BIOGRAPHY
I began painting while attending W&J College in southwestern PA, studying under Paul Edwards, Chairman of the Art Department, author, painter, Who's Who in American Art, and an old friend. I received a BA in Art from W&J in 1974 and that fall relocated to Baltimore to attend the MD. Institute College of Art. The following spring I began a two year period of classical studies in painting with Ann and Hans Schuler ( Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore), concentrating on portraiture and figure painting and copying the works of the Flemish, Dutch and Italian masters at the National Gallery of Art in DC and the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1980 I returned to Washington, PA where I exhibited with John Luginski in a two-man show at W&J College. My focus by that time had shifted to the development of subconscious imagery and automatic drawing which I referred to as 'Continuous Drawing".
In the following decade my interest gradually returned to Realism, inspired by several renown Western PA Realists: Malcolm Parcell, Nat Youngblood, Charlie Pitcher, Ray Dunlevy , Ray Forquer and John Luginski. After a one-person show at W&J College in November of 1990 and the birth of my daughter Kahlia in '91 (another major influence and inspiration), I began painting landscapes based on wilderness hiking in West Virginia (Dolly Sods/Cranberry Wilderness/Otter Creek, etc.), the Laurel Highlands in Fayette Co., PA., and later in the Adirondacks and New England. Of course the Surreal paintings continued to develop as well, competing in a sense with my desire to paint mountains.
My work was selected several times between 1985 and 2000 for the W&J Annual Juried National Painting Shows, receiving a purchase award there in 1998. Other awards included an Honorable Mention from the Olgelbay Institute in Wheeling, WV, c.1988 and Best in Show, Middletown Art Association, Rumson, NJ, c.1985. I was juried into the Pittsburgh Society of Artists in 2015.
.... to the many collectors, Kristene Asbell, Kate and Kahlia and friends for whom this website was created, much thanks for all of your support over the years.
Robin Roberts