Aurora Robson is a multi-media artist known predominantly for her transformative works interrupting the waste stream via plastic debris, excess packaging and junk mail. A Canadian, Robson was born in Toronto in 1972, but she has lived and worked in New York City for the past 21 years. Robson grew up on Maui, in Hawaii where she developed a profound appreciation for nature. Her work has been featured in Art in America, Art & Antiques magazine and most recently on the cover of Green Building + Design magazine. A "subtle yet determined environmental activist", Robson has exhibited all over the United States and in Europe. She earned an B.A. in visual arts and art history at Columbia University where she graduated with high honors in 2000. She has taught photography, welding / sculpture and gives frequent lectures and talks around the country. As an advocate for plastic pollution awareness, Robson is the founding artist of a fledgling international collective of artists, designers and architects who also work with plastic debris. When she isn't busily working in her studio, she can be found contemplating the universe with her husband and daughter.
CV
Born 1972, Toronto, Canada
Education
2000 Columbia University, B.A. in Visual Art & Art History (Magna Cum Laude)
1993 Apex Technical School, Welding Program (Certified structural welder)
1987 Central Technical School of Fine Arts, (Admitted via drawing portfolio)
Solo Exhibitions
2012 ............Sacrifice + Bliss, The Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus, OH (forthcoming)
2011 ............Everything, All At Once, Forever, The Figge Museum, Davenport, IA
2011 ............Be Like Water, David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State, (large scale installation) Muncie, IN
2010 ............Be Like Water, Skybox, (large scale solo installation) Philadelphia, PA
2009 Land Mines, Salve Regina University Art Gallery, Newport, RI
............ .......Honor System, Project 4 Gallery, Washington, DC
2008 The Great Indoors, Rice Gallery, (large scale installation) Houston, TX
2007 Makapiapia, (Installation at the Islip Art Museum Carriage House, Islip, NY
2006 The Jungle, (Solo installation at Art212) New York, NY
2005 Wake up, Wake up, it’s in the Morning, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 Extreme Materials 2, Memorial Art Galllery (University of Rochester), Rochester, NY ....................(forthcoming)
2011 Being American, Visual Arts Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (forthcoming)
....................Lucky 13, MKG, Houston, TX (forthcoming)
....................Under the Sea, Mass MoCa Kidspace, North Adams, MA
................... Repurposed, Welch Gallery at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
............ .......Water Views, The Figge Museum, Davenport, IA
............ .......Hudson River Contemporary, Boscobel Gallery, Garrison, NY
............ .......Green Light III, Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, NC
2010 Convergence, Lumenhouse, Brooklyn, NY
............ .......Women, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
............ .......Spill, 212Gallery, (two person exhibit) Aspen, CO
............ .......2D/3D, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
............ .......Elements of Nature, City of Lancaster Museum, Lancaster, CA
............ .......Debris, PPOW Gallery, New York, NY
............ .......Spark, Borrow and Steal, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
............ .......Two Degrees of Separation, Satori Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Trash Menagerie, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
............ .......Up-Cycling, Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles, CA
............ .......New Now, The Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
............ .......Abstractions and Contractions, Lumenhouse, Brooklyn, NY
............ .......Thinking Small, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Micro Macro, Satori Gallery, New York, NY
............ .......Painting Pink Pajamas, Contemporary Art Center, Peoria, IL
............ .......Discarded to Distinctive, Ross Art Museum, Delaware, OH
............ .......Summer Journeys, Summer Dreams, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
............ .......Lather, Rinse, Repeat, 4 person show, Lumenhouse, Brooklyn, NY
............ .......Couplets, 2 person show with Lisa Solomon, Square Foot Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007 Force Fields, Sevengaits, Southbridge, MA
............ .......The Eclectic Eye: Selections of Fantasy & Illusion from the Frederick Weisman Art
............ .......Foundation, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
............ .......Impossibly Familiar, FIT Art Market Graduate Thesis Show, New York, NY
............ .......Wallworks 3, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
............ .......Scapes Within, Poietis Gallery, Inaugural Exhibit, New York, NY
............ .......Memento-Mori, The Artists Network, New York, NY
2006 The Summertime Show, Judy A. Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 Faculty Exhibit, The Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY
............ .......Resonant Part II, Hun Gallery, New York, NY
............ .......Spring Combustion, 3 person show, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
............ .......Mostracolletiva Colorfixation 02, Barone & Odom Gallery, Rome, Italy
............ .......Introduction’02, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2004 13, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM ............ .......
............ .......La La Land, Makor Gallery, 2 person show, New York, NY
............ ....
Selected Bibliography
2011 Ocean Debris Becomes a Work of Art, by Devany Vickery-Davidson, Ke’Ola Magazine
....................Day Trip, Issue No. 4, Weiden + Kennedy
....................(Cover) Lost and Found, by Thalia A-M Bruehl, Green Building + Design Magazine
2010 Fantastic Plastic Oceans, by Sean Corbett, Philadelphia Weekly
............ .......Drawn Together, by Edward M. Gomez, Art + Antiques Magazine
............ .......Spill, by Stewart Oksenhorn, The Aspen Times
............ .......California Exhibitions that Keep the Summer Hot, Dewitt Cheng, Huffington Post
............ .......Bushwick Open Studios Profile, Aurora Robson, by Mike Steyels, Bushwick BK.com
............ .......Debris, Beyond Race Magazine, by Lindsay Sturm
............ .......Green Art: 10 Artists Working with Recycled Materials, by Makena Hudson, Beautiful Decay
2009 In The Studio: Aurora Robson, by Edward M. Gomez, Art in America
............ .......Aurora Robson: Recycled Art, by Wendy Campbell, Daily Art Fixx
............ .......ECO ART: Aurora Robson Recycled Plastic Sculptures by Moe Beitiks, Inhabitat
............ .......Aurora Robson Art From Recycled Plastic Bottles & Junk Mail by Jasmin Chua, Treehugger
............ .......Plastic Power, Aurora Robson’s Landmines, by Lisa Utman Randall, The Mercury
............ .......Exhibit is a Fun Way to Take in the Trash, by Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe
............ .......Aurora Robson, by Nimo Mohamed, Format Magazine (Issue #60 – Female Issue)
............ .......Transformation, Garden 91 Magazine
2008 (Cover) The Great Indoors, by Garland Fielder, Arts Houston Magazine
............ .......Art: Message in a Bottle, by Steven K. Lee, Plenty Magazine
............ .......The Front Row, Aurora Robson interview by Meghan Hendley, Houston Public Radio
............ .......The Great Indoors, by Julia Ramey, Houston Press
............ .......Robson Displays Her ‘Body’ of Work, by Douglas Britt, Houston Chronicle
............ .......Aurora Robson : The Great Indoors, Houston Arts Alliance
............ .......Emerging Art in Bushwick, by Alex Callender, NY Art Beat
............ .......Aurora Robson’s “She Bang”, by Christopher Reiger, HungryHyaena.blogspot.com
............ .......Artist of the Week by Elizabeth MacCrellish, Squamartworkshops.com
............ .......Domestic Terrorism by David Maddox, Nashvillescene.com ............ .......
............ .......Aurora Robson Interview Pt. 1, by Jill Danyelle, The Laboratory
............ .......Aurora Robson and Lisa Solomon, Juxtapoz
2007 Inspired Metamorphoses by Alexandra Novo, Attitude Magazine
............ .......Dream Catcher, by Steve Watson, Wonderland Magazine
............ .......Pollinium, by David Cohen, Artworld Digest Magazine
2006 Art Basel Miami: Pulse Beats Sophomore Slump, by Margery Gordon, Artinfo.com
............ .......Blurb, by Ami Kealoha, Coolhunting.com
............ .......Fashion & Art, by Ruth La Ferla, The New York Times - Styles Section
2005 Contemporary Sculpture, by Edward E. Gomez, Art & Antiques Magazine
............ .......Best of the AAF, Domino Magazine
............ .......Wake up, Wake up It’s in the Morning at Richard Levy Gallery, NM, Alibi’s
............ .......Review of Pentimenti’s Introduction ‘02, February 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer
............ .......Artist Executes Work with Skill, by Wesley Pulkka, The Sunday Journal
2004 AAF by Raul Zamudio, ArtNexus
Awards, Grants, Fellowships
2011 Dave Bown Projects Award
2010 Sculpt the Future Foundation Grant
2010 The Arthur Levine Foundation Grant
2009 The New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Sculpture
............ .......The Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant
Corporate & Major Collections
Alliante Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, Daniel Fine Art, LA, The Frederick Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, The Four Seasons Hotel, St. Louis, MO, Merrill Lynch / Bank of America, NJ, Neiman Marcus, Bellevue, WA, Grand Hyatt Regency Hotel, New Orleans, LA, Poipu Beach Hotel, Kauai, HI, Rice University, Houston, TX, The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, FL,
Notable Collections
Stephen Arcano, Julie Baker, Suzanne Deal Booth, Matthew and Renee Boulis, Al Castaneda, Calleen Cordero, Maura Kehoe Collins, David Collins & Tim Collins, Evalyn Daniel-Putnam, Jenny Doussan, Rick Edrich, Heidi Gerger, Charles Harper, Gregory Higgins, Otto Hinzmann, Molly Hipp Hubbard, Kim Larson Knell + Gary Knell, John Koegel, Jennifer Kostuik, The LaCharlotte Family, Colleen Flynn-Lawson, Steven K. Lee, Emily Leff, Michael Levine, Natasha Lifton, Amanda Nicole, Jay Randolph, Laurie Roberts Conklin + Pat Conklin, Antoon Schollee, Paul Siegel & Lauryn Siegel, Whitney Stevens, Ruth I. Dreessen + Thomas J. Van Laan, Lori Unger, Richard and Harriet Warm, Beth Weiner, Debi Weschler
Residencies
2010-11 Artist-in-Residence, Parker School/The Waimea Ocean Film Festival, Waimea, Hawaii
2007 Artist-in-Residence, Islip Museum Carriage House, Islip, NY
2002 Artist-in-Residence, Maho Bay Eco-Resort, St. John, USVI
Teaching
2004-6 The Education Alliance Art School, New York, NY, Taught electric & gas welding/sculpture
2001 144 Music & Arts, New York, NY, Developed & taught photography to 6th graders in Queens