The Artwork of Amber Robles-Gordon

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to announce OPTIONS 2011

2011-09-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to announce OPTIONS 2011

Exhibition Dates: September 15 - October 29, 2011

Exhibition Location: 629 New York Avenue, NW, 2nd Floor, Washington, DCOpening Reception: Thursday, September 15, 6-8pm

Curators Talk: Saturday, October 1, 3pm

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to announce OPTIONS 2011, the fourteenth installment of WPA's biennial exhibition of emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

OPTIONS 2011 will take place from September 15 through October 29, 2011 at 629 New York Avenue, NW, 2nd floor, Washington, DC. Highlighting the breadth and diversity of contemporary art practice in the area, OPTIONS 2011 will include work by fourteen artists selected by curator Stefanie Fedor.

Participating artists include: John James Anderson (Washington, DC), Bittersweet Zine (Washington, DC), Heather Boaz (Baltimore, MD), Amy Chan (Baltimore, MD), Mahwish Chishty (Hyattsville, MD), Lisa Dillin (Baltimore, MD), Adam Dwight (Takoma Park, MD), Twig Harper (Baltimore, MD), Artemis Herber (Owings Mills, MD), Katherine Mann (Washington, DC), Jimmy Miracle (Washington, DC), Amber Robles-Gordon (Washington, DC), Oscar Santillan (Richmond, VA), and Stewart Watson (Baltimore, MD).

Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension

2011-08-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

artists:

www.shauntegates.com

www.jamearichmondedwards.com

www.amberroblesgordon.com

Parish Gallery

1054 31st St NW

Washington D.C., DC 20007-6034

(202) 944-2310

www.parishgallery.com/

Delusions of Grandeur: Works by Shaunte Gates, A.Robles-Gordon an J. Richmond-Edwards

2011-08-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. Exhibition: July 14 -August 12, 2011 Reception:

August 8, 2011 6-8pm 

Sounds by DJ Control

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities presents an exhibition of new art works by Shaunté Gates, Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon, Delusions of Grandeur. This exhibition is the result of an artistic dialog about the “delusions of grandeur” they each possess in order to continue progressing in their careers and most importantly in their artwork. Their paintings and mediums are formally very different and highly individualized— Gates style of infusing his paintings with various pieces of print media and assemblage creates very elusive narratives; Richmond-Edwards collage together ink drawn women with printed papers and embellished materials, her elaborate collages mimic those that would be seen in fashion lay-outs in magazines; and Robles-Gordon focuses on fusing found objects to convey her own personal memories inspired by nature, womanhood and her belief in recycled energy. In spite of their different approaches, they all share important intentions; to directly engage the viewer to take a look into their world of opulence, fantasy and power.

Artists Shaunté Gates work combines multiple processes and genres, by taking appropriations and gestures from pop culture and print media which are combined to create elusive narratives.

Gate’s works seduce us into an imaginary world of juxtaposition and fantasy, a place when the contradictions of culture and the human psyche are collided. His mixed media paintings capture the beauty in subjects that may appear bleak to the average eye at first glance. Gates ideas are derived from the pain, joy, and the beautiful way everything universally is connected.

Jamea Richmond-Edwards work explores the contradictions of female and cultural identity and makes reference to Greek Mythology, African folklore and international fashion. Richmond-Edwards examine how mythologies from ancient times translate into today’s culture and time allegorically. Her figures are empowered by their survivalist adaptation to circumstance. Their sharp features are inspired by both high fashion models and the everyday women in her community.

Amber Robles-Gordon mixed media artworks draw upon her journey through motherhood, genealogy, healing, and being alive today. They represent her technical and scholarly growth as an artist, and are supported by her professional development in the Washington, DC area. Her two- and three-dimensional pieces fit within an expansive notion of painting and sculptural form. She uses wood or painted, stretched canvas to support an accumulation of media in low- or sharp-relief. These assemblages require a close look to interpret their individual parts. Collectively, these parts form a visual energy comprised of the previous “lives” of the objects, their former owners, and the artist’s hand.

Artists work can be viewed at

www.shauntegates.com, www.jamearichmondedwards.com,

 www.amberroblesgordon.com 

for interview and appointments, contact:

Amber Robles-Gordon 

202-417-4888

Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension

2011-07-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

Shaunté Gates, Amber Robles-Gordon and Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Shaunté Gates. In my dreams II. 2011

Amber Robles-Gordon Peacock. 2011

Jamea Richmond-Edwards Revealation. 2011

Parish Gallery Exhibition: August 19- September12, 2011

Reception: August 19, 2011 6-8pm

WASHINGTON, DC- Parish Gallery, in conjunction with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is pleased to present an exhibition by three artists – Shaunté Gates, Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon, “Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension”. This show will open with a reception from 6:00-8:00 pm on Friday, August 19th, and will run through September 16th, 2011.

This exhibition is the result of an artistic dialog about the “delusions of grandeur” they each possess in order to continue progressing in their careers and most importantly in their artwork. Ascension, the act of rising to an important position or a higher level, is the theme adapted for this current body of work. Each artist presents their individual interpretation of the act of ascending.

Artists Shaunté Gates work combines multiple processes and genres, by taking appropriations and gestures from pop culture and print media which are combined to create elusive narratives. Gate’s works seduce us into an imaginary world of juxtaposition and fantasy, a place when the contradictions of culture and the human psyche are collided. His mixed media paintings capture the beauty in subjects that may appear bleak to the average eye at first glance. Gates ideas are derived from the pain, joy, and the beautiful way everything universally is connected.

Jamea Richmond-Edwards work explores the contradictions of female and cultural identity and with reference to Greek Mythology, African folklore and international fashion. Richmond- Edwards examine how mythologies from ancient times translate into today’s culture and time allegorically. Her figures are empowered by their survivalist adaptation to circumstance. Their sharp features are inspired by both high fashion models and the everyday women in her community.

Amber Robles-Gordon mixed media artworks draw upon her journey through motherhood, genealogy, healing, and being alive today. They represent her technical and scholarly growth as an artist, and are supported by her professional development in the Washington, DC area. Her two- and three-dimensional pieces it within an expansive notion of painting and sculptural form. She uses stretched canvas to support an accumulation of media in low- or sharp-relief. These assemblages require a close look to interpret their individual parts. Collectively, these parts form a visual energy comprised of the previous “lives” of the objects, their former owners, and the artist’s hand.

Parish Gallery primarily, but not exclusively, represents contemporary visual artists of significance from Africa and the African Diaspora. In selecting art and artists, Parish Gallery exercises high ethical, curatorial and market selection standards, catering to the spirit of social preservation and regeneration in collecting the art. Parish Gallery is open Tuesday thru Saturday from noon to 6:00 PM or by appointment.

Parish Gallery

1054 31 Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20007

Contact: Gwen Parish

(202) 944-2310

www.parishgallery.com

Wild Fabric...Washington Post Review of Wired By Amber Robles-Gordon

2011-07-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Wild Fabric

Amber Robles-Gordon’s show at Pleasant Plains Workshop is called “Wired,” but fabric is the principal ingredient. Working entirely with found objects, the Caribbean-rooted local artist arrays ribbons and scraps on (mostly) wire frameworks. The result is a riot of colors and patterns, evoking the tropics while playing on the contrast between the rigid frames and malleable fabric. In such pieces as “Dynasty,” the tightly clumped tatters suggest both thick vegetation and the rhythms and hues of island life.

Although Robles-Gordon does sometimes bend the found frameworks to achieve the basic contour she wants, a few of the pieces still seem a little haphazard. The most appealing works are the ones built on recognizable shapes, notably “And So It Is.” Here, the colorful remnants hang on a gold-painted bicycle wheel, giving form to the patchwork. The artist has compared this piece to a family crest, but even without the personal connotations, the abundance of tones and textures is pungent.

Jenkins is a freelance writer.

Wired by Amber Robles-Gordon

on view through July 23 at the Pleasant Plains Workshop. 2608 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001. pleasantplainsworkshop.blogspot.com.

Pleasant Plains Workshop Presents: Wired by Amber Robles-Gordon

2011-06-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon WIRED June 18 – July 16, 2011

Pleasant Plains Workshop is pleased to present a solo project, Wired, by artist Amber Robles-Gordon. Robles-Gordon recently received her MFA from Howard University and works in mixed media, textile, photography, and painting.

All of the works presented here have wire as their structural core – it forms an armature used by the artist to build wall works that are familiar in their materiality yet remain firmly grounded in abstraction. Using found objects, the works are public declarations of private mementos that explore patterns, color, and materials, while engaging with Robles-Gordon’s cultural identity –a blend of Caribbean, Latin American, and African American.

In this regard, the two works that anchor the main gallery wall act as family crests with their regal form and tight-knit coils, while many of the other works are more playfully ceremonial, harkening thoughts of Carnivale and celebratory cultural objects. The artist’s site-specific window installation, ‘Beyond the Visual Rainbow,’ is evocative of a net cast by the artist that captures fragments of a personal history within the entangled bits of clothing and household items. Robles-Gordon was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Arlington VA. Her family heritage stems from Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and British Virgin Islands. With ‘Beyond the Visual Rainbow’, she charts her personal history through a patchwork of cultural and familial traditions, as well as object that evoke femininity and the coming of age.

Robles-Gordon describes her practice as being influenced by artists such as Sam Gilliam and Alma Thomas. The Gilliam reference is perhaps most striking in Robles-Gordon’s work on draped fabric (not exhibited here), but is also relevant in her use of color and assemblage materials in Wired. Her playful approach to art-making is also noteworthy. The absence of complete closure, and her interest in materiality, is attuned to the concerns of contemporary abstractionists like Cordy Ryman and Lauren Luloff, both of whom also work with sculptural wall works.

The artist’s use of unconventional materials to create a new vernacular narrative is also evocative of Eva Hesse. Both artists have underscores of femininity and gender identity in their work without necessarily wanting to be categorized by those decisions.

With this exhibition, Amber Robles-Gordon has achieved a visual celebration of color, texture and identity. Robles-Gordon is an emerging artist whose work is hard wired for success.

-Kristina Bilonick and Matt Smith-Chavez

Pleasant Plains Workshop
2608 Georgia Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
http://pleasantplainsworkshop.blogspot.com/

Pleasant Plains Workshop Presents: Wired, Works by Amber Robles-Gordon

2011-06-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

JUNE EXHIBITION:
Amber Robles-Gordon, WIRED
curated by Kristina Bilonick
June 18 - July 16, 2011
Opening Reception: Sat. June 18, 6-9pm

Pleasant Plains Workshop is pleased to present a solo project, 'Wired', by artist, Amber Robles-Gordon. Robles-Gordon recently received her MFA from Howard University and works in mixed media, textile, photography, and painting.

For this exhibition, Robles-Gordon has transformed found objects with ribbons, gimp, fabric, wire and other materials to create exciting wall works that explore patterns, color and material. The works also speak to her cultural identity which is influenced by Caribbean, Latin-American, and African-American cultures.

Please join us for the opening on June 18th, from 6-9 PM. For more information on the artist visit: http://www.amberroblesgordon.com/

Pleasant Plains Workshop
2608 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
http://www.pleasantplainsworkshop.com/

get here by Metro- Shaw / Howard U on the Green Line; Metrobus- 70, 71 ; or capital bikeshare (station across from PPW)

Amber Robles-Gordon: The Sweet Glitter Juju of Life by Tosha Granthum

2011-06-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon‘s work is deeply personal. Her mixed media paintings and sculptures draw upon her journey through motherhood, genealogy, healing, and being alive today. They represent her technical and scholarly growth as an artist, and are inspired by her professional development in the Washington, DC area. A recent graduate of the Howard University MFA Program (2010), Robles-Gordon is a board member of Black Artists of DC (BADC), and takes part in a diverse and multigenerational arts community. She is also an arts advocate who participates in several cross-cultural and cross-town initiatives that characterize Washington, DC‘s history of individual and grassroots organizational support for artists. Robles-Gordon has expressed that this rigorous and nurturing technical and conceptual dialogue has enriched her artistic process and her life; it has affected her approach to materials, techniques, and her vision as an artist. She notes the influence of many artists who have inspired her to see art-making as a profound engagement with oneself and the world.

Her two- and three-dimensional pieces fit within an expansive notion of painting and sculptural form. She uses wood or painted, stretched canvas, or chicken wire to support an accumulation of media in low- or sharp-relief. These assemblages require a close look to interpret their individual parts. Collectively, each object contributes to the palpable energy of the overall piece—hinting at their previous functions and the ―lives‖ of their former owners—configured by the artist‘s hands.

Robles-Gordon gathers and reshapes the sweet glitter juju of life into her work. Individual moments, personal vignettes, and more universal themes are equally woven into it. She examines spirituality, the phenomena of childbirth and motherhood, and the assignment of value to every little thing. She considers the blessings and burdens of femininity, and what it means to be a woman. She recycles fragments of garments, handbags, and accessories to engage the ways that these vanity objects—often used to define beauty—are also traps. She explores various metaphysical systems as a source of inspiration after an accident gave her the opportunity to test her faith and healing ability.

Glitter-coated streams of paint add sparkle and shine to a range of discarded or thrifted objects. She breaks them down and reassembles them into collaged arrangements that are influenced by artists such as Romare Bearden, James Brown, Francine Haskins, Frida Kahlo, George Seurat, Frank Smith, and Alma Thomas. Robles-Gordon fuses varied influences into compositions that balance blank space, color, and hyper-materiality. She creates a subtle tension, and the possibility of opposing readings in her placement of assemblaged elements amidst dripping paint—which may represent the lyrical expression of painful experiences. These works belong to the series Milked, and simulate the outstretched wings of birds-in-flight against blue or yellow skies, butterflies, or the seductive curves of women‘s undergarments. Her affinity for lacy details, gloves, doilies, slips, and purses consist of a range of past and present accessories and small objects of home décor. She chooses from things—her own and others‘—to pull apart and reform; to give new life, and to scatter between various works like a sprinkling of fairy dust.

She plays with notions of masculine and feminine energy (as objectified) to address distinctions between the admiration of beauty, and its ethereal source or essence. Found dragonflies, dolls, deconstructed fan parts, remote controls, billiard balls, trophies, curling irons, hood ornaments, handles, and sparkly red children‘s maryjanes refer to male/female dynamics, and popular culture references, like fairy princesses, Oz, and what it may mean to be "behind the eight ball."

Robles-Gordon‘s collage sensibilities were influenced by artist-activist Romare Bearden (1901– 1988). Bearden‘s prolific work in collage shaped a visual narrative style that conveyed a palpable sense of 20th-century black life in America. Robles-Gordon states:

I identify with Bearden‘s collages because I employ similar techniques and processes of cutting, pasting, reconstructing forms, faces, and concepts from photographs, magazines, and other paper sources to convey a message. I interpret his method and collages as a form of visual journaling. Through making collages, I have established a relationship between texture, symmetry, harmony, and compositional balance.

Inspired by Mexican surrealist, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Robles-Gordon considers Kahlo‘s ability to overcome tragedy, illness, and grief as an expression of her strength, and its role as a source for her paintings. As one of the best-known women artists of the early 20th-century, Kahlo used life‘s obstacles as a way to hone and articulate her artistic voice:

Kahlo was a master at rendering her dreams, pain, and innermost thoughts and feelings. I am inspired by her personal connection to her art and its role within her life. Further, her artistic treatment of women and the depiction of her traumatic life have influenced my desire to create works reflective of my experiences as a woman.

In Bearden and Kahlo, Robles-Gordon discovered the arts to be a meaningful ways to convey personal narratives and relevant sociopolitical issues. She admires each artist‘s work as an embodiment of cultural pride, and as a means to stake a position on identity, subjugation, and giving voice to the voiceless. By combining personal elements with timeless and universal themes, Robles-Gordon uses collage, and non-traditional painterly devices to examine contemporary social issues: accumulation and waste, beauty and femininity, motherhood, spirituality, and the nonsensical or unexplainable juxtapositions that characterize daily existence.

In the work of pioneering abstract painter Alma Thomas (1891-1978), Robles-Gordon reflects upon Thomas‘s interpretation of primary color schemes, geometry, and composition. From French artist Georges Seurat‘s (1859-1891), she learned about the process of optical color mixing. Robles-Gordon states:

Thomas left small spaces of white canvas in between her brush strokes, creating the appearance of mosaics or stained glasswork.... [By studying this,] I began to evaluate the value, purpose, and aesthetic aspects of my art.... [Seurat] used white space to enhance the perception of color. He created a technique called ̳pointillism, in which an image is rendered using tiny dots of primary and secondary colors. When the image is viewed from afar, the eye fuses the colors and creates intermediate colors.

She applied these concepts of color and technique to a body of untitled works in the series, Identification of the Matrix Grid. Begun in 2004, these pieces evolved from an artistic inquiry that used grid structures to create multi-colored layered matrices based on squares or rectangles. She cites Thomas and Seurat as sources for her grids:

In my early works, I used torn, colored paper to create figurative paper mosaic compositions. Ripping the paper revealed its white fiber pulp, and provided areas of white space between each portion of color. Many of my paper mosaics appear from afar to look like Thomas‘s paintings until you come closer and see the texture of overlapping paper. The manner in which Thomas and Seurat used color and white space has influenced the way I visually perceive color and has informed my placement of color in the majority of these works.

As a member of BADC, Robles-Gordon has positioned her art as a part of an artist community that values African-inspired techniques and philosophies as a tool for exploring personal and artistic awareness. Her series, Cosmic Black, was created for the 2009 BADC exhibition, The Black Exhibit. Like the 20th-century exhibitions devoted to the color black as an expression of the sociopolitical issues associated with blackness, the focus of this show was to reinforce principles such as ―black is beautiful‖ and the positive attributes of the color.

Within BADC, fiber and textile artist James Brown, and mixed-media artist Francine Haskins have inspired Robles-Gordon‘s professional development. In Brown and Haskins, Robles- Gordon appreciates how each artist has contributed to an expansive understanding of the possibilities of textiles, fiber arts, and found objects in her own work. She also sees the work of artist, professor, and AfriCOBRA member, Frank Smith as an inspiration for developing mixed- media canvases and sculptures that combine sewing and painting. The physicality of Smith‘s work comes from layers of painted, cross-hatched squares, stamps, or other materials featured in kinetic arrangements. The wall-mounted draped textiles in her series, Heal Thyself Series, pay homage to Smith‘s quilted paintings, his use of space and brilliant palettes. Robles-Gordon says of these three artists:

In their own individual styles and techniques, Brown, Haskins, and Smith create two- dimensional figurative and abstracted compositions that appear to have varying planes of visual movement and rhythm that document, explore, and celebrate African and African American history and culture. Through exposure to their works and my relationships with Brown, Haskins, and Smith, they have supported and challenged me to continue my exploration of textiles, cloth, and sewing and have strongly encouraged my desire to go beyond the conventional practice of presenting works in frames.

In Robles-Gordon‘s recent work, familiar elements—straps, curling irons, gloves, shoes, dragonflies, and fans—take on new meanings and forms on her characteristically canvas, chicken wire, or wooden supports. The compositional possibilities are as limitless as her stockpile of materials and their conceptual associations. As the work moves this direction, her structural sensibilities—that once relied on grids and matrices—are being transformed into less regimented, more three-dimensional, and visually-interactive compositions. She states:

Though the matrix is still at the core of most of my compositions, the works are no longer defined by a grid format or flat surface. Taking away the boundaries of traditional framing encouraged me to allow the materials, colors, and energy to hang, flow, and ―leap off‖ of flat canvas, which ultimately leads to the shift from two-dimensional to three-dimensional works.

These developing concepts are best revealed in the Heal Thyself Series, the Chicken Wire Series, and At the Altar. Heal Thyself consists of wall hangings made from textiles and other media mounted on canvas. The Chicken Wire Series is comprised of mixed media works woven through and sculpted around a chicken wire base. At the Altar is composed of folded and draped canvases that are brightly painted and adorned with an array of found objects from plastic fruit to things associated with childbirth and maternity.

Tosha Grantham is an artist, writer, and independent curator. She is completing a PhD in African Diaspora Art History at the University of Maryland College Park.

Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media artist who lives in Washington, DC.

For more information and to see additional pieces, visit the artist‘s website: www.amberroblesgordon.com.

Amber Robles-Gordon,

Upcoming Exhibitions

Wired (June 17 – July 17, 2011)

Pleasant Plains Workshop:

2608 Georgia Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20009

Opening Reception: June 18, 2011 from 6-9 pm

Curator: Kristina Bilonik Tel: (202) 415-1466

Website: www.pleasantplains.com (Solo exhibition)

Delusions of Grandeur (July 8 – August 30, 2011)

Mandarin Oriental Hotel/DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Exhibition Space 1330 Maryland Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20024

Opens: July 8, 2011

Contact: Jamea Richmond-Edwards Tel: (571) 288-1086

(Group exhibition: Shaunte Gates, Jamea Richmond and Amber Robles-Gordon)

Pen Arts presents: Milked works by Amber Robles-Gordon (October 31 - November 5)

Keynote speaker for the DC Branch's November meeting

The National League of American Pen Women

National Headquarters Pen Arts Building

1300 Seventeenth Street N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036-1973

Opening Reception: To be announced

phone - 202-785-1997

fax - 202-452-8868

Website: www.americanpenwomen.org (Solo Exhibition)

Amber Robles-Gordon: The Sweet Glitter Juju of Life ©Tosha Grantham, April 2011

A Group Exhibition of Recent Works by BADC and WPA Member Artists opens at Hillyer Art Space in Washington, D.C.

2011-04-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon, president of Black Artists of DC (BADC); David Furchgott, president of International Arts & Artists; and Lisa Gold, executive director of Washington Projects for the Arts

A GROUP EXHIBITION, titled "Process: Reaffirmation," presenting recent works by Black Artists of D.C. (BADC) and Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) member artists opened at Hillyer Art Space on Friday evening, April 1. The exhibition, which is curated by Gina Marie Lewis, focuses on and reaffirms the processes of artists within their studios, honors the personal philosophies, practices, and vocabularies of eight artists and attempts to explore a visual dialogue between their works.

Carol Beane and Gina Marie Lewis, assistant professor of art at Bowie State University

The artists selected for this exhibition include Anne Bouie, Daniel Brookings, Joel D'Orazio, Victor Ekpuk, Corwin Levi, Barbara Liotta, Adrienne Mills, and Cleve Overton.

THE EXHIBITION WILL go through April 29, 2011. Arts & Artists' Hillyer Art Space is located at 9 Hillyer Court, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008. Tel. 202-338-0680. Gallery hours: Monday 12 noon-5 p.m., Tuesday-Friday 12 noon-6 p.m., Saturday 12 noon-5 p.m., or by appointment. For more information: www.artsandartists.org/hillyer.html.

Artist Victor Ekpuk in front of his artwork

http://www.swedishscene.com/2011/04/a-group-exhibition-of-recent-w.html

Wonderland at the McLean Project for the Arts

2011-03-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Flight of the Chicken Wire by Amber Robles-Gordon Credit Victoria Weseley

MPA Hosts New Art Exhibits
By Victoria Weseley

Walking through the new exhibit at the galleries of the McLean Project for the Arts is like Alice walking through Wonderland - something new and unexpected at every turn. McLean Projects for the Arts opened its first group of exhibits of the new year Thursday evening, and over 50 art patrons attended. There were three distinct exhibits, that share a common theme: creating outside the box.

The Emerson Gallery houses the largest exhibit comprised of the works of five artists, “Beyond the Pale.” This vivid display of multimedia works is alive and enticing. Everything is so tactile that people have to refrain from reaching out to touch the works or art. Sea anemones made out of acrylic are mounted on a wall; there are colorful photographs of recycled objects, spangled-covered objects are displayed throughout and a giant butterfly-like creature cascades down a wall.

The Atrium Gallery features works by Bill Gusky in “Shiny New Tomorrow.” The artist combines the unconscious with pop-culture using cartoon-like images in unexpected juxtaposition. Gusky watched DVDs of cartoons from the 1960s and 70s as inspiration. He then made modifications from the source material to create his fluid dream-like imagery.
The third exhibit, “Of a Piece: Paintings by Deborah Addison Coburn,” is hung in the Ramp Gallery. Addison creates paintings which are abstract collages infused with landscape imagery. Many of the works have a grid-like structure which grounds them with infused rhythms.

A few of the art opening’s attendees shared their thoughts about the new exhibits:
Jacob Coburn (son of Deborah Addison Coburn), Bethesda, MD: “Some of the works had neat texture-like detail. My mom’s stuff is here. I’ve seen the process from drawing a model to cutting and splicing to form a new work of art.”
Heather Hoffman, Washington, D.C.: “Everything is tactile…different kinds of media, like the acrylic sculptures.”
Dawn Hebron, St. Charles, MD: “Quite a pleasant surprise. I was blown away. Quite eclectic and flows well together.”
Martin Gusky (brother of artist), St. Charles, MD: "Interesting collection of works. Diverse media – photos, oils, acrylics, sculpture.”

All the artwork exhibited is for sale, ranging in price from $350-$8,000.
What: Beyond the Pale, Shiny New Tomorrow, Of a Piece
Where: McLean Project for the Arts
McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue
When: January 20, 2011 - March 5, 2011
Additional Information: www.mpaart.org

Beyond The Pale: at Mc Lean Projects for the Arts, Emerson Gallery

2011-02-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Suzanna Fields, Petty Polly

Beyond The Pale:

Works by Amber Robles-Gordon, Huguette Roe, Suzanna Fields, Gina Denton and Joseph Barbaccia.

Emerson Gallery, McLean Project for the Arts January 20 – March 5, 2011

The term Beyond the Pale was originally used to describe a barrier meant to enclose or define territory during military maneuvers beyond which it was not permissible to go. In more general contemporary terms, it has now come to mean an action or thing that is regarded as outside the limits of what is acceptable. The five artists in this exhibition, Amber Robles-Gordon, Huguette Roe, Suzanna Fields, Gina Denton and Joesph Barbaccia, all work fearlessly and with determination outside the barriers usually associated with traditional art making. They create works that are distinct, idiosyncratic expressions of their own individuality, breaking old rules only to write new ones regarding materials used, processes employed, and formal traditions no longer strictly adhered to.

Although the artists were chosen for their individuality, there are also commonalities that emerge when their works are seen together. All are interested in both the idea and process of accumulation, many parts merging to become a whole. All are also collectors in their own way, bringing together imagery, materials, and ideas. And all five bring these components together carefully and primarily by hand, through processes that embrace repetition and the creative, meditative state it can induce.

Amber Robles-Gordon works in a studio full of the accumulations necessary to create her work. Bits of fabric, tile, beads, string, ribbons, and wire are collected and organized, ready to become mixed media wall oriented pieces. Some of her works are structured and geometric, while others are masses of vibrant complexity organized around basic shapes such as an eye, the DNA helix or a rising wingspan. These are works that entice the viewer to look in as well as at, to experience fully a carefully controlled chaos and all the beautiful paradoxes encompassed therein.

Huguette Roe’s photographs depict collections of images of accumulated recycled materials. Photographed from a close-in vantage point, the images become studies of color, pattern and repetition. They are profoundly beautiful in a formal sense, and also silently profound conceptually, as they highlight and represent the beauty in what we refuse and reuse. Roe’s choice of subject matter lies outside the boundary, but she skillfully employs the full strength of her artistic skills to create works that entice visually as they simultaneously raise some of our society’s largest quandaries.

Suzanna Fields uses the traditional material of acrylic paint in distinctly new and non- traditional ways. Working with the paint in both two and three dimensions, she employs just about everything except a brush to build abstract works that celebrate both wonder and unease. Like the other artists in this exhibition, she is comfortable with the fullness of paradox, as she explores and embraces cycles, rejuvenation, oscillation, order and patterns undone. Fields is at her core an experimenter, bringing this to bear fully through both method and materials.

Baltimore artist Gina Denton is also a collector and compiler. Working primarily with textile materials of one sort or another, she builds oddly beautiful and slightly sinister sculptures that refer, by virtue of their shape and colors, to body parts or living beings. At one point stating her artistic goal as “ protecting and personifying the pseudo-animate” Denton has indeed created works that seem to have crossed the border to reside in a world all their own. Using recycled sweaters, felted colored wool, bits of fabric scraps and hair of both the human and animal variety, she has formulated fantastic objects that are at once familiar, friendly and also a bit frightening.

Joseph Barbaccia’s sculptures are both simple and complex. Using as a base clear and meaningful forms- a knot, a gathering of flames, an animated but unidentifiable creature- Barbaccia then covers the shape with a complex skin of shining sequins, a distinctly unorthodox but very effective material choice. The pieces become jewel-like and are digested wholly, through a gestalt-like process, experienced as much as seen. He describes his intention as “paring down visual insight to a more essential level of expression” and the viewer finds that he has done just that. One meets each individual piece in the same way one meets another person-simply as itself.

The works in this exhibition, shown together, do develop a dialogue. They speak in unison fleetingly, but enough to create an undercurrent of harmony that resonates throughout the space. They speak together of unabashed and unconventional beauty, and of interpretive acceptance; an invitation to read the work on your own terms. They speak of the calmness of repetition and the excitement of a different approach: a new material; a new way of working with the familiar; an innovative choice. They speak of accumulating and assimilating. And mostly they speak together of barriers pushed, borders crossed, and new territory explored.

Nancy Sausser

Curator

http://www.mpaart.org/index.php

Visions, Voices, Viewpoints and Victories of African American Artists @ Peltz Gallery

2011-01-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

Guest curator: Della Wells

Opening and reception Friday, January 21, 6 to 9:30pm

PELTZ GALLERY –
1119 E. Knapp St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202-2828
414.223.4278 -
www.artnet.com/gallery/851/peltz-gallery.html)

Artists:

David Anderson, Reginald Baylor, Trenton Baylor, Portia Cobb, Willie Cole, Sam Gilliam, Sharon Kerry Harlan, Sonji Hunt, Mutope Johnson, Ras' Ammar 'Nsoroma, Alison Saar, Evelyn Patricia Terry, Kara Walker, Della Wells, Kehinde Wiley, George Williams, Jr., Amber Robles-Gordon and Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Paintings, drawings, collage, wall hangings and original prints by more than 25 artists.

Saturday, January 22 11am to 4pm - coffee, food and conversation with artists.

Beyond the Pale

2011-01-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

Focus Group: Four Walls, Five Women Artist Talk

2011-01-05T21:04:00.001-08:00

At The Altar Series

2010-12-20T08:17:00.000-08:00

My Thesis Defense!!!! Yes, YEs, YES !!!

2010-12-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

My Thesis Exhibition

2010-12-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

My Thesis Exhibition and Defense

2010-12-19T08:18:00.001-08:00

MATRICES OF TRANSFORMATION:
A Process of Discovery through Collage and Assemblage

The Art of Amber Robles-Gordon

Exhibition: Monday November 22, 2010- Wednesday December 1, 2010
Thesis Defense: Monday November 29, 2020 3:00-500 pm

Michael Platt’s Studio
1468 Chapin Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Viewing by appt.
Contact (202) 332-6917 or michaelbplatt@verizon.net
Amber Robles–Gordon (240) 417-4888 aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

Open Art Studio

2010-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

Please join me for tea, cookies and my new watercolor and photography series on:

Friday December 17, 2010 3:00-7:00 pm and
Saturday December 18, 2010 10:00-5:00 pm
Sunday December 19, 2010 10:00-3:00 pm

General Information: Appointments can be made by calling Amber Robles-Gordon @ 240-417-4888.

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) and Black Artists of DC Presents the Omnipresence Exhibition

2010-09-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Intersecciones Culturales: Voces de América Latina y el Caribe

2010-09-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Cultural Crossroads:
Voices of Latin America and the Caribbean

Felix Angel - Joan Belmar -
Rafael Corzo - Amber Robles-Gordon
September 15 - October 15, 2010

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 18, 5 - 8pm

Intersecciones Culturales:
Voces de América Latina y el Caribe

Cultural Crossroads:
Voices from Latin America and the Caribbean

The Brentwood Arts Exchange at the Gateway Arts Center is proud to present, Intersecciones Culturales: Voces de America Latina y el Caribe / Cultural Crossroads: Voices from Latin America and the Caribbean, an exhibition featuring artwork by Felix Angel, Joan Belmar, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Rafael Corzo. Curated by Carmen Toruella-Quander, and assisted by Ricardo Penuela-Pava, Cultural Crossroads is a celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time when we honor the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States and celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture.

Intersecciones Culturales / Cultural Crossroads is compact, with the intent to overload. Rafael Corzo, presenting art in the gallery as well as the craft store, brings an ambitious embodiment of youthful energy and freedom. Amber Robles-Gordon exhibits dazzling wall sculptures evocative of Carnival, steeped in the Afro-Caribbean heritage of objects imbued with symbolism so deeply felt that even when open to intellectual interpretation, their emotional interpretation rings clear. Joan Belmar presents an installation of abstractions rendered with incredible precision and care. Each creates delicate illusions of space that rest on balance between external structure and the fluidity of emotions. And, that's all before mentioning Felix Angel, who lends the exhibition nine works of undeniable power. The most established and longest experienced of this talented group, Angel - better known in the DC region as a curator than as an artist - brings forth refinement, eloquence, and poignance, that are always and only the outcome of years of creation, focus and discipline.

As a whole, Intersecciones Culturales / Cultural Crossroads is an expansive, energetic and positive stand against any generalization of "Latin Art". It steps in many directions, danced in embrace with all of life - the expression of which makes art powerful. It is not THE voice from Latin America and the Caribbean. It is four voices, artists varied in age and experience, creating contemporary art informed by cultural heritage from Columbia, Chile, Puerto Rico, and Mexico - places as distant and distinct from one another as from here, yet bound by language and post-colonial legacy, and by their living contribution to the fabric of our lives.

Brentwood Arts Exchange - exchanging ideas through art.
A facility of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission.

Hours:
Monday through Friday: 10am - 8pm
Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Closed Sunday

@ Gateway Arts Center
3901 Rhode Island Avenue
Brentwood, MD 20722
301-277-2863/ tty. 301-446-6802
www.pgparks.com/Things_To_Do/Arts/Brentwood-Arts-Exchange-at-Gateway-Arts-Center.htm
The Brentwood Arts Exchange - exchanging ideas through art. A facility of The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, Department of Parks & Recreation, Prince George's County, Arts and Cultural Heritage Division. www.pgparks.com

Arts programs of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, Department of Parks and Recreation are supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.

Brentwood Arts Exchange | 3901 Rhode Island Ave. | Brentwood | MD | 20722

The Gallery at AYN Studio presents Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon

2010-08-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon, Milked, 2010, 30x30 on canvas Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Unforsaken, 2010, 18x24 on canvas

Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles Gordon:
Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings
Friday September 10- Friday September 24, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Gallery at AYN Studio in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, will present an exhibition of collage and assemblage creations by artists Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon entitled, “Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings”. The exhibition will open on Friday September 10, 2010 with a public reception from 6:30-8:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view by appointment until Friday September 24, 2010.

“Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings” is inspired by the themes in their work that convey the feminine mystique. Both women focus on their personal stories and the roles of women in society. The “Pretty Things” refers to the physical beauty and the sentiment that women attribute to the things they collect and adorn themselves with. “Little Treasures” are the intricate details that create the narratives. The “Hidden Meanings” are the various images and concepts that encompass the feminine mystique, yet reproduce social norms that confine.

This exhibition is the product of an artistic partnership and dialogue about emerging women artists. The dialogue began about how to navigate through the art world and challenge the notion of the individual and isolated artist. The two artists met while working on their MFA’s at Howard University and through their affiliation with Black Artists of DC. They discovered commonalities in their work and decided to partner and exhibit works focusing on womanhood.

Detroit native Jamea Richmond-Edwards studied painting and drawing at Jackson State University.
She primarily paints women and is influenced by childhood memories and the complex lives of the women in her life. She has developed her own unique style of mixed media portraiture using paper, graphite, and ink.
Amber Robles-Gordon is an artist, student, and native of Puerto Rico. She is currently finishing her Masters in Fine Arts at Howard University. Her medium is collage and assemblage. She focuses on fusing found objects to convey her own personal memories, inspired by nature, womanhood, and her belief in recycle energy.

Artist work can be viewed at www.jamearichmondedwards.com, www.amberroblesgordon.com
Interview Contact and to make appt: Amber Robles Gordon
Telephone: 240-417-4888

Contact: The Gallery at AYN Studio
923 F St. NW Suite#201,
Washington, D.C. 202-271-9475
http://www.aynstudio.com/ gediyon@AynStudio.com

Hybridity Race & Womanhood Part 1

2010-05-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hybridity Race & Womanhood part2

2010-05-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

BADC (aroblesgordon) @ Wilmer Jennings Gallery

2010-05-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

THE PINK LINE PROJECT -Art Walk interview with Phillipa Hughes and Aroblesgordon

2010-05-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles Gordon tallks about Heal Thyself Series

2010-05-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Thoughts About What it Means to be An Artist, To Create, to Share Your ...

2010-05-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon interview

2010-05-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Convergence of Vision: The Power of Art

2010-05-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

Amber Robles-Gordon

2010-05-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

African American Art Alive in the District:

2010-05-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

In a city with a changing art scene, 10-year-old organization Black Artists of D.C. fosters a community of support and inspiration.

Amber Robles-Gordon is an African American artist who teaches yoga and pilates, organizes art workshops, and writes an art blog.

“[My work is] colorful, intuitive, and abstract,” Robles-Gordon said of her art, which includes three-dimensional pieces, collages and paper mosaics.

Robles-Gordon’s work was recently featured in an exhibition at the D.C. Arts Center called “Black” that focused on artists’ personal perceptions of blackness. Her work personifies a growing black art movement in the District that is often overlooked.

A Supportive Art Family

Since 2004, Robles-Gordon, 32, has been active in Black Artists of D.C., a growing art organization with about 400 members.

“I just jumped in, and at that time there was a wonderful group, but there wasn’t a whole lot of structure,” she said of the organization, which elected her president in 2009.

Robles-Gordon has been a leader in the group since she joined, curating exhibits and publicizing the organization. She cites Black Artists of D.C. as a major support system.

“My family’s not here,” she said of relatives in her native Puerto Rico, “so I was searching not only for artists; I was also searching for family, and it was like I inherited an artistic family.”

The group, which partners with other organizations and has strong ties to Howard University, provides inspiration to Robles-Gordon and other members.

“Beyond what they gave me in terms of love and support, I also learned so much,” she said.

Read more and view interviews with artists Amber Robles-Gordon and Michael Platt, Janell Blackmon,art history professor at Howard University
and Norman Parish owner of the Parish Gallery in Georgetown... http://onlinejournalismworkshop.com/artists/story.html

Reclaiming Those Negative Images: Mixed Media Reflections Exhibit at The Corner Store Gallery

2010-02-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Amber Robles-Gordon's "Cosmic Black 2" is one of the works on display at the Corner Store Gallery"

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Reclaiming Those Negative Images
Feb. 16, 2010
By Kristin Coyner
Roll Call Staff

Oftentimes, there’s more talent under our noses than we realize. That’s certainly true when it comes to “Mixed Media Reflections,” a new gallery at the Corner Store, a multiuse arts space at 900 South Carolina Ave. SE.

Alec Simpson and Tray Patterson, both Washington artists, are acting co-curators for the gallery. Simpson, who often deals in abstract art, is one of 12 Washington-area African-American artists whose works are on display.

The idea for the show started rather simply, over a meal between Patterson and Simpson.

“We just got together over lunch one day and decided to put on a show last fall,” Simpson said.

In light of Simpson’s own success last year with a one-man show at the Corner Store — Simpson sold all his small works in “Flashback/Fast Forward” — it followed that the planners focused on small works. “In view of what people were saying about the economy, we just thought that maybe we’d stick with that concept,” Simpson said.

All works at the gallery are on sale for $240 to $1,000.

“We didn’t have any idea how many artists there would be in it, how many pieces there were going to be, how big they were going to be, but we did know that we didn’t want them to be priced out of the market,” Simpson said. With the theme of Black History Month, the mixed media motif pulls everything together.

Stepping into the front room of the Corner Store, where the works are on display, is a treat. The front space is warm and beautiful, with colored walls and exposed brick. The artists’ works are accentuated by the lack of a modern white-walled space.

As for the works, some pieces use found objects, others use silk, some are on ceramic and still others are on paper. One artist, Alonzo Davis, even uses bamboo poles and fabrics.

The show is a mixture of materials and artistic styles, but the works manage to tie to the theme of Black History Month in a compelling way. All the artists in some way touch on the African diaspora, from clear visual images of brutality to parodies of mockery of black personhood to abstract works that offer the chance to create new meaning.

Works by Aziza Gibson Hunter, “Prayers to Haiti,” were a late addition to the show. Gibson Hunter composed a series that incorporates elements of African cloth and other found objects, including Haitian money, to offer homage to the small island nation devastated by an earthquake a month ago. Gibson Hunter intends to donate all proceeds to Doctors Without Borders.

One wall in particular seems to deal most directly with ancestral issues and imagery, which are most readily visualized through Anne Bouie’s “Ancestry 5,” “Ancestry 6” and “Ancestry 8.” Bouie incorporates Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom figures but creates new meaning with the images.

And that, to Simpson, underscores a driving theme of the entire show. “It’s a matter of transformation, transforming it into something different and new,” he said. “It’s about seeing new things in what wasn’t necessarily good.”

Patterson added: “It’s also reclaiming it. Reclaiming a negative stereotype that was out there to turn it.”

The breadth of artistic techniques that individual artists have perfected is another striking aspect of the show. For example, artist Juliette Madison uses mixed media clay pieces by transferring images onto clay using ink that she created.

Madison’s “Lord Why” displays the technique with a veritable gut punch. The work shows the archival photograph of a lynched woman who, along with her son, was accused of theft. The significance of the story is made clear with the phrase “Lord why is my seed in the wind?” emblazoned on top of the image.

“African-American artists don’t feel backed into a corner,” Simpson said. “They create and let the chips fall where they may. There’s an authenticity to what you see.”

The exhibit, which opened Feb. 5, will run until the 28th. The Corner Store doubles as an art space and home to Kris Swanson, a sculptor who for the past eight years has welcomed any variety of art events into her home, including author readings, CD release parties and theatrical performances.

Because the space functions as a home, the Corner Store isn’t open for regular hours. However, Swanson makes appointments at webmaster@cornerstorearts.org or 202-544-5807.

The Corner Store Gallery

900 South Carolina Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20003

(202) 544-5807

www.cornerstorearts.org

Metro: Within 2 blocks of the Eastern Market Station

Orange and Blue Lines

2010 © Roll Call Inc. All rights reserved.

Check it out ...Windows Into DC

2009-12-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Check it Out!!! Flight of the C-Wire Installation

2009-08-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

www.pinklineprojects.com and North Capital Main Street presents:

First on 1st Art and Music Walk

Saturday August 1, 2009 Noon-4:00pm
Artwork will be on display until end of August
Images taken by Gloria C. Kirk 202 882-1084

aroblesgordon@ artomatic 2009

2009-05-26T22:41:00.001-07:00

Artomatic 2009

Opening Reception: May Friday 29,
Time: 8:00 pm - 2:00 am
Exhibit: Friday May 29 -June

Open:
Wed.-Thurs., Noon-10 pm
Sun. Noon-10 pm
Fri.-Sat. Noon-1 am;

Location: 55 M ST SE Washington, D.C.
How: Take the Metro! Navy Yard, Green Line West Entrance

www.artomatic.com

Featuring: The C-Wire Series

All content © 2000 Amber Robles-Gordon all rights reserved.
For permission to reproduce contact: aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

8th Bi Annual Art In the Garden Spring Show

2009-05-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

Two days of Great Art!

Featured Artists

John Beckley
Al Burts
T.H. Gomillion
Viola Leak
Michele F. Lucas
Hedrick Mitchell
Francine Haskins
Annmarie Evans
Donna C. Holland
Roland Richardson
Amber Robles-Gordon
Hampton Olfus
Henry Elliot

When:

Saturday May 2, 2009, 12-6 pm
Sunday May, 3 2009, 1-6 pm

Where:

3218 Chestnut St. NE
Washington, DC 20018

Contact: T.H. Gomillion art.of.gomillion@erols.com

Music by: Michael L. Gormley

the saartjie project

2009-05-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Juried Artist Showcase and Benefit Featuring Friends of The Saartjie Project
Host: The Saartjie Project
Type: Music/Arts - Performance

Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
Street: 545 7th St. SE (Eastern Market Metro)
City/Town: Washington, DC

Website: thesaartjieproject.org
Email: info@thesaartjieproject.org

The Saartjie Project Presents...
HOMECOMING
5.2.09, 8pm | Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
545 7th Street, S.E. Washington DC (Eastern Market Metro)

In May 2002, Saartjie (Sara) Baartman's remains were flown back to her homeland, South Africa and laid to rest almost 200 years after she left for Europe in search of a life void of violence. Tragically from 1810 – 1815 Saartjie was paraded around Europe under the show name “Hottentot Venus”. Featured as an oddity and hypersexual African woman, she was adorned in feathers, beads and placed in a cage on display because of her large buttocks. When she died her body was dissected and her remains were on display in a museum in Paris until 1974.

HOMECOMING is a tradition adopted by The Saartjie Project to commemorate the 7th anniversary of Saartjie Baartman’s final return home and raises the question, “What does it mean to commemorate this day?” HOMECOMING will feature women and girls boldly using their original art to heal and change communities.

Original performances by:

Princess of Controversy (http://www.princessofcontroversy.net)
Dee Stone (http://www.deestonemusic.com)
LEA (http://www.thisislea.com)
Chaquis Maliq (http://www.myspace.com/chaquis)
Mahoganee (http://www.divamilitia.com)
Jade Foster (http://www.myspace.com/blackchurchmaraca)
Young Women’s Drumming Empowerment Project (http://www.youngwomendrum.org)
Elen Awalom (http://www.africanfeminist.wordpress.com)
members of The Saartjie Project
...and more!

Original Visual Art by:

Kameelah Rasheed (http://www.kameelahwrites.com)
Amber Robles-Gordon (http://aroblesgordonart.blogspot.com)
Nataki McNeal Bhatti (http://www.myspace.com/natakimcnealbhatti)
...and more!

This is not a night to miss!

Purchase tix at www.thesaartjieproject.org

Your donation helps support The Saartjie Project as we scale our production, community-based programs & sojourn to Minneapolis for the 2009 Pedagogy & Theater of the Oppressed International Conference. We are a volunteer-run organization for the people sustained by the people.

"A Plus" By Amber Robles-Gordon

All content © 2000 Amber Robles-Gordon all rights reserved.
For permission to reproduce contact: aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

Recycled Art Exhibition at @Arlington Public Library

2009-04-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Glass, Bra,Purse,Belt Traps (left) and My Elements (right)

Recycled Art Exhibit at Central Library

A juried show of original art of at least 50% recycled content is now on display at Arlington Central Library through April 30. See highlights below and at our flickr page.

April 1- 30 2009

Central Library

1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA 22201
703-228-5990 (Main)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arlib

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arlib/page2/

http://www.arlingtonva.us/DEPARTMENTS/LIBRARIES/events/LibrariesEventsCentralLibraryArtProgram.aspx

All content © 2000 Amber Robles-Gordon all rights reserved.
For permission to reproduce contact: aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

BAP Living Radio - Black Women Making History with Their Art

2009-01-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Time: March 15, 2009 from 7pm to 8:30pm
Location: Internet
Website or Map: http://www.talkshoe .com/tc/. ..
Event Type: radio, show
Organized By: Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke

The guests are:

1) Leigh Mosley, a photographer
www.leighmosley. com

2) Iona Rozeal Brown, a painter
http://ionarozealbr own.com

3) Tanekeya Word, an artist
http://www.tanekeya word.com

4) Amber Robles-Gordon, a mixed media artist
http://aroblesgordonart.blogspot. com

http://sojournalist s.ning.com/

"Mother Earth" by Amber Robles-Gordon

All content © 2000 Amber Robles-Gordon all rights reserved.
For permission to reproduce contact: aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

The Giesha

2008-12-31T15:53:00.000-08:00

Graduate Work

2008-12-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am having so much fun. Creating is so fulling!

In the Studio

2008-12-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

The Chicken Wire Piece

2008-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Images from BADC Art for Obama Fundraising Event

2008-10-10T00:06:00.001-07:00

Graduate Painting Studio
Exhibition Wall

Black Artists of DC Exhibit at Duke Ellington School of Arts

2008-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Remembering: Not to Forget

The Duke Ellington School of the Arts’ Museum Studies Department is proud to present the exhibition entitled Remembering Not To Forget, a collection of works that chronicles both the triumphs and tragedies -- the personal and political events of life’s experiences as depicted by a group of local artists.

The Black Artists of DC (BADC) was founded nine years ago to establish a network for working artists, curators and art enthusiasts. BADC members critique one another’s work, share information about residencies and grants and discuss participation in upcoming exhibits.

“Never before have we had an exhibition that could generate such compelling dialogue about the social hurdles that Americans grapple with in the United States. It is certain to generate conversations that originated in the headlines, continue in our classrooms and are visually documented in the Ellington Gallery,” said Marta Reid Stewart, Chair of the Museum Studies Department and Director of the Ellington Gallery. “This exhibit is designed to engage and stimulate student’s learning about history and culture,” Stewart said.

The exhibit opens September 11^th and runs through November 7, 2008 at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, 3500 R Street, NW 20007. An opening reception kicks-off this memorable exhibition at 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. Visitors will have a rare opportunity to meet such noted artists as Michael B. Platt and Claudia “ Aziza” Gibson-Hunter, a founding member of BADC. An intimate evening with the participating artists is scheduled on October 16^th at 6:30 p.m. at the Ellington Gallery. Visitors will be able to ask questions about the artists’ work and processes.

"Since the restoration of our fine art gallery here Ellington, we have been excited about showcasing, not only the works of our students, but the amazing work from those in our community. We can think of no better group to showcase than the Black Artists of DC. Their cultural and artistic expressions serve as a motivation to our students and as a reminder to all of our rich culture and heritage. This is truly an exhibit that you should remember not to forget! We hope that the broader DC community supports this exhibit and stops by."

During this historic year of firsts, Remembering Not To Forget, features the work of 35 artists and showcases more than 60 art pieces that include paintings, sculpture, ceramics, photography, assemblage and fabric collage. This will be the first time that the prestigious Black Artists of the District of Columbia has exhibited in the Ellington Gallery. Remembering Not To Forget, documents the art, history and esthetic culture of the 21^st Century.

For Additional Information Contact:

Marta Reid Stewart

202-716-1440

e-mail: mrs89us@yahoo.com

Opening Reception:
September 11, 2008 5:30-7:00 PM

Exhibition Hours
Monday-Friday10:00 AM-5:00 PM
September 11- November 7, 2008

Art Talk
October 16, 2008 6:30-7:30 PM

THE ELLINGTON GALLERY
Duke Ellington School of the Arts
3500 R Street NW
Washington, DC 20007

For more information: 202-282-0123

BADC Event "Art For Obama" To Raise Money for Campaign

2008-09-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

OPEN STUDIO ART SALE

40 celebrated artists from the DC/Baltimore area are opening their studios to the public on Sunday, September 28, 2008 11:oo am- 5:00 pm

An “Art for Obama” event to raise money.

20% OF SALES PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO THE OBAMA FOR AMERICA CAMPAIGN IN THE NAME OF THE PURCHASER. DONATION BY CHECK ONLY.

Throughout history, Art has been used as a vehicle for social and political change. We want to add our voices to a "change we can believe in." The event offers art lovers and collectors the unique opportunity to visit and view the works of various artists in their own studios. The public will be able to purchase original paintings, prints, wearable art, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, photography, sculpture and much more while supporting the campaign.

To Learn About Eeach Artist And Locate Their Studio, Go To

http://maps.google.com/maps/useruid=112064399688390787073&hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2

Artists

Akili Ron Anderson, Cynthia Sands, Amber Robles-Gordon, Bruce McNeil, Ben Belghachi, Aziza Gibson-Hunter, Chinedu Osuchukwu, Julee, Daniel Brookings, Gomillion, Harlee Little, James Brown, Audrey Brown, Jeffrey McCauley, John Henderson, LaShell Rivers, Marc Williams, Michael Platt, Prelli Williams, Prudence Bond, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Stan Squirewell, Virginia Greene, Anne Bouie, Ben Belghachi, Phoebe Farris, Francine Haskins, Josh Isaac, Gloria Kirk, Harlee Little, Juliette Madison, Gwendolyn Aqui, Christopher Randolph, Darnella Davis, James Roland, Carol Porter, Anne Marie Evans

The Mighty Francine Haskins Shows off New Work

2008-08-19T00:41:00.001-07:00

Mrs. Francine Haskins is on my favorite peoples.. yes I said "peoples". At the June Black Artists of DC, BADC Art Critque meeting held at Sankofa Cafe, Francine shared some of her latest creations with of BADC members.

Honfleur Gallery Presents East of the River Second Annual Juried Exhibition

2008-08-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Exhibit Showcases East of the River Creative Minds

Anacostia’s gallery for contemporary art, Honfleur Gallery, celebrates its Second Annual East of the River Exhibition, opening 7pm on August 9th 2008. Site specific installation, photography, painting, mixed media sculpture, collage, prints, drawings, written & spoken-word and functional craft demonstrate the broad range of the works in the show. Exhibitors range from emerging to seasoned professional artists.

The collection depicts both a look through the artist’s lens at this region, and expressions emanating from experiences living in Anacostia. Vibrant hues and energetic abstractions from painters Wesley Clark, Lance Wiggs and Stephen Terrell reflect an upbeat and positive vibe. More somber topics and probing issues, such as youth violence, racism, and gender issues are explored by Howard Fleming, Amber Robles Gordon and Gilbert Trent. Other artists reference the dichotomy of African heritage and modern American culture, reflected in digital images by Bruce McNeil, mixed media collage by Beatrice Martin, sculpture by Anne Bouie and pencil drawings by Malik Lloyd.

Dominic Bracco seeks to uncover the day to day lives of youth in the area in a collection of documentary photographs. The artwork in East of the River exposes a fascinating, insightful cross section of thoughts, feelings and concerns.

Artists in East of the River include: Randall C. Holloway, Stephen James Terrell, Kerry Richardson, Kamala Subramanian, Douglas Eatmon, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Matthew Mann, Dominic Bracco, Sherry Ways, Anne Bouie, Marcia Greene, Fred Joiner, Malik Lloyd, Bruce McNeil, Lance Wiggs, Wesley Clark, Brian Martin, Kerry Richardson, Amber Robles-Gordon, Beatrice Martin, Craig Vaughn, Howard Fleming, and Gilbert Trent.

The exhibit was juried by Carl Cole (Ward 8 Commissioner, DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities), Kim Ward (Director, Washington Project for the Arts), Juanita Britton (Anacostia Art Gallery), Andrea Hope (ARCH) and Briony Evans (Honfleur Gallery). This exhibition was made possible through the generosity and support of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

Located at 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE, Honfleur Gallery is just minutes from downtown Washington DC, and within walking distance of the Anacostia metro (green line) and the Anacostia waterfront. The East of the River opening reception is on August 9th at 7pm. The exhibition is on view from August 12th to September 19th, Tuesday through Friday from 12-5 pm and Saturday 11-5pm. ###

Spread The Word!

Contact:

Briony Evans, Creative Director
Phone: 202-889-5000 x113
Cell: 202-536- 8994
bevans@archdc.org
Gallery Address:
1241 Good Hope Road SE,
Washington DC 20020
www.honfleurgallery.com

Mailing/Office Address:
1227 Good Hope Road SE,
Washington DC 20020
Fax: 202-889-5035
www.archdc.org

Black Artist of DC Art Show Closing Reception @ DC Chamber of Commerce

2008-05-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday, February 14, 2008

DC Chamber of CommerceVisitor Information Center
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20004

Thursday, February 28, 200811:30 - 12:30

Please join the DC Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Information Center as we conclude our celebration of black history month with a fantastic closing reception for the Black Artists of DC Art Show. Featuring a stunning performance by The Coyaba African Dance Group. The art show is on display now through February 29, 2008.

Also featured are Art Works by Notable DC Artists

Gloria Kirk
T. H. Gomillion
Randall C. Holloway
J. Bertram White
Kofi Dafour
Amber Robles Gordon
James Stephen Terrell
Daniel Brooking
Roger James
Sharon Burton

The Visitor Information Center hours of operation: Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. For more information please contact Aishia Wright, Visitor Services Coordinator awright@dcchamber.org or phone: 202-289-8317

Posted by Authentic Art Visions at Thursday, February 14, 2008
http://authenticart.blogspot.com/2008_02_10_archive.html

Labels: Black Artists of DC, DC Chamber of Commerce, The Coyabo African Dance Group
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Collage Supreme by Mrytis Bedolla

2008-05-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

'Collection' by Amber Robles-Gordon

Café Nema on U-Street is serving up more than delicious Somalian, European and North African cuisines. It is offering its patrons the opportunity to partake of the exquisite artworks created by collagist, Amber Robles-Gordon. Barbara Blanco, a local photographer and curator assisted her with the installation of the work. Her works bring additional warmth and beauty to the second floor of this cozy café.

Each piece in the exhibition is equally brilliant; as Amber has perfected the technique of assemblage, and mastered the art of storytelling. However, upon entering the room, my eyes were immediately drawn to the work titled, Collection. According to Amber, “it is a series of four pieces based on a back and white photograph of Naomi Campbell.” But it is her use of geometric patterns and colors, assembled in the style of the great colorist, Alma Thomas that set this work apart. Amber has captured the contour of Campbell’s body in vibrant colors. She brings so much life to the image; it almost jumps off the paper.

Through personal photographs, I was transitioned from Amber’s childhood innocence to womanhood and first love. In, The Fairytale there are images of a little girl who possesses a sweet smile and whose eyes are full of hope for a bright future. My Still Life at 18 reveals personal growth as a woman, photographer and collagist. The girlish smile of childhood now gives way to expressions of a woman, who is contemplating and anticipating making her dreams, reality.

Ms. Robles-Gordon is pursuing a Masters Degree in Fine Art at Howard University. And as the talented collagist before her, Viola Burley Leak and Elizabeth Wold, she too will make an indelible impression upon the art world.

Location: Café Nema is located at 1334 U Street NW Washington, DC 202 667-3215
Exhibit: November 16, 2005 – December 16, 2005.
Opening Reception: Wednesday November 16, 2005 6:00pm-8:30pm.

To view more work by Amber Robles-Gordon visit http://www.artndeed.com/id53.html.

By Myrtis Bedolla

Myrtis Bedolla is the president of Creative Artisans. She is an artist’s representative, curator, lecturer, and writer based in Silver Spring, Maryland.

http://www.creativeartisans.net/home.html

The Power of Imagination @ Results Gallery on Capitol Hill

2008-05-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

2006 Studio Gallery DC Student Invitational Exhibit

2008-05-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

2006 Invitees from Howard University Graduate Art Program: Works selected by John Blee

Wendall Brown
Shirley Harris
Amber Robles-Gordon
Zoma Wallace

Exhibit: Wednesday, November 29 - Sunday, December 3, 2006,

Opening Reception: Friday, December 1, 2006

Location:

STUDIO GALLERY

2108 R Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
202.232.8734

http://www.studiogallerydc.com/

Studio Gallery is the oldest cooperative gallery in Washington, DC. The gallery is located half a block from the Phillips Collection near Dupont Circle. We were founded in 1966 to serve the DC community of artists.

Images: Top to Bottom, Zoma Wallace, Shirley Harris, the work of Wendall Brown, Amber Robles-Gordon, and works of Amber Robles-Gordon

"Energy" Exhibit at Children's National Medical Center Hospital Gallery

2008-05-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

Genesis of the Black Arts Movement and Historic Black Arts Groups at Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba

2008-05-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

A presentation of work by historic arts groups of the Black Arts Movement; AJASS, Weusi Black Artists Collaborative, Kamoninge, AfriCOBRA, Where We At Black Women Artisits, Black Artist DC and National Conference of Artists (NCA) Members.

Location: Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkelba House

219 East 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009

Wilmer Jennings Gallery 212-505-6771

Kenkeleba House 212-647-3939Gallery

Hours are 11 am-6pm Wed.-Sat., Tues. by appointment

Artnet.com Article about Kenkelaba House and Wilmer Jennings Gallery

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/reid/reid8-22-00.asp

Opening Reception: Saturday February 9, 2008 7:30-11:00

Virtual Tour of Exhibit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNVM8Nkvtl4

Participating Aritists:

O'Neal Abel, Salimah Ali, Abdullah Aziz, Anothony Barboza, Mark L. Blackshear, Betty Blayton, Kwame Brathwaite, Sikolo Brathwaite, Elombe Brath, Nomsa Brath, Sharon Burton, Sadikisha S. Collier, Gerald Cyrus, Robert Daniels, Darlene F., Collette V. Fournier, Russell Frederick, Gayland Hassan, Kristen Hayes, Linda Hiwot, Hugeaux, Veron Israel, Jerry Jack, MLI Johnson, Larry B. Joseph, Charlotte Ka, Dorris C. Kennedy, Wayne Lawrence, Gloria Aziza Lawyer, Gina Lewis, Caryolyn Maitland, Dindga Mc Cannon, Karl Mc Intosh, Adrienne Mills, Louis E. Mims, Camile Mosley-Pasley, Musa, Otto Neals, Ademola Olugbefola, James Phillps, John Pinderhughes, Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts, Herb Robinson, Amber Robles-Gordon, Radcliffe Roye, Gina Samson, James Sepyo, Frank Stewart, June De Lairre Trusdale, Shawn Wlaker, Emmett Wigglesworth

photography by A. Robles-Gordon

Aroblesgordon @ Artomatic 2008

2008-05-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

'Metaphysical Planes of Life' by Amber Robles-Gordon
artwork photographed by Harlee Little

Amber Robles-Gordon

Mixed Media Artist

aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

"I live to create and create to live"

http://www.artndeed.com/id53.html

http://www.myspace.com/aroblesgordon

artwork photographed by Harlee Little

Please join me at Artomatic !!!

Opening Night Friday May 9, 2008 7 pm - 12 pm
Meet the Artists Night: Friday, May 16th 7 pm-10:30

Artist Social II: Thursday, June 12th 7 pm-10:30

Capital Plaza 1
Exhibition Space- 9 floor NE Quadrant Area 4
1200 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
http://www.artomatic.org/
Near New York Ave., Metro Station
May 9 - June 15, 2008
28 days of art, dance, films, theater, spoken word, workshops and much more!!!

Think back, Reach back, deep Black

2008-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

Think back, Reach back, deep Black

By Amber Robles-Gordon

Think back, Reach back, way back or ahead.

Made from the original Black mother, mother earth, mother Africa,

Your mother, my mother,

Mother of Darkness, to light; seed of all flower,

Root to any tree and the core to all fruits.

Darkness to light and Blackness to white.

Without the Black you would equal to nothing……….. I would be nothing.

Her deepness, her blissful, blackness is as of you as it is of me.

She bared her breast so all could live, grow and prosper.

Her milk has bred the genealogy of man kind.

She birthed the human race.

Honor yourself and every other living, breathing being by accepting the Dark Energy,

Stop fighting her as though the depths of her endless degrees of light, colors and shades of imposed race and ethnicity will not eventually encompass itself, and swallow you whole.

She is, you are, we all are undeniable Black.

She is big, beautiful, bountiful and limitless.

She is the beginning and/or can be the end of time.

Don’t let her rot and whither away.

She needs you to take care of her, nourish her with your time, support, respect, passion and unconditional love.

Close your eyes, yet look behind your eyes lids… you will see her …you see deep Black.

Retreat to her body, her essence, your spirit and her bounty.

Bring yourself back… open your eyes, she brings you back to the light… yet she will never leave you.

Before any and everything evolved to something … she was deep Black.

No longer act in shear fear of her Deep, Dark, Black, Negra energy.

If there is evil and negativity in Black it is only because you continue to perceive it.

Hatred is kept alive to control those who are weak and feeble.

It is accepted by those who fear the inevitable nature and truth of change…

Get lost in her.

Never again shiver from being lost in her bounty of black, mysterious, darkness.

It should only force you to summon her reserves of power within you.

It is you who has forgotten or been taught lies and misled.

You have strayed, Sauntered off into the light as if you were too good to be part of her.

You assumed the illumination was not part of her warmth, her rays of lineage.

You have the power to reclaim her.

The answer has always been within, within her womb, linked to your identity and the reason for your very existence.

Black is Beautiful, deep, purple, blue, deep, darkBlack.

Divine Synergy Exhibition at Capitol One Corporate Art Program

2008-05-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

Divine Synergy

February 20– April 12 2008

Capital One Corporate Art Program

Mc Clean 2nd Floor

Exhibiting Artists: Anne Bowie, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Elsa Gebreyesus, Kristen Hayes, Doris Kennedy, Amber Robles-Gordon, Miriam Rylands, Deborah Shedrick, Juliet Signous and Anne Marie Williams.

Artist Statement

Black Artist of DC (BADC) celebrates Black History Month and Women’s History Month with a show that features some of its women members. BADC is an organization composed of more than 300 individuals within the United States and other countries, whose purpose is, “to promote, develop and validate the culture, artistic expression and aspirations of past and present artists of African Ancestry.”

While Black History Month and Women’s History Month are annual commemorations of two extremely important social movements; they also embody our nation’s ongoing struggle for racial and gender equality. Equal treatment for all, an overall aspiration and critical element to the continuing evolution of human beings, is also core to a vibrant community and to the sovereignty of artistic expression.

The intent of this exhibition, Divine Synergy, is to highlight the positive aspects of these monumental movements. Generally the term synergy means “working together.” More specifically it can refer to the occurrence of two or more agents, entities that combine to create an effect or product that is better then the originally intended outcome. This exhibit is supported by the headway that both movements accomplished for African Americans and women.

This body of work includes the work of ten BADC members Anne Bowie, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Elsa Gebreyesus, Kristen Hayes, Doris Kennedy, Amber Robles-Gordon, Miriam Rylands, Deborah Shedrick, Juliet Signous and Anne Marie Williams. Through their creations, the artists honor the brave innovators, activists and most importantly the messages and visions of both movements by doing what they love, documenting, healing, and teaching through their art work.

Each artist is guided by this trans-generational creative energy and their relationship with Spirit, to further their growth, their art and their communities. As documenters of the past and present, they use art to depict their legacy, respect and connect to their ancestors, while simultaneously welcoming the challenges that give way to the new experiences of life.

Each woman has made a choice to create art because she has to, needs to and because she can. Their creative expression, bolstered by the efforts of those who came before, provides a pathway for each to do what they love. While collectively, they use art to celebrate and enhance life, expand culture, educate, advocate or to foment new ideas and debate beliefs and perceptions. Abstraction is the process of morphing—adding or subtracting—details to expose specific features of an idea or concept, ultimately revealing a different way of perceiving a theory, object, shape and/or color. This method of creating, the artists, their art work and this exhibition speaks to the overall process and evolution of these two movements. Each protestor, speech, march and phase brings with them its own specific value and contributes to an overarching goal, yet always changing the perceived out come.

This exhibit, fueled by the ancestors, Spirit and each woman, honors all African American ancestors who have stood up, fallen down and at times died for the right to be treated as equals with respect and human decency. This exhibit is about the women, past and present, who have taught, raised and provided examples of will, strength and grace to stand rooted in the knowledge that all are equally divine.

As we forge forward as women artists of African descent, we are conscious of the Divine Synergy that propels us forward to prosper, excel and grow, and we are grateful!

Amber Robles-Gordon

Artwork

Sea Breeze by Deborah Shedrick, Cosmos by Anne Bouie and Traveling in Purple by Kristen Hayes