Having lived all over the USA, I now call Tennessee home.  Abstract mixed media art and teaching are my passions.  I love working on paper, wood and canvas in layers, usually starting with free gestural marks and smears of color.  I might then begin to add some sort of structure and choose a focal point.  Sometimes this early form holds true to the end, sometimes things change drastically as my creative intuition guides me.  My work is always an expression of my subconscious and my desire to work through life experiences.   I am particularly interested in the relationship of light and dark, layers of meaning, tensions of interconnection, mystery and ambiguity.

Teaching has been a big part of my life's work.  Teaching art is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.  The connections to beautiful like-minded people and the constant learning and growing for us all is remarkable to me.  It is a privilege to witness the process and growth of fellow artist in my programs.

I earned a BFA from the University of Wisconsin and later did graduate work in art at Arizona State University.  I showed and sold in Scottsdale, Arizona and New Hampshire.  After taking some time to earn an MS in Mental Health Counseling, I have returned to my creative roots here in Tennessee, where I show locally and online.  I also offer online classes through ArtIsMagic.online and my own school on Teachable.com.

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Robin's workshop on Art is Magic:
☆ Abstracted Emotions ☆

What does Art is Magic mean to you?

This statement is fundamental for me.  Art is indeed magic.  It helps me to know myself and mine my unconscious and emotional life.  How much more magical could anything be? 
I believe firmly that an unexamined life is not worth living.  Art is the avenue I choose for self-knowledge and self-expression.  Both are vital to living my best life and being my best self.  I feel most at home and alive when I am in my studio or out on location with a sketchbook.

Why do you create art?

I create to know my higher self.  It is through the act of art making that I connect to that something larger than I.

Tell us about your journey to become an artist

When I was a child, I made things.  There was no need for labels.  As a young adult, trying to define myself, I was in love with the idea of what I thought being an artist represented.  I thought it made me special.  In college, I continued to try to define myself and my direction.  I realized I felt somehow at home in the studio, but I found school to be confusing to knowing myself as an artist.  I succumbed to the notion and experience that it would be difficult to support myself with art.  I learned to be an accountant to pay my bills.   But art kept whispering in my ear.  Eventually I entered a graduate program to become a “better” artist.  There I was told many things including “You are not an artist unless you are selling your work”.  No-one ever said you are an artist because you make art.  It was never that simple. Through many years of working, teaching, and creating I finally came to realize that it is quite simple indeed.  Make art, be an artist.  Nothing else, just make art.  Show up.

What is currently inspiring you?

Nature and my reaction to it are huge inspirations.  I also enjoy painting in the abstract expressionist manner, using the process to understand and express my emotional life.

How do you keep your creative practice fresh and inspired?

My creative practice changes a lot.  For months now I have been obsessed with concertina sketchbooks.  I take one wherever I go and work on several in the studio.  Before that it was large works on paper and canvas.   Sometimes it’s all paint, sometimes I explore adding collage.  I think that variety is essential to keeping my creative practice fresh and engaging.

What sort of creative walls do you hit?  What do you do to move through them?

Sometimes I find it difficult to carve the time out of other tasks to go upstairs and focus on something.  When this happens, I allow myself rest.  I believe that we move through seasons in our creative process. Just because we are not actively making something doesn’t mean that we are not engaged in the artistic process.  Allowing fallow times is essential to making space for new ideas to be heard. If this starts to feel like it’s gone on too long, I do something, anything.  It doesn’t matter if it’s “wrong” or not “beautiful”.  What is important is that I start.  Once one move is made, I have something to respond to and the process begins again.  If I keep this up, excitement returns.  And that is the key.