DVAA Member since 2023
Kathy Robinson
Website: kathrynrobinsonart.com
About:
Kathy Robinson is a life-long Philadelphian whose career as a fiber artist with a focus on batik silk began with studies at Drexel University and Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences. Then, at the age of fifty, she went to an intensive summer program in Italy at the Florence Academy of Art. Upon her return to Philadelphia she spent nine years as a Continuing Education student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art earning a Core Curriculum Certificate in 2014.
She maintains two studios in her old historic home in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia- one for her textiles and the other for mixed media paintings on canvas and paper.
Prior to the Pandemic, she has served as head teacher in Mount Airy Art Garage’s Community of Pride art and mural making program at Emlen Elementary School. She has worked with Artz Philadelphia as an artist facilitator working with residents with dementia in care communities.
Her paintings and textiles have been sold and exhibited locally and nationally.
Artist Statement:
As my work has evolved over the last 45 years, my materials and techniques have changed in a more or less organic manner. The one constant I notice and cherish , however, is a need to communicate the joy and sustenance to be found in one’s observation and interaction with nature. The interplay of line, color and texture is for me both mesmerizing and inspirational.
My neighborhood , Mount Airy, in Philadelphia is full of gardens. During the Pandemic, taking walks every day , I marveled at the variety, resilience, and personal flourishes that made each unique. This provided me with hope and inspiration that still influences my art.
My most recent work employs various mixed media and acrylics on canvas. I usually begin a painting by building up layers of watercolor, gouache, fluid acrylics and sometimes hand painted papers and/ or silk. I will paint with hot beeswax on rice paper to collage with. The gentle tension between line and texture in my floral inspired art is something that I am always trying to be mindful of. This comes from years of working with a Tjanting tool , laying fluid lines of wax as a resist on silk.
