Current Exhibition

Featuring our ARTservancy Artists in Residence

Karen and Patrick Robison

Stop in to Gallery 224 in the month of January

to see the artwork of ARTservancy Residents,

Karen & Patrick Robison

This exhibition features multimedia 2D & ceramic, glass 3D pieces

inspired by their time at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve,

with the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust

January Gallery Hours:

Thursday through Sunday, 11am-4pm

Image borrowed with permission from A Wealth of Nature blog by Eddee Daniels about the Robisons. Click here to visit the blog.

Karen & Patrick

Artist Statement - Karen Robison

Science is a discipline, a way of thinking about and investigating the natural world, and a way of knowing. Science isn’t ever completed. It is constantly growing, changing, and responding to the current culture. Albert Einstein said, “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination.” I have put my imagination to good use by observing the world around us—especially our local ecosystems—as a scientist would; asking and investigating important questions; and connecting scientific knowledge and inquiry to our own lives.

Next, please substitute ‘art’ for science in all of the ideas presented above. It works!

I am interested in making mixed media and found object works that bring disparate materials into a balanced form. A little visual peace. Current projects include: sculptural books, clay box assemblages, and encaustic over clay and book covers to capture collage work.

Artist Statement - Patrick Robison

I’ve painted, printed, woven, fused, fabricated and sculpted, but for the last 50 years I’ve mostly played with clay. I was enamored with its sensuality from the very first touch and drawn to a style of work that retains a visual softness even after the pieces are fired. Clay is one of earth’s most abundant and magical materials. Responsive when wet, fragile when dry, and then hardened by its unpredictable journey in the kiln. Vessels for daily use or sculpture to entertain and intrigue, the work is a visual journal of images, symbols, and the stories they tell.

Inspired by assemblage artist Michael deMeng, my recent sculptural clayworks have come to include an ever-expanding supporting cast of metal, glass, wood, and found objects.

Current projects include: mixed media assemblage, painted terracotta forms, new vessel development, and sculptural works inspired by the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve ARTservancy Artist-in-Residence program. I am calling some of this new work “habitat arts”: Artwork to enhance and support the natural world in our gardens, neighborhoods, and public lands.

Artservancy stories

The objective of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and the land conservation, culminating in an exhibition at Gallery 224. My husband, Patrick Robison, and I explored the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve during this year-long residency co-sponsored by Gallery 224 and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.

Beginning in October of 2020, we hiked, nestled in to observe, took photographs, gathered ephemera like leaves and driftwood, and cataloged the plant and animal species that we encountered.

My sketchbook serves as a diary of visits, ideas, and journal pages that test images and methods. A ‘finished’ product is still illusive, but the ephemera and images are already living in collages, assemblages, and printed on paper and fabric.

Thinking walks are my favorite way to introduce students to new concepts and ecosystems. As a botanist and educator, I dream of on-site public projects and walks based on ‘thinking’ from my experiences with Project Zero, Harvard University’s initiative on creative thinking and projects with a focus on understanding learning in and through the arts. (Karen Robison)

My wife Karen and I are explored the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve just north of Port Washington. The preserve was formerly the site of Squires Golf Club, and I have memories of playing there in the 1980’s. I am amazed at the magical transformation that has resulted in the preserve today.

In addition to sculptures, I’m creating, installing, and GPS mapping a collection of terracotta clay “nests,” which are intended to serve as foundations to encourage and facilitate more nest building. (Patrick Robison)

Ten of the terra cotta nest forms were placed at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve in the early spring to see if they would encourage birds to nest in protected places. Photo: Eddee Daniel.