In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte wrote, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
It’s a beautiful phrase – perfectly suited for a storybook. Many may say such a romance doesn't exist in real life, but they haven’t met Harry and Robin Loucks …
Harry and Robin’s love story began 40 years ago on May 4, 1984. The two vividly remember the date.
“We were set up,” Harry says with a mischievous grin. But it wasn’t an easy task pairing the two.
Robin explains, “My friends said, ‘We know this guy. He really doesn’t live on this planet. Would you be interested in meeting him?’ I said, ‘No.’ And this went on for awhile.”
The two eventually met at a spring fling party. Their courtship was inevitable, Harry says. “It was meant to be.”
“I saw him looking at me, and I thought, ‘Hmm…’ Sure enough, he called, and we went out to lunch,” Robin says.
One might think the rest was history – but Harry had a prerequisite for dating Robin: Her art had to inspire him.
Both Harry and Robin were burgeoning artists at the time. Each venturing down their own paths. Harry’s interests in aesthetics led him to study automobile styling in college, which turned to product design. He even worked with famed furniture designers Charles and Ray Eames.
Robin, who already had a degree in psychology, was pursuing her master’s in art at UALR. Her work was on display at a university art show at the time, so Harry decided to do some sleuthing to see how talented she was. Little did he know he’d run into her as he was looking for her exhibit.
“I was caught,” he says with a laugh. Luckily, he says, “I was quite taken with her work.”
Since that time, the two have been inseparable.
Married for 39 years and together for 40, Harry, 88, and Robin, 83, are a combined force to be reckoned with. Both are highly established artists in their own rights. Harry was director of design for the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia and did freelance design work for many years. His most notable work in Little Rock was the beloved and internationally renowned Coping in Hope sculpture that resided at Children’s Hospital for three decades. When the hospital deconstructed the sculpture, Harry chose to keep the pieces, which recently were shown at Boswell Mourot Fine Art, and now reside in the couple’s 1882 Victorian home.
Visiting the Loucks’ home is like stepping into a cozy museum, where colorful works of art by themselves and their favorite artists line the walls and wires are strung across the ceiling to display Harry’s sculptures. It’s truly a sight to behold.
The couple’s attic art studio is filled to the brim with art supplies, paintings and drawings. Decades of creativity housed within one room.
Thumbing through art drawers, Robin pulls out sketch after stunning sketch of trees. Thoreau himself would be awe-struck.
“I’ve always been fascinated with trees. Trees speak, I think,” Robin says as she examines each print.
“It’s beautiful stuff,” Harry says, looking on.
Both seem to light up inside when they speak about each other’s art.
“I’m supposed to be the designer, but this lady has incredible creativity. It inspires me,” Harry says.
“I have drawn all my life,” Robin says. As a young artist, she focused on trees and landscapes, all in black and white. Eventually, she began incorporating color into her paintings.
“I’m inspired by landscapes and simplicity and the flashes of color. I’m amazed at how quickly it can change before your eyes,” she says. “I love to play with the colors.”
She calls herself a minimalist, but Robin’s works are filled with light, color and emotion. That’s probably because Robin sees art in everything.
As does Harry. His Coping in Hope piece reflected his brilliant imagination – with reinvented instruments, tiny characters and even a junk-store chandelier carefully pieced together to form a three-story sculpture that was a comfort, delight and much-needed distraction for the patients and families at Children’s Hospital.
“It was enchanting. It really was,” Robin says.
Though best known for that sculpture, Harry’s talents also lie in drawing and painting.
While preparing for their recent Boswell Mourot show, Robin says she found a few portfolios that she didn’t recognize in the couple’s art closet.
“I opened them up, and I was absolutely stunned,” she says. Inside were several of Harry’s drawings from 1960, when he was studying automobile styling and product design.
Robin had never seen the pieces that had been housed in the closet for decades and revealed a whole other side to her husband’s talents.
“His ability to draw is so great,” she says proudly.
As we tour the Loucks’ art studio, Harry pulls out an old cigar box filled with miniature watercolor paintings he had created some time ago.
“I always loved small things,” he says. In fact, one of Harry's most prized possessions is a small paintbrush that he bought when he was a student in the 1960s. The same brush he used to create the tiny paintings in the cigar box.
When he was in school, his landlord’s friend was so compelled by Harry’s paintings that she emptied out her purse one day and gave him all the money she had.
“She said, ‘You are so talented. Do something special with this.’ So, I bought this watercolor brush,” Harry says.
Like that beloved watercolor brush, Harry and Robin’s art and romance has withstood the test of time. As the Bronte quote goes, whatever their souls are made of - likely kindness and creativity - theirs are the same. And our world is more beautiful because of it.
“I’m supposed to be the designer, but this lady has incredible creativity. It inspires me."