Robert Rogers Craner

"I want to live, to rejoice, to do good works, to die at a healthy old age, quietly and peacefully in my sleep with those left behind as well as myself feeling (and having felt) that my life was 'lived,' as I pass along to eternal glory. I am satiated with this." — RR Craner, 1968 Robert Rogers Craner, born Aug. 13, 1929, in New York City, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Jan. 8, 2015, at home in The Samarkand. A resident of Santa Barbara since 1975, Rogers was the son of the late Lawrence M. Craner and Elizabeth (Fischer), loving brother of the late Lawrence Craner and the late Richard Craner, brother-in-law of Jo Ann Craner of New York, devoted uncle of Paul Craner and Robin Skammel, both of California, Michael Craner of Pennsylvania and Jessica Sahi of California, beloved granduncle of Christina, Sarah and Michael Skammel, Kevin, Jose and Mikhel Craner, and Samantha Sahi, and great-granduncle of Weslie Skammel and Aiden Craner. Rogers exuded a joy for life and an appreciation for the beauty in the simplistic and the sublime. His artistic pursuits took him around the country and he traveled throughout Europe visiting the great museums and art of Paris, Florence and Rome. Early career fashion illustrations appeared in the Conde Nast Publications (Glamour Magazine) and The New York Times and were displayed in the windows of Tiffany & Company and Bonwit Teller in New York. An affinity for humor and theater led Rogers to performances as an actor and singer on Broadway, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Off-Broadway and Summer Stock. His most memorable role was singing "Younger Than Springtime" as Lieutenant Cable in the Phoenix Star Theater production of South Pacific. Rogers embraced his greatest love — painting — with studies at The Art Students League of New York and Columbia University, earning an MA at The City College University of New York and an MFA at University of California Santa Barbara. He was a life member of the Art Students League studying under the tutelage of Robert Beverly Hale. Rogers' beautiful and inspiring paintings, pastels and drawings have been exhibited at Tiffany & Company and Cerberus Gallery in New York, University of Hawaii, City College of San Francisco, Griffith Gallery, Humboldt State University Gallery, The Gallery Rose Los Angeles, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Providence College Gallery, and locally at The UCSB Gallery, Chalk Gallery Art, Corridan Gallery, Easton Gallery, Marcia Burtt Gallery, Patricia Owens Gallery, Faulkner Gallery, Meisel Gallery and The Fireside Gallery at the Samarkand. As a painting and drawing instructor, Rogers taught at The Art Students League of New York, Parsons School of Design, The School of Visual Arts New York, Pratt Institute, University of Hawaii, Stephen F. Austin University Texas, University of California Santa Barbara and locally at Saint Anthony's Seminary, Santa Barbara City College and SBCC adult education division. He was invited to Artist-in-Residence programs at the Vermont Studio Colony and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where he held a speaking engagement on "Man and the Imagination." Rogers devoted himself to painting enthusiastically and actively throughout the final year of his life. His passion for singing Broadway show tunes and love songs never diminished, generously sharing the gift of his lyrical singing voice every day. Locally, Rogers was actively involved and beloved in the communities of the Santa Barbara Art Association, Trinity Episcopal Church, the Schott Center, SCAPE and The Samarkand. In his last wishes, Rogers requested no memorial. Donations in Rogers' name may be made to the Art Students League of New York. "On the positive side is the beautiful Amagansett scenery, the beaches, the dunes. I drink in all the scenery. I stopped at one point and looked upon a long sweep of dunes and magnificent beach flowers of purple gold, and honeysuckle, that gorgeous coloring of deep emerald-olive green and the patches of ochre-white beach. The light by then was the late afternoon light I love so much … I shall be alone now. I will paint something, and paint it well, and rest and read, and walk in the sun, and swim and walk along beaches and perhaps ride a bike. Behind me is a faint remnant of the sunset, still. Ahead of me is a full moon." — RR Craner