A native Midwesterner, Hobbs earned a bachelor of arts degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1974. After graduation, he started his professional career as an elementary art teacher in Eureka, Kansas.

He soon became inspired by the rugged mountains and incredible diversity of the Colorado landscape. In 1978, he moved to Denver, with plans to attend the Colorado Art Institute.

However, his career changed course and he joined Helzberg Diamonds, where he held key executive positions through 1995 in Denver and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1995, Hobbs moved to Dallas, Texas, where he was vice president of Gabberts Furniture and Design Studios until 2004.

In July 2004, Hobbs returned to Kansas City and joined Webster House as chief executive officer. Hobbs retired in May 2014 and returned to his original passion, landscape painting. For him, life came full circle when he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute. Since then, Hobbs has studied oil painting with Kansas City artists, David deRousseau and Anne Garney. He has studied drawing with Crossroads Arts District artist Wes Benson and recently completed another drawing course with college art instructor Christopher Lowrence.

“Painting allows me to not simply reproduce an image or scene, it allows me to interpret all of the information, emphasizing, adding and subtracting. Losing myself in the magic of nature, the intense colors, texture and patterns, never gets boring.”

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Kevin Hobbs