aurora robson
Born 1972 Toronto, Canada
Education
2000 Columbia University, B.A., (Double Major in Visual Art + Art History) New York, NY (Magna Cum Laude)
1993 Apex Technical School, New York, NY (NYS Certified Structural Welder)
Awards, Grants, Fellowships
2023 The Brattleboro Museum of Art, Award for Service to Arts & Humanity
2021 Distinguished Speaker Award, Arts & Humanities, BOCES
2020 Foundation For Contemporary Art Covid -19 Grant
Anonymous Was a Woman, Covid-19 Grant
2019 Annenberg Visiting Scholar Award
2018 Pu’uhonua Society Grant for Creative Stewardship
2017 National Endowment for the Arts, “Art Work Grant”
The Artist’s Fellowship Grant
2014 ArtPlace America Environmental Artist-in-Residence Grant
2013 Lincoln/TED Re-Imagine Prize
2012 Elizabeth Doenges Visiting Artist Scholar Award
2011 Dave Bown Projects Award
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
Solo Exhibitions, Large Scale Sculpture + Public Art + Site Specific Installation
2025
-plasia,(solo exhibition) The Winter Garden Gallery at Brookfield Place, NY, NY
Lover’s Spat,(permanent public large scale interior sculptural installation) St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, MD
2024
Eos,(temporary public large scale exterior sculptural installation) Troy Savings Bank and Music Hall, Troy, NY
Beau Soleil, (permanent public out door sculpture) Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, NB, Canada
2023
Human Nature Walk, (solo exhibition) The Brattleboro Museum + Art Center, Brattleboro, VT (catalog)
Shhh, (large scale permanent public out door sculpture), Metropolitan Park, (Amazon HQ2) Arlington, VA
2021
Women In Sculpture, (large scale out door sculpture) Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY
2020
Troika, (temporary public out door sculpture) Summit Public Art, Summit, NJ
Infinite Content, (temporary public out door sculpture) Lewis Park, Warwick, NY
Inquire Within, (solo exhibition) Monmouth University, DiMattio Gallery, Monmouth, NJ
2019
Be Like Water, (temporary large scale interior installation) Riverside Art Museum, Beijing, China
Aglow, (solo exhibition, interior and exterior) Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA (catalog)
Re:Fuse, (solo exhibition) Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
Displaced Abundance, (solo exhibition) James K. Schmidt Gallery, Principia College, Elsah, IL (catalog)
2018
Gravity Schmavity, (solo exhibition, interior and exterior) Penn State Arboretum, University Park, PA
Arise, (temporary large scale public installation) Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, NE
2017
The Tide is High, (solo exhibition) The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
Anthroposcenery, (solo exhibition) The New Gallery of Modern Art, Charlotte, NC
Atomista, (permanent large scale interior sculpture) Public School 50 (PS50), Queens, NY
Safety Dance, (solo exhibition) Krasl Center, ArtLab, Lake Michigan, MI
2015
Dyno, (permanent public out door sculpture) Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, NB, Canada
Jetsam, (temporary public art) Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, NC
2014
Stayin’ Alive, (solo exhibition) McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC
2013
Circumdare, (solo exhibition) Southampton Art Center, Southampton, NY
2012
Sacrifice + Bliss, (solo exhibition, interior and exterior) Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Columbus, OH
2011
Everything, All At Once, Forever, (solo exhibition) Figge Museum, Davenport, IA
Be Like Water, (temporary large scale installation) David Owsley Museum of Art, (large scale installation) Muncie, IN
2010
Be Like Water, (temporary large scale installation) Skybox, Philadelphia, PA
Lift, (permanent large scale interior sculpture) Rice University Health + Rec. Center, Houston, TX
2009
Land Mines, (solo exhibition) Salve Regina University Art Gallery, Newport, RI
Honor System, (solo exhibition) Project 4 Gallery, Washington, DC
2008
The Great Indoors, (solo exhibition) Rice Gallery, Houston, TX (catalog)
What Goes Around Comes Around, (permanent interior large scale installation) Merrill Lynch HQ, Hopewell, NJ
2007
Makapiapia, (installation) Islip Art Museum Carriage House, Islip, NY
2006
The Jungle, (solo exhibition booth) Art212 Art Fair, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
In Flux, Koumi-Machi Museum of Fine Art, Koumi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Creative Responses, Specta Gallery, Copenhagen, DK, and the Akureyri Museum, Akureyri, Iceland (forthcoming)
Threshold, Cornwall, Public art exhibition, curated by Karin Bravin of BravinLee Programs, Cornwall, NY
24 Hours of Wonder, Gardiner Art Gallery, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
The Long View, From Conservation to Sustainability,(Bank of America Collection), The Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN & The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, AK
2024
Plasticulture:The Rise in Sustainable Practices with Polymers, School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY (catalog)
2023
Re-Connections, In Kinship With Nature, The United Nations, Visitors Lobby, New York, NY
Currents, Turning the Tide on Ocean Conservation, The Oklahoma Science Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
The Long View, From Conservation to Sustainability,(Bank of America Collection), The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
Living Arrangements, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2021
Dimensional: 3D Works from the Figge Collection, Figge Museum, Davenport, IA
eARTh, Artists as Activists, Southampton Art Center, Southampton, NY
Remnant Romance, Two person exhibition with Idelle Weber, Hollis Taggart Gallery, NY, NY (catalog)
2020
Incidental Monuments, Designing With Discards, Goucher College, Silber Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2019
Can’t You Sea?, Myrtle Beach Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC
2018
Elemental Forces, Rockland Center for the Arts, Nyack, NY
Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials, Palmer Museum of Art, & Smith College Museum of Art
2017
Sea Change, 2 person exhibition with Chris Jordan, South Carolina Aquarium, Omaha, NE
Water Line: A Creative Exchange, Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver, CO
2016
Plastic Fantastic?, The Honolulu Museum at Spaulding House, Honolulu, HI
Currents & Confluences, The Sanger Gallery, Key West, FL
2015
Re:Purposed, The John and Marble Ringling Museum of Art, FL (catalog)
2nd Nature, Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA
2013
Cathedrals, Atmosphere + Architecture, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
The Big Show, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
Re-Imagining Past Possessions,Transform Gallery, New Rochelle, NY
Convergence II, Monmouth University Art Gallery, Long Beach, NJ
2012
Luxuriant Refuse, The Pearl Fincher Museum, Houston, TX
2011
Extreme Materials II, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
Being American, Visual Arts Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (catalog)
Under the Sea, Mass MoCa, North Adams, MA
Re-Purposed, Welch Gallery at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Water Views, FIGGE Museum, Davenport, IA
Hudson River Contemporary, Boscobel Gallery, Garrison, NY
2010
Convergence, Lumenhouse, Brooklyn, NY
Women, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
Spill, 212 Gallery, Aspen, CO
2010
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 exhibit, Lumenhouse, Brooklyn, NY
Couplets, 2 person exhibit, Square Foot Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007
Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Frederick Weisman Art Foundation, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Impossibly Familiar, Fashion Institute of Technology Gallery, New York, NY (catalog)
Wallworks 3, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
Scapes Within, Poietis Gallery, New York, NY
Memento-Mori, The Artists Network, New York, NY
2006
The Summertime Show, Judy A. Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
The Educational Alliance Faculty Exhibit, The Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY
Resonant Part II, Hun Gallery, New York, NY
Spring Combustion, 3 person exhibit, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Mostracolletiva Colorfixation 02, Barone & Odom Gallery, Rome, Italy
Introduction’02, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Corporate and Public Collections
Alliante Hotel, NV
Bank of America, DE
The City of Arlington, Public Art Collection, VA
Daniel Fine Art, CA
David Owsley Museum of Art, IN
Figge Art Museum, IA
Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, OH
Frederick Weisman Art Foundation, CA
Four Seasons Hotel, St. Louis, MO
Grand Hyatt Regency Hotel, LA
Kingsbrae Gardens, NB, Canada
The Koumimachi Museum of Art, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Maryland Live Hotel, MD
Montefiore Hospital, NY
Morgan Stanley, CA
Neiman Marcus, WA
Noble Energy, TX
Pérez Art Museum, FL
Poipu Beach Hotel, HI
Rice University, TX
Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete & Visual Poetry, FL
South Carolina Aquarium, SC
St. Mary’s College, MD
The University of California, San Francisco, CA
The Vantage Building, Charlotte, NC
The Vancouver Centre II, British Columbia, Canada
Residencies/Visiting Artist Engagements
2025
Artist in Residence, Koumi-machi Kogen Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan (forthcoming)
2023
Artist-in-Residence, The Dubai American Academy, Dubai, UAE
2019
Artist-in-Residence, Loghaven, Knoxville, TN
Artist-in-Residence, Principia College, Elsah, IL
2018
Artist-in-Residence, Pu’uhonua Society, Oahu, HI
2015
Artist-in-Residence, Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, NB, Canada
2014
Environmental Artist-in-Residence, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC
2013
Artist-in-Residence, workshop, TEDActive, Palm Springs, CA
Artist-in-Residence/Visiting Artist/Scholar, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA
2012
Artist-in-Residence, The Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Columbus, OH
2010
Artist-in-Residence, Waimea Ocean Film Festival + Parker School, Waimea, HI
2007
Artist-in-Residence, Islip Museum Carriage House, Islip, NY
2002
Artist-in-Residence, Maho Bay Eco-Resort, St. John, USVI
Teaching/Lectures/Public Speaking
2025
Artist Talk/Workshop, The Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, Little Rock, AK
Artist Talk, The Hunter Museum of Fine Art, Chattanooga, TN
Artist Talk, Ooltewah High School, Chattanooga, TN
2024
Lecture/Artist Talk, The School of Visual Arts, Bio-Arts class, New York, NY
Lecture/Visiting Artist & Workshop Tuxedo Park School, Tuxedo, NY
2023
Lecture/Virtual Artist Talk, Keene State University, Keene, NH
Lecture/Virtual Artist Talk, Duke University, Durham, NC
2022
Moderator of Panel for International Sculpture Center, Annual Conference, 9%,
Distinguished Speaker, BOCES Orange County High School Arts Awards Ceremony, Goshen, NY
TEDx Atlanta, Virtual Artist Talk, “Process”
Visiting Artist/Virtual/Lecture, Sheridan College, Toronto, Canada
Panel discussion, Trashed Inspirations: Oceans, Pollution and Art, Brattleboro Museum, VT,
Junk mail collage online workshop (virtual) Wickham Works, Warwick, New York
2020
Artist Talk, Landmark College, Putney, VT
Artist Talk, Monmouth University, Monmouth, NJ
2019
Visiting Artist/Lecture Queens College MFA Program, Queens, NY
Artist Talk, The Chapin School, New York, NY
Speaker/Panelist, The Role of Art in the Environmental Crisis, Christie’s Education, New York, NY
Artist Talk, Re:Fuse, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Lecture/Panelist, Ecology of the Studio: Art in the Waste Stream, College Art Association, New York, NY
2018
Keynote Speaker, Art Educators of Iowa Annual Conference, Storm Lake, IO
2017
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Sculpture + Intercepting the Waste Stream, The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
Lecture/Teaching Artist,The Tide is High, The South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC
Visiting Artist/Panelist, The Arts Fighting Climate Change, Abu Dhabi Culture Summit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Lecture/Panelist, EPA Trash Out of Waters Conference, SUNY Newburgh, NY
Lecture/Panelist, New Approaches to Environmental Art, The Art Students League, NY, NY
Visiting Artist/Instructor, Fox Meadow High School, Yorktown Heights, NY
2016
Keynote Speaker/Visiting Artist, State University of New York, (SUNY) New Paltz, NY
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Fox Meadow High School, Yorktown Heights, NY
Visiting Artist/Workshop/Panelist, The Ford Foundation, NY, NY
Visiting Artist/Teaching Artist/Lecturer, Pawling High School, NY
Co-Instructor/Visiting Artist, “Sculpture & Intercepting the Waste Stream”, Kansas University
Visiting Artist/Teaching Environmental Arts, PS50, Queens, NY
Keynote Speaker, NYS Art Teachers Assoc., Regional Conference, SUNY New Paltz, NY
2015
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Providence Day School, Charlotte, NC
Visiting/Teaching Environmental Arts, Middletown High School, Middletown, NY
Keynote Speaker, NYS Art Teachers Association Annual Conference, Albany, NY
2014
Teaching Artist-In-Residence, "Sculpture & Intercepting the Waste Stream", Central
Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC
Visiting Artist/Lecture, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
2013
Visiting Artist/Instructor, “Sculpture & Intercepting the Waste Stream”, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA
TEDxPeachtree, TEDx talk “Trash + Love”, Atlanta, GA
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH
Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Philadelphia School of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA
2004-6
Teaching Artist (welding/sculpture), Education Alliance Art School, NY, NY
BIO
Aurora Robson is a visual artist predominantly known for working with plastic waste. She was born in Toronto, grew up in Hawaii, and later lived in New York City, where she learned metal welding and worked in film, construction and entertainment. She studied art history and visual art at Columbia University. Over her career, Aurora has developed many ways to shape plastic debris, like fastening, weaving, sewing, ultrasonic welding, injection welding and 3-D printing. She shares these methods freely with others who want to reduce plastic waste. Aurora has received several awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. She also founded Project Vortex, a global collective of artists and designers working with plastic debris. Currently, Aurora lives in the Hudson Valley with her family, cats, garden, fruit trees, and a very expressive dog.
STATEMENT
My practice is a form of serious play. I work in a variety of mediums, but have dedicated the majority of the past twenty years to working with post-consumer and post-industrial plastic (plastic pollution). Integrating play is essential in order to continually transform plastic debris into art for over two decades. My work is a meditative exercise in subjugating negativity, cultivating rational optimism and practicing radical acceptance. Throughout my career, I’ve been illustrating formal aspects of recurring nightmares I had as a child through my art practice, while developing techniques to highlight the potential of post-industrial and post-consumer plastic as a viable art medium instead of a toxic waste nightmare for all the living creatures on this planet.
Plastic pollution, a global nightmare, is an insidious, destructive material that continually enters our water, food chain, bloodstreams, and the air we breathe. It is more appropriate for art and design applications than the vast majority of applications for which it is being used today. In art, the longevity of this material becomes an asset.
Working with other people’s post-consumer plastic (bottles, barrels, buckets, caps, and other plastic items) allows me to engage with people and communities so that I can help create the conditions for hope through art.