Kathy Robinson-Hays
Kathy Robinson-Hays, Receding, 2012
Artsy Page
Artist Statement
Working for many years as an objects restorer/conservator has had a profound effect on the way I see things. I am attracted to misfits, leftovers, rejects, ruins and things which have become obsolete. My work collages these elements as well as my own samples and tests, embellishing and choreographing them on paper, silk, drafting film or the wall until they feel like they have landed and found their place. My recurring worries are once we have created things where does it all go, everything from nuclear and toxic waste to our cell phones, our own artwork - the list goes on.
I work in a stream of consciousness. The samples become the work. The rejects, often years old, are resurrected, transformed by different processes and interests and they become my new paintings, sculptures and installations. Nothing is forgotten, hopefully now rethought, reshaped, overpainted and transformed by our world today and just maybe a bit of magic might occur.. The materials chosen; semi transparent silk organza, drafting film and aluminum wire lend themselves to tracing, recording and constantly changing their shape. I realize while I admire gorgeous thick applications of paint in other artists’ work I cannot bring myself to work that way. Instead in my frugal way of working, I water down my acrylics till they reference watercolor. I use masking fluid to always keep and expose the original drafting film surface in the final piece. Then I paint certain areas with hundreds of exaggerated beads of iridescent paint in an attempt to define and activate the surface, till it almost becomes like a piece of braille to me.
I am attracted to an organic kind of abstraction with swirling energy and movement, that occasionally places a rendered object, often from a photograph in the midst of this surreal landscape. Things from space or above, usually coming from the right are always flying through my painterly spaces. I have worried for many years now that we behave more like tourists than the keepers of this fragile planet. Doom always seems right on the edge.
As an adoptee, I have always imagined myself to be a thousand different people from a multitude of different landscapes. I believe my work has followed a similar path, one of constant searching and experimentation, always seeking new indefinable experiences.
- Kathy Robinson-Hays, 2017
Artist Bio
Kathy Robinson-Hays is a Canadian born, longtime Texas visual artist and art conservator/restorer. She and her husband, fellow artist Terry Hays, currently live in Duncanville, Texas and have worked side by side in their home studio for years. Kathy has had a lifelong interest in the conservation of objects, leading to her career at Brown Mountain Art Restoration in Dallas as a professional art and antique restorer/conservator specializing in porcelain and ethnographic objects. She received her B.F.A. Honors in painting from the University of Manitoba, and, after studying in Italy and New York, she obtained her M.A. in studio art from the N.Y.U. Venice Study Abroad Program. She has taken courses in Care of Textiles at the Campbell Center of Mount Carroll and The Conservation of Gilt Wood at the Smithsonian Institution. Her work has been included in New American Paintings, Studio Visits Magazine, and she was recently included in Peripheral Vision Issue 7, Salon 2017, curated by Georgia Erger. Her work has also been included in many juried shows and is included in private collections in Canada and the U.S. She is currently represented by Ro2 Art in Dallas.
Artist Statement
Working for many years as an objects restorer/conservator has had a profound effect on the way I see things. I am attracted to misfits, leftovers, rejects, ruins and things which have become obsolete. My work collages these elements as well as my own samples and tests, embellishing and choreographing them on paper, silk, drafting film or the wall until they feel like they have landed and found their place. My recurring worries are once we have created things where does it all go, everything from nuclear and toxic waste to our cell phones, our own artwork - the list goes on.
I work in a stream of consciousness. The samples become the work. The rejects, often years old, are resurrected, transformed by different processes and interests and they become my new paintings, sculptures and installations. Nothing is forgotten, hopefully now rethought, reshaped, overpainted and transformed by our world today and just maybe a bit of magic might occur.. The materials chosen; semi transparent silk organza, drafting film and aluminum wire lend themselves to tracing, recording and constantly changing their shape. I realize while I admire gorgeous thick applications of paint in other artists’ work I cannot bring myself to work that way. Instead in my frugal way of working, I water down my acrylics till they reference watercolor. I use masking fluid to always keep and expose the original drafting film surface in the final piece. Then I paint certain areas with hundreds of exaggerated beads of iridescent paint in an attempt to define and activate the surface, till it almost becomes like a piece of braille to me.
I am attracted to an organic kind of abstraction with swirling energy and movement, that occasionally places a rendered object, often from a photograph in the midst of this surreal landscape. Things from space or above, usually coming from the right are always flying through my painterly spaces. I have worried for many years now that we behave more like tourists than the keepers of this fragile planet. Doom always seems right on the edge.
As an adoptee, I have always imagined myself to be a thousand different people from a multitude of different landscapes. I believe my work has followed a similar path, one of constant searching and experimentation, always seeking new indefinable experiences.
- Kathy Robinson-Hays, 2017
Artist Bio
Kathy Robinson-Hays is a Canadian born, longtime Texas visual artist and art conservator/restorer. She and her husband, fellow artist Terry Hays, currently live in Duncanville, Texas and have worked side by side in their home studio for years. Kathy has had a lifelong interest in the conservation of objects, leading to her career at Brown Mountain Art Restoration in Dallas as a professional art and antique restorer/conservator specializing in porcelain and ethnographic objects. She received her B.F.A. Honors in painting from the University of Manitoba, and, after studying in Italy and New York, she obtained her M.A. in studio art from the N.Y.U. Venice Study Abroad Program. She has taken courses in Care of Textiles at the Campbell Center of Mount Carroll and The Conservation of Gilt Wood at the Smithsonian Institution. Her work has been included in New American Paintings, Studio Visits Magazine, and she was recently included in Peripheral Vision Issue 7, Salon 2017, curated by Georgia Erger. Her work has also been included in many juried shows and is included in private collections in Canada and the U.S. She is currently represented by Ro2 Art in Dallas.
CV
Education
1996 M.A. Studio Art, Venice Program, New York University, N.Y.
1979 B.F.A. Honors, School of Art, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1974 The Banff Centre, Fine Arts Summer Program, Alberta, Canada
Continuing Education
1992 Care of Textiles, Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, Mount Carroll, Illinois
1991 Conservation of Gilt Wood, #C201 lecture, Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Selected Exhibitions
2017
Beyond Form: Installation & Performance Art, curated by Du Chau at The Center, Dallas, Tx.
Locals Only, Inner Space Projects, Duncanville, Tx
Art Aspen 2017, Ro2 Art, Aspen, Colorado
Chaos 2017!!!!! 5th Annual Small Works Show, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Texas
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Let’s Fly, Site 131, Dallas, Texas
2016
MOBA 8x8,Museum of Biblical Arts, Dallas, Texas 2016
Hecho in Dallas, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas, 2016
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas 2016
2015
Pattern Paradigm, Cliff Gallery, Mountain View College, Dallas, Texas 2015
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas 2015
2014
On Paper, Ro2 Art, curated by Susan Roth Romans and Gary Farrelly Dallas, TX.
Art in the Metroplex, Fort Worth Community Art Center, juried by Sarah Thorton, Fort Worth, Tx.
Oddities & Curiosities, The Small Gallery, Dallas, Tx.
Chaos!, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Tx.
Couples: Half and Half, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, Tx.
Ro2 Art at the Magnolia, Magnolia Theater, Dallas, Tx.
2013
Objectified, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Delta, MAC Membership Exhibition, McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Walking With Our Sisters, donated hand beaded vamps for Commemorative project and traveling exhibit honoring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous Women of Canada and U.S., 2013-2019
Texas Art Now, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Tx.
Art and Advocacy, Auction benefiting the DCAC, Dallas, Tx.
Systems and Solutions, Ro2 Art & Town of Addison, Visit Addison, Dallas, Tx.
2012
Art and Advocacy, Auction benefiting the DCAC, Dallas, Tx.
5x5, Arlington Art Museum, curated by Lee Bowman, Arlington, Tx.
Trans-, MAC Membership Show, McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2011
Ro2 Art Uptown, [take] Home for the Holidays, Group Art Show, Dallas, Tx.
5th Annual Art and Advocacy, DCAC, Dallas,Tx.
September Group Show, Ro2 Art Uptown, Dallas,Tx.
Meltdown, MAC Membership Exhibition, Dallas,Tx.
Cut Copy Paste Paint, featured artist with Terry Hays, Ro2 Art Uptown, Dallas, Tx.
2010
The End of Commerce, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
16th Anniversary MAC Membership Show: “Border”, Dallas, Tx.
No Rhyme or Reason, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Fresh Faces 2x2, Bath House Cultural Center, curated by Rita Barnard, Dallas, Tx
Wish! Art Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas,Tx.
The Henderson Art Project,TheART Show, Dallas, Tx.
2009
NYU 32nd small works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, Juror Daniel Ferris, Director, Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, N.Y.
Wish! Auction, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Hecho en Dallas, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas,Tx, Jurors Hugo Garcia-Urrutia, Elizabeth Hunt Blanc and Maria Garcia-Pedroche
The 15th Anniversary MAC Member Show 2009, Dallas,Tx
The Dallas Arts Revue 30th Anniversary Member Show, curated by J R Compton, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas,Tx
2008
The Winter Show, DallasArtsRevue Membership Show curated by J R Compton, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, Tx.
9x12 Works on Paper Show, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Tx.
Wish! Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Gastronomia: erotica y estimulante, The MAC 14th Annual Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Fierce, curated by J R Compton, 14th Street Gallery, Plano, Tx.
2007
Wish! Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
24 hr Art Blast / 2400 Hr online Art Blast, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2006
Big as Night, Too, DallasArtsRevue Member Show, Dallas, Tx.
The Trinity, MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
2005
MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Wish! Auction, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2004
MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx
2002
Texas National, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches,Tx., Juror, Sandy Skoglund
2000
Group Show, curated by Thea Pratt, The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, New York, N.Y.
1998
Third Annual Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y. Juror, Jack Risley
1997
Second Annual Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y. Juror, Dr. Judith K.Collischan
1996
First Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y., Juror, Thomas Sokolowski
Graduating Venice Program Studio Art Masters Candidates, 80 Washington Square East, NYU, New York
1995 &1994
Works in Progress, New York University Graduate Program in Venice, I.U.A.V. University of Architecture, Venice, Italy
Awards
1995 Video Award, Second Place, New York University Venice Program, Italy
1990 Drawing and Mixed Media Awards, Women of Worth, Fort Worth, Texas
1979 Academic Award, Gold Medal, BFA Honors, University of Manitoba, Canada
1978 Heinz Jordan Painting Award, University of Manitoba, Canada
1978&75 Isbister Scholarship for Fine Arts, University of Manitoba, Canada
1975 Dr. A.W. Hogg University Entrance Scholarship, Manitoba, Canada
1975 Banff School of Fine Arts Scholarship, Alberta, Canada
Education
1996 M.A. Studio Art, Venice Program, New York University, N.Y.
1979 B.F.A. Honors, School of Art, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1974 The Banff Centre, Fine Arts Summer Program, Alberta, Canada
Continuing Education
1992 Care of Textiles, Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, Mount Carroll, Illinois
1991 Conservation of Gilt Wood, #C201 lecture, Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Selected Exhibitions
2017
Beyond Form: Installation & Performance Art, curated by Du Chau at The Center, Dallas, Tx.
Locals Only, Inner Space Projects, Duncanville, Tx
Art Aspen 2017, Ro2 Art, Aspen, Colorado
Chaos 2017!!!!! 5th Annual Small Works Show, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Texas
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Let’s Fly, Site 131, Dallas, Texas
2016
MOBA 8x8,Museum of Biblical Arts, Dallas, Texas 2016
Hecho in Dallas, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas, 2016
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas 2016
2015
Pattern Paradigm, Cliff Gallery, Mountain View College, Dallas, Texas 2015
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Institute Gallery, Dallas, Texas 2015
2014
On Paper, Ro2 Art, curated by Susan Roth Romans and Gary Farrelly Dallas, TX.
Art in the Metroplex, Fort Worth Community Art Center, juried by Sarah Thorton, Fort Worth, Tx.
Oddities & Curiosities, The Small Gallery, Dallas, Tx.
Chaos!, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Art Fair, Ro2 Art, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, Tx.
Couples: Half and Half, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, Tx.
Ro2 Art at the Magnolia, Magnolia Theater, Dallas, Tx.
2013
Objectified, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Delta, MAC Membership Exhibition, McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Walking With Our Sisters, donated hand beaded vamps for Commemorative project and traveling exhibit honoring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous Women of Canada and U.S., 2013-2019
Texas Art Now, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Tx.
Art and Advocacy, Auction benefiting the DCAC, Dallas, Tx.
Systems and Solutions, Ro2 Art & Town of Addison, Visit Addison, Dallas, Tx.
2012
Art and Advocacy, Auction benefiting the DCAC, Dallas, Tx.
5x5, Arlington Art Museum, curated by Lee Bowman, Arlington, Tx.
Trans-, MAC Membership Show, McKinney Ave. Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2011
Ro2 Art Uptown, [take] Home for the Holidays, Group Art Show, Dallas, Tx.
5th Annual Art and Advocacy, DCAC, Dallas,Tx.
September Group Show, Ro2 Art Uptown, Dallas,Tx.
Meltdown, MAC Membership Exhibition, Dallas,Tx.
Cut Copy Paste Paint, featured artist with Terry Hays, Ro2 Art Uptown, Dallas, Tx.
2010
The End of Commerce, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
16th Anniversary MAC Membership Show: “Border”, Dallas, Tx.
No Rhyme or Reason, Ro2 Art, Dallas, Tx.
Fresh Faces 2x2, Bath House Cultural Center, curated by Rita Barnard, Dallas, Tx
Wish! Art Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas,Tx.
The Henderson Art Project,TheART Show, Dallas, Tx.
2009
NYU 32nd small works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, Juror Daniel Ferris, Director, Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, N.Y.
Wish! Auction, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Hecho en Dallas, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas,Tx, Jurors Hugo Garcia-Urrutia, Elizabeth Hunt Blanc and Maria Garcia-Pedroche
The 15th Anniversary MAC Member Show 2009, Dallas,Tx
The Dallas Arts Revue 30th Anniversary Member Show, curated by J R Compton, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas,Tx
2008
The Winter Show, DallasArtsRevue Membership Show curated by J R Compton, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, Tx.
9x12 Works on Paper Show, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Tx.
Wish! Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
Gastronomia: erotica y estimulante, The MAC 14th Annual Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Fierce, curated by J R Compton, 14th Street Gallery, Plano, Tx.
2007
Wish! Auction, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
24 hr Art Blast / 2400 Hr online Art Blast, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2006
Big as Night, Too, DallasArtsRevue Member Show, Dallas, Tx.
The Trinity, MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
2005
MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Wish! Auction, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Tx.
2004
MAC Membership Show, Dallas, Tx.
Dallas Contemporary Membership Show, Dallas, Tx
2002
Texas National, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches,Tx., Juror, Sandy Skoglund
2000
Group Show, curated by Thea Pratt, The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, New York, N.Y.
1998
Third Annual Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y. Juror, Jack Risley
1997
Second Annual Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y. Juror, Dr. Judith K.Collischan
1996
First Venice Alumni Exhibition, Casa Italiana, New York, N.Y., Juror, Thomas Sokolowski
Graduating Venice Program Studio Art Masters Candidates, 80 Washington Square East, NYU, New York
1995 &1994
Works in Progress, New York University Graduate Program in Venice, I.U.A.V. University of Architecture, Venice, Italy
Awards
1995 Video Award, Second Place, New York University Venice Program, Italy
1990 Drawing and Mixed Media Awards, Women of Worth, Fort Worth, Texas
1979 Academic Award, Gold Medal, BFA Honors, University of Manitoba, Canada
1978 Heinz Jordan Painting Award, University of Manitoba, Canada
1978&75 Isbister Scholarship for Fine Arts, University of Manitoba, Canada
1975 Dr. A.W. Hogg University Entrance Scholarship, Manitoba, Canada
1975 Banff School of Fine Arts Scholarship, Alberta, Canada
