I feel as though I’m a time traveler, transported back to the 1970s and my early years of college. In front of a striking white farmhouse on a lush green lawn stands that guy, the one that reminds my memory of all those cool guys in school that the girls swooned over, the ones with the fast cars and the charismatic smile that made you believe in everything they said. With one smooth turn of his head, his long golden brown hair knows exactly what to do, moves into its natural place, in that slow, intended motion. He is the artsy guy whose charisma transcends the football team and lands down the hall in the drama or glee club. Everyone remembers that guy. Robert Tino is that guy.

I meet Tino at the Robert A. Tino Gallery in Sevierville, Tennessee, on a spot of land that sits just off a mega-restaurant-shopping center-lined four lane Highway 66. It was the antebellum home of his wife Mary John’s grandparents; now, it is his spot of heaven which includes barns and pastures that seems to have been spared from what we see several hundred yards in the distance. The hurried sounds of traffic do not impact his rural mecca; he is, more than ever, grounded in the Appalachians and the Great Smoky Mountains even though the city is literally at his back door.

Referring to the southern Appalachians, "I have always painted landscapes," he says. "I love just the countryside around here. I like to think of this area as very moody. I guess that's because I'm a moody person. I get inspiration from the weather. There’s no two days that are alike. You can paint the same subject matter many different times, and it’ll be different because of the mood or time of day.”

His love for the mountains is palpable as you enter through the screen door of his gallery. From floor to ceilings, artwork that are constant reminders of days spent just sitting and watching. “I love the mountains,” he says. “I love to watch the clouds go through.”

His favorite place, “the Alum Cave trail that goes up to Mount LeConte. It’s about six miles. There’s everything from a beautiful river to a really fabulous view, and of course, when you get to the top, you’re on the highest mountain.”

We talk mountains, and the sounds of progress continue to interrupt. “When you get off the beaten path here in Sevier County, you get to see a lot that is not the commercial side.” These images and impressions are what Tino hope to instill in those who see his work and visit this area. This is the Sevier County to which he clings. He continues to drop names: Callusaja River, Greenbrier River, Emerts Cove, Cades Cove. It is obvious he has his favorites.

He started painting when he was 12 and had a few private lessons in high school when he was 14. But it was the influence of Vern Hippensteal that made colors pop. “I took a class at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg and met a good friend named Vern Hippensteal who was a watercolorist. I painted with Vern and learned a great deal. I actually learned to paint with acrylics. I do mostly oils. That was the extent of my education. I learned a lot from books.”

Next came selling his work. “I started doing some are art shows in high school, and I started doing some prints of my work. I started selling my first paintings which was definitely inspiring. I will be honest with you, the first one I sold was for $15; it might as well have been $15 million.” After high school, he attended The University of Tennessee and majored in business and political science. He never took any art classes. He and Mary John married in 1984 when he was 22, and “we’ve been in the art business ever since.” He joined art shows in Knoxville and “got in on the glory of prints in the early years.”

And by his side the entire way, Mary John. “She is, quite honestly, my best critic,” says Tino. “She will tell me the truth about stuff. You have to have that. There’s a lot of people who won’t give you true feedback. She’ll give me ideas of things to do. She’s been there since day one. She’s my business partner, too.”

Another inspiration, music. Giving music credit for his beginnings, “I have always been inspired by music, what I saw in music. It was rock music in the beginning, but I’m more eclectic when it comes to what I listen to now.” He confesses to having over 40,000 songs on iTunes.

When you see a Tino painting, you know it belongs to him. The brush strokes. The mountain stories. However, he is mixing it up a bit.

“I call them more abstract acrylics, more layering acrylics, a different time of media, glazes and stuff like that,” he explains. “Some are nonrepresentational; some of them are real simple trees and waterfalls.  I have a new one that I’ve just finished in the gallery. It really messes with people. It’s not traditional Tino. That’s the fun about it.”  

He understands his audience is vast, and “you get people that aren’t so much really into what I do traditionally. They might find something new. I enjoy all kinds of artwork. Kind of like my music preference. I’m all over the place.”

He was attracted to this medium after meeting an artist in Nashville and became really impressed with her abstract work. “It’s lots of non-traditional work. Painting with plastic bags, putting Coca-Cola, coffee on them. I like it.”

The risk has paid off, and as with everything, things change. “I’m finding the demographics are changing. I’ve been at this long enough to see that the people 45-years-ago are now 75. You don’t really think about that. They like things that are different. It’s kind of fun. It keeps you on your toes as far as creating things.”

No matter whether it’s traditional Tino or abstract Tino, he wants the same vibes. “I can paint this and enjoy it, but when you paint it and you’re able to share it with somebody else, make them feel something, that’s the really cool thing.”

Tino paints for me

He notices my lime green Jeep in his driveway, and says excitedly, “My daughter has a yellow Jeep.” You have no clue how much mileage and conversation I get as a result of my offbeat-colored Jeep. “She’s a freshman at the University of Chattanooga, and she just passed her driver’s test an hour ago.” I recognize that fatherly look in his eyes. I had experienced that same look years ago.

He is setting up his easel on the front lawn to give me a first-hand look at his process. Suddenly, he apologizes that he has forgotten his paints and jumps in his van and drives across the road, up the hill to his home. Five minutes later, he’s back with paints in hand, and he stops and exhales.

Good practice for the evening ahead, he comments catching his breath. Tonight is the Appalachian Bear Rescue Gala where he will paint for a live audience a portrait of one of the cubs they will be releasing back into the wild. Once finished, they auction the painting at the event and prepare prints of limited editions. “It’s actually pretty neat.” He shows me the sketch of tonight’s subject, and oddly, there’s that fatherly look again. One of compassion for an animal and a cause. “I love to do bears,” he confirms. “They’ve got a lot of personality. The first one I did was around 2002. To be honest, it was more of an angry type bear. I called it ‘Things Have Changed’ or “My Mid-Life Crisis Bear.” It’s the day you realize that it’s not the same as it once was. A lot of bears have a lot more personal meaning than just a portrait of a bear.”

Tonight, he will paint with a pallet knife rather than a brush, adding more texture to the painting. The 2014 subject bear was from Boston, a long way from the Appalachians. They come from all areas of the country.

Giving back is important to Tino. Much like his work with the Appalachian Bear Rescue, he also works with Friends of the Smokies and the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. “I enjoy being able to do this. The community has been so good to me. I mean, I get to do what I want to do for a living. They’ve always supported me real well. It’s nice to be able to do for them.”

He hopes people will stop at his antebellum gallery when they visit Sevierville. I promise, you can’t miss its beauty alongside the road. “Come to the gallery and experience the artwork that I do,” he says. If you like east Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and the Appalachian landscape, he feels sure you’ll be satisfied. “Share my vision,” he asks, and enjoy a “moment of peace and tranquility, get away from everything else. Stop and smell the roses a minute. I want to give people a moment of peace in this world.”

You don't want to miss this guy.

For more information on 
artist Robert Tino,
visit The Robert A. Tino Gallery website.
Next time you're traveling through Sevierville, make plans to stop at his gallery and see a full selection of his work, plus items from local and regional artists.
812 Old Douglas Dam Road
Sevierville, Tennessee