Bob Ross is known for painting “happy little trees” in his landscape paintings of mountains on his television series The Joy Of Painting, which aired on PBS. What most people don’t know is that many of his paintings were created in an historic mansion in Indiana. His first season was recorded in 1983 at a PBS station in Virginia. Afterwards, he traveled the country giving classes in various cities. One of those cities was Muncie, Indiana. The local PBS station WIPB was so mesmerized by his skill and calm demeanor that they offered him the chance to record his TV show in their studio. It was not your typical studio. It was the former home of Lucius L. Ball, who came to Muncie with his brothers to produce mason jars.
The home eventually became the studio of PBS affiliate WIPB. Bob Ross lived in Florida but came up to Muncie to record his TV show. Black cloth backdrops were hung in a room on the first floor. He set up his easel and painted while a cameraman recorded it. When he cleaned his brush by dipping it in turpentine and then dried it by “beating the devil out of it” on his easel’s leg, it splattered everywhere in the small room. That is why he joked and laughed many times while cleaning his brush.
He recorded fifteen seasons in the mansion until they moved to a new state of the art studio on the campus of Ball University. Bob Ross died in 1995 from Lymphoma, but his TV show continues on in syndication and on the internet. The mansion is still used as offices for WIPB, but they have recently opened it up to visitors to see Ross’s original studio.
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