ISYV Magazine: Monuments to Life

When you truly enjoy your work, the years tick by quickly. With his 71st birthday around the corner, Robert Houghtaling delights in creating unique sculptures and drawing inspiration from nature. “I’m still a kid,” he declares, his blue eyes twinkling to make his point.

A self-taught sculptor, inspired by the likes of Rodin and Aldo Cassanova, Houghtaling’s works display great range. From highly detailed miniatures in precious metals to larger pieces in welded and cast metals, wood, stone and other media, Robert Houghtaling is well versed in almost every sculpture technique and reproduction method known to exist.

He sculpted masters for collectibles for Disney, Warner Brothers, the Hamilton Collection, The Bradford Exchange and many other corporations. He fashioned collectible figures for Alladin, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and even extended his master preparation skills to make the Borg spaceship for the Star Trek franchise.

A born storyteller, his mischevious side is exposed in his own line of quirky sculptures of frogs and fish in humorous situations.
“I’ve always been into artwork,” he said, recounting a long line of adventures.

The lure of an aerospace job at Vandenberg Air Force Base brought him to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1962. He ended up working on electro-mechanical systems at rocket pads, then in a clean room, servicing missiles and satellites.

A round of layoffs gave him more time for art and he plunged into making sculpture, mostly pieces cast in aluminum and bronze, and jewelry on the side. “I traveled all over the West to art shows, and opened a gallery in Solvang around 1971, where the bike rental place is now. I also built myself a foundry. Back then there were no foundries around here so I just learned how to do it. One of my big motivators was people telling me I couldn’t do something.”

When aerospace called him back, he ended up at Martin Marietta—in the art department helping them make the transition from drawing-board graphics to computer graphics. Computer graphics and Web design are still a big part of his life.

While working at the base, a friend encouraged him to “rough out” some collectibles for the Disney company. He’d drive to the Burbank offices to get approval for sculptures of characters from animated features like Alladin and Pocahontas. This sometimes meant staying overnight, making corrections in the hotel room, and going back to a meeting the next day for approvals.

Now officially “retired” from aerospace and his commercial sculpture too, he is concentrating on his first love, fine art sculpture. His latest work includes a stone sculpture of a woman and an owl which he named “Moonshadows,” and a small bronze nude of local winemaker Lane Tanner as a wine goddess. Judith Hale Gallery in Los Olivos often has his sculpture on display.

Promoting the arts has always been a part of his life, whether he was an aerospace engineer or an art gallery owner. He attended the very first performance of Solvang Theaterfest—“Hamlet” was staged in Hans Christian Andersen Park in Solvang—and is a founding member of the Lompoc Arts Association. He even made the crown that the Lompoc Flower Festival Queen wears each year.

“People in town gathered their silver and we melted it down to make the crown,” he said. “The tips of the crown have poppies for the wild flowers and sweet peas for the commercial growers.”

He says the turning point in his life came in July 1983, when he met his wife, Denise, at a friend’s house in Lompoc. They married that November.“She is wonderful. I am truly blessed to have her by my side,” he says.

Fueled by Dee’s Italian cooking and nurturing, the couple settled happily into their small mountain home that gets dusted with snow most winters. They joke about their 13-mile driveway—really Figueroa Mountain Road—from Los Olivos. Dee travels that winding “driveway” regularly to her job at Delta Liquid Energy in Solvang.

Robert’s “studio” space is an enclosed deck of his home overlooking an unending expanse of the Santa Ynez Valley with the silvery Pacific Ocean in the distance. His Figueroa Mountain neighbors at “Rancho Cielo” include mountain lions, condors, coyotes and a bear that once tried to come through the screen door while he was working.

Their household has become a valued part of the 80-acre ranch. Each Thanksgiving, they host a savory dinner that draws 25 to 35 grateful neighbors and friends.

His family, his church, his friends and his home are a continuing source of inspiration for his work—a lifetime reflected in permanent works brimming with love, life and humor.