Born and raised in Chicago, that City’s immense sculptural presence helped to define an understanding of the relationship between artist, community and public spaces for Roger Colombik. He also counts three mentors for building the foundation for his life in the arts and career in academia: Elliot Balter, a dynamic high school art teacher, Roger Blakley, a longtime professor at the School of Art and Design at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Thomas Walsh, director of the graduate sculpture program at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, for 37 years. Colombik’s own distinguished 34-year career as professor and Sculpture Head at Texas State University, in turn, influenced and instilled confidence in the lives of countless young artists. Projects by him and his wife and artistic collaborator, Jerolyn Bahm-Colombik, have been supported by the Fulbright Scholar Program, CEC ArtsLink, and the Texas State University Research Program, and included work in Burma, Armenia, Republic of Georgia, Indonesia and Ecuador. The duo has also developed projects in collaboration with International Rescue Committee and The Grace Museum examining issues of assimilation and citizenship for families resettling in Abilene from Congo, Burundi and Nepal. Colombik’s True North sculpture “Bloom” engages the viewer in a constructive visual dialogue about our resilience and ability to bloom, as individuals and a society, after difficult circumstances. He tells us, “The genesis of the series was the aftermath of the 2022 ice storm that was particularly devastating to the Texas Hill Country’s cedar and oak groves. This body of work began as an attempt to bring a sense of grace back to the fractured forest and a sense of resilience in individual will. Most importantly, it is a reflection that beauty can blossom in the wake of adversity.”