H. C. (Horace Clifford) Westermann

Born in 1922, H. C. (Horace Clifford) Westermann grew up in Los Angeles, California. As a child, he designed and fabricated his own carts, scooters, and toy airplanes, and even built an addition onto his family's home. After enrolling in Los Angeles City College and briefly working as a logger, Westermann enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in World War II, after which he developed an acrobatic act and toured Japan and China with the United Services Organization. In 1947, Westermann moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute. He graduated in 1954 after a brief interruption to serve in the Korean War. Westermann established his artistic career in Chicago in the 1950s with exhibitions at the Allan Frumkin Gallery and won a New Talent Award from Art in America magazine in 1960. In 1961, Westermann left Chicago with his wife Joanna to travel cross-country and eventually settle in Brookfield, Connecticut. There, Westermann continued to make and show his work and spent much of his later life designing and building a family home and studio.