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HOME FRONT YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC 5/27/07

Yakima student became noted California artist

Roy De Forest, who graduated in 1950 from Yakima Junior College, died this month at 77

By MARK MOREY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Roy De Forest, a leading member of the "California Funk" generation of artists who graduated from Selah High School and launched his career in Yakima, died May 18 after a possible heart attack. He was 77.

Although De Forest traveled often as the child of migrant farm workers, Yakima played a substantial role in his early life.

After graduating from Selah, he earned a degree in 1950 from Yakima Junior College, which is now Yakima Valley Community College.

After earning bachelor's and master's degrees from San Francisco State University, he returned to Yakima. He taught at the community college between 1958 and 1960 while  [[image]] Roy De Forest [[/image]] also making art and serving as curator at the Larson Gallery.

His widow, Gloria De Forest, said her husband sometimes mentioned - somewhat proudly - that he had been fired from the college.

"I don't know what the controversy was - it must have been something if he got fired - but I don't think it was lack of effort," Gloria De Forest said in a telephone interview Saturday night from the couple's Port Costa, Calif., home.

The dismissal apparently didn't damage his career, either.

He moved permanently to California, where he became known as part of the California Funk generation of artists. He disliked the funk term, which intended to denote an outrageous, witty style.

De Forest portrayed what critics described as supernational dogs and beasts. The works included special texturing that De Forest began using in Yakima and carried throughout his career, his wife said.

He joined the University of California, Davis, as a lecturer in 1965. He became a full professor just under a decade later and continued to teach until 1992, according to a school news release.

Gloria De Forest said her husband often included slides of his Yakima-era work in presentations that he gave. They probably would have been considered "very modern" for local folks, she said.

Although De Forest did not visit here after going to the Bay Area, archive clips from the Yakima Herald-Republic show that his career was proudly tracked by distant observers.

"Intensely serious about art, Roy maintains an ironic sense of reality. He was ahead of most artists in his detection of the absurd in contemporary life," Yakima Valley College columnist Delma Tayer wrote in an undated column. "Although many people were at first confused by his paintings and constructions, he is now recognized as one of the West's most distinguished artists."

De Forest retired about 12 years ago and traveled, including a journey down the Amazon River several years ago. But he was still an active artist, with a current show in Sacramento and a habit of spending time in the studio every day.

Besides his wife of nearly 34 years, survivors include a son and daughter and three sisters.

Memorial services are pending.

- Mark Morey can be reached at 577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.