Retta Robbins, a native of Virginia, has spent most of her life teaching and traveling. Her work frequently reflects both her Virginia background and her far-flung travels. She has lived and traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Far East.

She holds a B.F.A from the Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University) and an M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins University, with additional graduate work at New York University. She also has studied in Florence, Paris, and Kyoto.

Her long service to Virginia arts resulted in the Distinguished Service Award for Art Education, given in conjunction with the Kennedy Center. She also served on the Advisory Panel for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

She is a member of Exposure Unlimited and exhibits frequently in the Fredericksburg, VA area. Artspoint.org also offers a profile of Ms. Robbins that includes a number of works she has exhibited in its galleries. Ms. Robbins' work also may be seen at her studio at Liberty Town Arts Workshop in Fredericksburg and at www.rettarobbins.com.

Artist’s Statement

“For me, art is making marks on a surface. I delight both in the play of colors as they modulate or activate one another and in the lines actual or inferred.
Painting is an active dance with the canvas. As Paul Klee has observed, ‘Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.’”