“Bob Ross dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone through public television,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for small and rural public television stations suffering under cuts in...

The auction of Ross’ paintings comes after Congress eliminated $1.1 billion in allocated funding, which has forced 330 PBS stations and 246 NPR stations to find additional funding.