Roy Behrens


Roy Richard Behrens is an American artist and academic who is an emeritus professor of art and distinguished scholar at the University of Northern Iowa. He is well known for his writings on camouflage in relation to art, design and creativity as detailed in False Colors, Camoupedia, Ship Shape and additional books and essays on the subject.

Early life and education

Behrens was born in Independence, Iowa. Following high school, he studied for a summer in California with Master Potter Marguerite Wildenhain, who had been a student in 1919 at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1968 and a Master of Arts in art education from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1972.

Career

Behrens served in the United States Marine Corps 1969 to 1971, rising to the rank of sergeant.
He taught graphic design, illustration, and design history at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He has written several books and numerous papers. For twenty years, beginning in 1985, he published a quarterly magazine called Ballast Quarterly Review, self-described as a "periodical commonplace book." Over the years, he has written numerous articles for Leonardo and for various books, encyclopedias and journals.
He is the author of Camoupedia, a book and blog on camouflage. The camouflage researcher Isla Forsyth describes this work as an "extensive study into modern military camouflage..by the British and US military throughout the First and Second World Wars, exploring the contribution of art and science, and the ways in which, via modern and contemporary art, camouflage has been appropriated by contemporary culture". Mike Leggett, reviewing the book in Leonardo, wrote that "the outcome of enthusiastic research it is, but an entertaining summary of the field it also manages to be." Michael Martone calls Behrens "a wonderful writer and artist... whose work on camouflage and art is important to me. He publishes an amazing 'zine called Ballast on visual and verbal punning."

Personal life

Behrens is married to the artist Mary Snyder Behrens, with whom he is founder and co-proprietor of Bobolink Books.

Works

Books

  • The life of fiction. University of Illinois Press..
  • Art & camouflage: Concealment and deception in nature, art and war. North American Review / University of Northern Iowa..
  • Design in the visual arts. Prentice-Hall..
  • Illustration as an art. Prentice-Hall..
  • False colors: Art, design and modern camouflage. Bobolink Books..
  • Cook book: Gertrude Stein, William Cook and Le Corbusier. Bobolink Books..
  • Camoupedia: A compendium of research on art, architecture, and camouflage. Bobolink Books..
  • Ship shape: a dazzle camouflage sourcebook. Bobolink Books..
  • Frank Lloyd Wright and Mason City: Architectural heart of the prairie. History Press..

    Selected essays

  • “The life and unusual ideas of Adelbert Ames Jr.” Leonardo. Vol 20 No 3, pp. 273–279.
  • “The theories of Abbott H. Thayer: father of camouflage” Leonardo. Vol 21 No 3, pp. 291–296.
  • “Adelbert Ames and the cockeyed room” Print. Vol 48 No 2, pp. 92–97.
  • “The gift of gabberjabbs” Print. Vol 51 No 1, pp. 64–72.
  • “The artistic and scientific collaboration of Blanche Ames Ames and Adelbert Ames II” Leonardo. Vol 31 No 1, pp. 47–54.
  • “On Max Wertheimer and Pablo Picasso: gestalt theory, cubism and camouflage” Gestalt Theory: Journal of the GTA. Vol 20 No 2, pp. 109–118.
  • “Rudolf Arnheim: The little owl on the shoulder of Athene” Leonardo. Vol 31 No 3, pp. 231–233.
  • “Art, design and gestalt theory”” Leonardo. Vol 31 No 4, pp. 299-303.
  • “Adelbert Ames, Fritz Heider and the Ames chair demonstration” Gestalt Theory: Journal of the GTA. Vol 21 No 3.
  • “The role of artists in ship camouflage during World War I” Leonardo. Vol 32 No 4, pp. 53–59.
  • “Revisiting Gottschaldt: embedded figures in art, architecture and design” Gestalt Theory: Journal of the GTA. Vol 22 No 2, pp. 97–106.
  • “How form functions: on esthetics and gestalt theory” Gestalt Theory: Journal of the GTA. Vol 24 No 4, pp. 317–325.
  • “Architecture, art and camouflage” Lotus International. Issue 126, pp. 74–83.
  • “Ames demonstrations in perception” in E. Bruce Goldstein, ed., Encyclopedia of perception. Vol 1. Sage Publications, pp. 41–44..
  • “Camouflage” in E. Bruce Goldstein, ed., Encyclopedia of perception. Vol 1. Sage Publications, pp. 233–236..
  • “Nature’s artistry: Abbott H. Thayer’s assertions about camouflage in art, war and zoology” in Martin Stevens and Sami Merilaita, eds., Animal camouflage: Mechanisms and function. Oxford University Press..
  • “Now you see it, now you don’t: camoufleurs, conjurers and pickpockets” in H. Rothstein and B. Whaley, eds. The art and science of military deception. Artech House. pp. 217–237..
  • “Art, design and brain research: non-scientific thoughts about neuroesthetics” in Gestalt Theory: Journal of the GTA Vol 35 No 2 pp. 169–182.
  • “Abbott H. Thayer’s vanishing ducks: surveillance, art and camouflage” in MAS Context 22, pp. 164–177.
  • “Khaki to khaki : the ubiquity of camouflage in human experience” in Ann Elias et al., eds., Camouflage cultures: beyond the art of disappearance. Sydney University Press..
  • “Setting the stage for deception: perspective distortion in World War I camouflage” Aisthesis: Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico.
  • “Camouflage” in Viction Workshop, Camo mania: New disruptive patterns in design. Victionary, pp. 209–222..
  • “Seeing through camouflage: Abbott Thayer, background-picturing and the use of cut-out silhouettes” Leonardo. Vol 51 No 1, pp. 41–46.
  • “Chicanery and conspicuousness: social repercussions of World War I camouflage” UNIversitas Vol 13.
  • "Under the big top at Sims' circus: ship camouflage behind the scenes in World War I" Bobolink Books
  • "Disruption versus dazzle: prevalent misunderstandings about World War I ship camouflage" Bobolink Books
  • "Optical science meets visual art: the camouflage experiments of William Andrew Mackay." Bobolink Books
  • "Ship shapes" in Patek Philippe: The International Magazine. Vol 4 No 7, pp. 10–15.
  • "Simpatico on the patio: emphatic art, mimicry, and camouflage" in Susanne Bürner, ed., Mimicry-Empathy. Berlin, Germany: Monroe Books, pp. 158-171
  • "Bewilderness: James Joyce and the National Parks" Bobolink Books
  • "Mason City’s prairie gems—and how Australians found them" in The Iowa Source. July
  • "Buffalo Bill in Iowa: tales of a western folk hero—and his doppelganger" in The Iowa Source. August
  • "Honoring Navajo traditions: chronicles of an immersive education in New Mexico" in The Iowa Source, November
  • "Nature Boy: the enchanted life of Eden Ahbez" in The Iowa Source. December
  • "The Corn Parade: Orr Fisher’s wacky WPA mural" in The Iowa Source. January
  • "The camoufleur: Carol Sax, Ottumwa’s dazzling designer" in The Iowa Source. February
  • "Old Fort Atkinson: My family’s brief occupation of an army outpost" in The Iowa Source. June
  • "Tea and frankfurters: the story of Gertrude Kasëbier’s Portraits of the Lakota Sioux" in The Iowa Source. July
  • "The Hubbards of Roycroft: an arts and crafts community with Iowa ties" in The Iowa Source, August
  • "Artist Clemens Gretter: Robert Ripley’s ghost" in The Iowa Source. October
  • "A Tale of Twain Wives: Mark Twain, Albert Paine, and klecksography" in The Iowa Source. December
  • "Pandemic Images and Gestalt Theory: introspective musings about a series of digital artworks" in Gestalt Theory. Volume 43 Number 3
  • "Oscar Wilde, Whiskey, and the Peacock Room" in The Iowa Source. January
  • "Gertrude Stein: the author’s fondness for her Iowa friends" in The Iowa Source. February
  • "Allen Ginsberg in Cedar Falls: beatniks, socialists, and 'all that hair'" in The Iowa Source. March
  • "Paintings in Sand: the meticulous work of Andrew Clemens" in The Iowa Source. June
  • "Looming Large: the outdoor mega sculpture student projects of Bill Close" in The Iowa Source. January
  • "Stories of Sarah Royce: from Stratford-upon-Avon to Tipton, Iowa, and beyond" in The Iowa Source. September
  • "Did Artist Meet Architect? Grant Wood and Frank Lloyd Wright in Iowa City" in The Iowa Source. November
  • "MacKinlay Kantor: the tangled past of a once-famous author" in The Iowa Source. January
  • "Ralph Waldo Emerson in Iowa: when the popular essayist walked on water" in The Iowa Source. March
  • "William Cary Wright: Looking for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Father" in The Iowa Source. June
  • "Walter Hamady, Papermaking Champion, 1940-2019" on Hall of Champions, North American Hand Papermakers. July
  • "Horse-Racing Pooh-Bah: C.W. Williams and his Kite-Shaped Track" in The Iowa Source. July
  • "British-American Artist Frederick A. Pawla: His Achievements in Ship Camouflage during World War I" Bobolink Books
  • "An Iowa artist's adventures with the Lost Generation in Paris: The enduring friendship of William Edwards Cook and Gertrude Stein" in Iowa History Journal. July-August

    Online films

  • Nature, Art, and Camouflage Bobolink Books
  • Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage Bobolink Books
  • Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage Bobolink Books
  • Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage Bobolink Books
  • Dazzle Camouflage: what is it and how did it work? Interview
  • Cook: the man who taught Gertrude Stein how to drive Bobolink Books
  • Solving Problems in Design Bobolink Books
  • Dreams of Fields: Salvador Dali’s encounter with corn Bobolink Books
  • Bauhaus, Gestalt Theory, and Problem-Solving: thinking outside the box Bobolink Books
  • Ames and Anamorphosis: the man who made distorted rooms Bobolink Books
  • Ames and Anamorphosis: the man who made distorted rooms Bobolink Books
  • Ames and Anamorphosis: the man who made distorted rooms Bobolink Books
  • On Saying Something and Saying It Well: a talk by poet Joseph Langland Bobolink Books
  • How to Win Kings and Influence Cabbages: the process by which creativity works Bobolink Books
  • Art, Design and Gestalt Theory: the film version Bobolink Books
  • Book Art: Walter Hamady’s books, collages and assemblages Bobolink Books