Robert Weaver "The Picture Show, presenting Nebraska artists in the permanent collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska."

[NARRATOR] "On a farm south of Lincoln, Nebraska, is the home of Robert Weaver. His studio is at the top of a stepladder leaned against a shed. He is a versatile artist, producing etchings, paintings, lithographs drawn from landscapes, still life and portraits. Before Robert Weaver puts chalk to paper or brush to canvas he engages in first-hand research with the subject."
[Robert Weaver] "I don't like to go in and paint something I don't know anything about, you know. I like to experience or... know something about what I do. I like trains. I like to paint, you know, big front views of them. I got aboard that switcher and rode it for... for about thirteen miles and I... I hopped a few freights when I was a little younger type of thing. I like to have that... that kind of experience if I can about most all my subjects."
[NARRATOR] "Robert Weaver grew up during World War II."
[Robert Weaver] "I always liked planes and flight images and birds. Always been a bird freak anyway and... wildlife. I got a thing for combining the two or finding relationships with animals and man's toys or images and... It's just one of my little... my little things is all.
"[NARRATOR] "One of Weaver's paintings owned by the Sheldon Art Gallery is Mister G, a portrait of former Sheldon Art Gallery director Norman Geske."
[Robert Weaver] "I've talked to people, or people have come up to me and said, 'Boy, you really did a good job.' Or, 'You really got him.' And... and I did get him. You know, when you... when you know you got him, you got him."
[NARRATOR] "Weaver's father was one of his favorite subjects."
[Robert Weaver] "My sister said one time... said I'd done a lot of work of him, you know. I probably have... I've painted him more than anybody in... in my family with the exception of myself. And I asked him, I said, 'Well, Pappy, what do you think of that painting?' And his only comment was, 'Well, I don't know why you have to put so many damn wrinkles in my face for.' "
[NARRATOR] "Another painting owned by the Sheldon is 40th Wedding Anniversary: A Portrait of the Weaver Family."
[Robert Weaver] "I painted the whole family in that so they... they can't complain about I didn't... you know, didn't paint them. Those dumb hairdos and everything, you know. I used to have... I... when I was in grad school I used to talk to students about, you know, 'Well, are you making a statement for this? Well, I don't even care about that. If it works itself out and it comes out good for you, then that's... that's it.' "