Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Untitled (Self-Portrait Walking with Dog), 1950, charcoal and pastel on paper, 13 x 10 inches, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio: Gift of the Artist.
Aminah Robinson
I asked Mary Trapp Gray, director of the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, for this month’s selection. She picked Untitled (Self-Portrait Walking with Dog) (1950, charcoal and pastel on paper, 13” by 10”).
“Though asked to select a favorite CMA painting, my choice is more about the artist, Aminah Robinson – and the significant impact Aminah had on me, like so many others, personally and professionally – than the specific piece. However, this sweet and optimistic charcoal and pastel, created by Aminah when she was only 10 years old, stands out in memory when I reminisce about the artist, and a few of the exhibition experiences I had with Aminah through the CMA and the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery.”
Aminah Robinson was an artist whose reputation spread far and wide, and who traveled the world as well. She always returned to her Columbus home, and much of her work focused on Columbus. She was part historian and part storyteller, and constantly engaged in making her art.
Though she was influenced by the folk tradition of Elijah Pierce, many people may not know of the rigorous training she received at the Columbus College of Art and Design in the early 1960s. Another surprise is that Robinson worked for many years as an arts and crafts instructor through the Columbus Department of Parks and Recreation, while maintaining her own studio and extensive exhibition schedule.
Though every artist dreams of fame and recognition, when it came for Robinson, she accepted it with serenity and it never altered the focus of her work. She remained grounded in her artistic vision.
Upcoming shows at the Riffe Gallery include Earthy Delights, featuring photographs capturing the earth by 15 contemporary Ohio photographers, from Aug. 4-Oct. 9, and Watercolor Ohio 2016, the Ohio Watercolor Society’s 39th annual juried exhibit.
Michael McEwan teaches oil painting classes in his Summit Street studio. His paintings are available exclusively from the Keny Galleries, where his next exhibition opens on Sept. 9.
