build an additional bedroom over the family kitchen, remodeled the basement into a recreation room, and remodeled the attic into a bedroom. Bob undoubtedly learned his carpentry skills from Walt while helping with these projects. A joy of Bob’s life was joining Walt’s annual summer trips to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to help with building a cabin for Walt’s friend, Little John.

After graduating high school in 1964 Bob enrolled in Bowling Green University and majored in Fine Arts. This is when Bob’s artistic skills began to develop. His interest in being successful as an artist – being able to make a living as an artist – began at age 20.

After graduating from BGSU, Bob was drafted into the miliary and deployed to Viet Nam. He was assigned to compose propaganda leaflets to be dropped into the countryside. He never saw active combat. Prior to being drafted and leaving to serve in Nam, Bob married Cheryl Hummel who he met while attending BGSU. While Bob was in Nam, Cheryl entered into an intimate relationship with another man, a relationship that precipitated the couple’s divorce shortly after Bob returned from the war. Bob lived in Cincinnati, Cheryl’s hometown, for a short while because Cheryl’s father liked Bob and employed him in his cardboard box company. Some of his art production during these early years appears on the website under the title, “Bowling Green State University (1964-68), Vietnam (1969-70), Post-Vietnam Ohio (1970-71).”

Tiring of his employment in the box company, Bob moved to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, with his good friend Roddy Sydlowski in 1971. Other friends soon joined them until a resulting commune became so large that Bob was forced by his landlady to find other living accommodations. Bob’s art production during this period is included on the website under the title “Indian Rocks Beach Florida (1971-73).”

Bob moved to San Francisco in 1973 with the intend of renovating the home of a sister of a women he knew in Indian Rocks Beach. However, on the first day in the city Bob met two men who became close friends (Names?????). One was a real estate broker and the other owned of the VanNess Hotel. Rather than renovate the house behind the purpose of his move, Bob stayed at the VanNess Hotel in return for renovating rooms in the hotel. For a short time while in San Francisco he moved across the Bay to a farmhouse in Marin County. But, again, the number of people living at the property grew to a point that Bob decided to move back to San Francisco. He moved to an apartment on Castro Street with a girlfriend, Sherry Vetter. Also while in San Francisco, Bob took advantage of the GI Bill to work towards a Masters of Fine Arts degree at San Francisco University; he never completed the course work. In total, Bob lived in and near San Francisco for eight years. Some of Bob’s art production during this period is included on the website under the title “San Francisco CA (1973-80).”

In 1980 Bob moved with his girlfriend Sherry from San Francisco to Louisville, Kentucky, Sherry hometown. Except for moving to New York in the mid-1980s, Bob lived in Louisville for over 40 years, until 2024. He began his life in Louisville by joining with a partner to start a company, Architectural Salvage, which focused on selling building materials salvaged from soon to be demolished or renovated buildings. He sold his share in the company after just two years. Paintings from this period are included on the website under the title “Rural KY & Louisville (1980-88).”

After selling his interest in the salvage company, Bob left Louisville to move to New York and stayed for four years. He stayed at the Chelesa Hotel in midtown Manhattan because earlier in the day he found a “heads up” penny and took that as an omen that the Chelesa was where he was supposed to be. He worked in construction during the day and painted in his SoHo apartment at night. Paintings from this period are included on the website under the title, “New York City (1988-91).”

Bob returned to Louisville in 1991. He made his living primarily as a carpenter working under the name “Hoc Fecit” (Latin for “He Who Builds”). He opened the Anonymous Artist Gallery, located at 1200 Payne Street in the Irish Hills neighborhood of Louisville, in December, 1996. Roughly half the paintings on display at the Gallery were painted by Bob. The other half were by various artists – some proficient while others were truly anonymous “paint by numbers” painters. Bob lived upstairs from the gallery and painted at night. He painted 138 painting during this period. Many of them are included on the website under the title “Louisville (1991-2024).”

Approaching his 66th year, Bob moved to an apartment at 111 N Ewing in Louisville. He painting production slowed considerably. In 2024 he moved from Louisville to Perrysburg Ohio to be close to family.

While Bob was married for a short time in the 1970s and had many girlfriends through the years, he never had children. However Bob always stayed close to family. He stayed in touch with his his siblings and was particularly fond of his many nieces and nephews.