By C.J. Hirschfield
For
16 years, as an artist employed by the City of Oakland, Bob Schultz created sets
for Children’s Fairyland. Although he left our park 40 years ago, the whimsical
sets he worked on – including Dragon Slide; the Owl and the Pussycat;
Geppetto’s Workshop; and Rub-a-Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub —have made Schultz,
as he now prefers to be called, a park hero.
And
Schultz – a former Navy aircraft mechanic with an arts degree from the
California College of Arts and Crafts – didn’t stop creating when he left us.
Now
81, the “Grandfather of Steampunk” recently opened a new show within walking
distance of Fairyland. “Schultz and the Machinery of the Absurd,” at Classic
Cars West Gallery in Uptown through April 28, features a dozen wheeled creations
that combine the functional and decorative, with supernatural overtones and an
absurdist sense of visual humor thrown into the mix.
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Schultz and dog companions with one of the pieces in “Schultz and the
Machinery of the Absurd.”
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