Businessman and artist create masterpiece

(Article published in the Press Republican, March 2 2010)

PLATTSBURGH - When Bill Rowland founded Rowland Products with his brother, Hugh, in 1947, he was looking to cash in on the plastics boom and be his own boss.

"We didn't want to work for a big company," said Bill, 88, sitting in the activities room of Lake Forest Senior Living Facility, where he makes his home.

The company specialized in products that hide from view inside television sets or linger on the peripheral, reflecting headlights on the side of the highway - products that play a behind-the-scenes but essential roles.

But then, in 1970, Bill's company found itself in the forefront - of the art world.

Bill was approached by Salvador Dalí, one of the fathers of the surrealist art movement and best known for his melting clocks in "The Persistence of Memory".

"He wanted to keep up with what other artists were doing, and other known artists - Andy Warhol - were using plastic in their art," Bill said.

Plastic Landscape

Over the course of a couple of years, he and Dalí bounced concepts and material ideas back and forth. Many of the details were worked out with one of Dali's managers.

"He was the most stuck-up prude and difficult-to-work-with guy you could imagine," Bill said of Dalí. "He was proud - like he was good and he knew it."

Dalí's vision would become "Tristan and Isolde - Le Philtre D'Amour" (Cup of Love), a retelling of the ancient love story on a dreamlike, plastic landscape. A giant golden cup stands between the lovers, cut from opaque Rowlux, a shimmering film of plastic. The two hail the cup and the melding of purple, red and blue it contains.

Dalí ordered 500 copies of the work from Rowland Products. Most were sold to an art dealer in France for $35 each, with the manufacturer keeping $17.50 from each sale. Bill was allowed to keep a work for himself. Today, a single work is worth $18,000.

"Working on this project was very unexpected. I'm what you would call a conformist," Bill said.

More than Money

While Rowland Products was most famous for its foray into the art world, it operates today under the new name, Reflexite. Bill, who retired in 2005, still consults with the company board on creative matters. Reflexite, located in Avon, Conn., has kept up with the breakneck pace of technology - its products are now in solar panels.

It's not his success in business and the art world that resonates most deeply with Bill, though, and he offered a little example of that.

Standing outside CVPH Medical Centre after a doctor's appointment recently, he was approached by a young woman who asked if he'd help with her master's thesis.

The topic? "What makes elderly people happy?"

The answer was easy, Bill said.

"Watching your children grow up."

(Right column photo of Bill Rowland: Courtesy of Press Rep.)