He was born in 1934 in Watertown, South Dakota, but was raised and educated in Southern California, receiving his Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College in 1956 and his Master of Fine Arts from the Claremont Graduate School in 1959. He received a fellowship from Pomona College to study in Italy, and in 1962 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for further study in Rome. The same year, a feature article about his work appeared in Time Magazine.Strombotne notes some of his early influences as Jan Vermeer and Pablo Picasso, yet states his work transcends any traditional categorization. Described as "visionary" and "poetic", Strombotne strives to master the medium p