Robert Densham - Art & Design Professor Emeritus

The Art & Design department was saddened to hear of the passing of Emeritus Professor Robert Densham. Densham was a professor of Art & Design at Cal Poly for over 25 years and served on the Graphic Design Vocational Education Advisory Committee at Cuesta College.

He earned a BA in Fine arts at Cal State Long Beach in 1967. He practiced freelance art in commercial graphics and worked in package design at Southern California Carton Company for almost a decade. He began teaching at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1976. He was appointed Associate Professor at Cal Poly after earning his MFA at CSLB in 1980. He retired in 2002.

In 2003 the Cal Poly Art Gallery held a retrospective of Densham’s artwork including photographs of his illustrations and graphic designs reformatted into photographic montages. The exhibit also included original sketches, designs and drawings.

His later work in 2013 includes poster art, typography, and graphics for the San Luis Chamber Orchestra and Mothers for Peace. His thesis, Posters and Drawings for the Theatre are available at CSU Long Beach.

Densham was a respected colleague. We remember him for his decades of service and contributions to the students, the Department and Cal Poly. His estate has generously donated his library of graphic design and art books to the Department of Art & Design.