Artist Avis Collins Robinson: 'I am very much a kindred spirit' of Aminah Robinson
Artist Avis Collins Robinson and her husband, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, never met — nor are they related to — Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, but they discovered her art and wanted to champion it.
Consequently, they will be the keynote speakers at an event kicking off the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project Endowment and Resource Fund on Aug. 25 at the Columbus Museum of Art. In addition to the evening event, an exhibit of works by Avis Collins Robinson, “Black Hands Moving Colors,” will continue through Sept. 18 in the museum’s Walter Wing.
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Avis Collins Robinson’s works include colorful, abstract quilts and portraits of African Americans including Harriet Tubman, John Lewis and Jimi Hendrix. In her works, Robinson uses acrylic paints along with fabric swatches, feathers, glitter and other materials.
Her Harriet Tubman is an imposing woman with subtle additions of textiles for her hat and coat. Her painting “Aunt Doc Fell Asleep While Waiting to Go to Church” shows an elderly woman in a rocking chair on a porch wearing a black feather hat and paper flower corsage.
Robinson’s use of fabrics and other materials in her works are not dissimilar to techniques employed by Aminah Robinson, the prolific African American multimedia artist who died at the age of 75 in her hometown of Columbus in 2015.
“Aminah Robinson chronicles a life of love, memory and the glorious breadth of African American experiences,” Avis Collins Robinson said. “While I am not Aminah’s blood relative, I am very much a kindred spirit.”
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Deidre Hamlar, curator of the exhibit and the museum’s director of the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project, said that Avis Collins and Eugene Robinson became familiar with Aminah Robinson’s work during the “Raggin’ On” exhibit, a comprehensive show of Aminah Robinson’s works and writings that ran during 2020-21 at the museum.
“Avis asked if she and Eugene could help,” Hamlar said. “It’s a philanthropic effort on their part to participate in this event … They are interested in stretching Aminah’s reputation beyond Ohio.”
Avis Collins and Eugene Robinson live in Arlington, Virginia. Eugene Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and a political analyst for MSNBC.
The Aug. 25 event will be hosted by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, philanthropists and art collectors Larry and Donna James, and Museum Director Nannette V. Maciejunes. The endowment and resource fund goal is $1 million, to be used to maintain the Aminah Robinson house and studio in East Columbus as well as to fund exhibitions and programs and an Aminah Robinson Library and Archives.
Tickets for the fundraiser cost $150 per person, with a $500 ticket including a VIP reception. Tickets to join the event via Zoom cost $75. For more information, contact Gabriel Mastin, 614-620-0307 or email Gabriel.mastin@cmaohio.org.
At a glance
“Black Hands Moving Colors,” works by Avis Collins Robinson, continues through Sept. 18, at the Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St. For admission prices, go to www.columbusmuseum.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Black Hands Moving Colors' exhibit on view at Columbus Museum of Art
