Bill Rakocy

Bill rakocy was born in the steel town of Youngstown, Ohio, April 14, 1924...he painted stage sets and murals at an eraly age....served three years in the Navy, 1943-1946, landing in the Philippines with the 54th CB's and later Marcus Island in the Central Pacific. He pursued his talent sketching G.I. buddies, often doing dozens of drawings in an evening. In 1947-1951, he received a BFA and MFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. HHe studied under Ross Braught and modeled for Thomas Hart Benton for murals in the Harry Truman Library in Independence. He won a travel grant to study art in Italy in 1953. He worked with Robert Altman as a set and stage designer in Kansas City at the Calvin Film Company and stage sets for the K.C. Playhouse. This led him into researching history for his art projects and films. He did a series of murals in K.C. and began to write and research on southwestern history and art. He studied under Ted Egri and other teachers. Thirty years later in Taos, NM he re-met and in consultation with Ted and other Taos and Santa Fe artists. He complied an art history work dealing with the dozen Taos founder artists reproducing many of their histories and artworks in the book.
He presently is a retired curator of collections at the El Paso Museum of Art and resides in El Paso where he has a studio and continues his writing and historical work. He has since written and illustrated 15 books on southwestern art history.