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Born in 1955 in Bloomington, IN, USA


1997, M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction/Art Education at Indiana University at Bloomington, IN ( M.S. with thesis: Educating Against Art: A Social Reproduction).

1978, B.F.A in Drawing and Sculpture (with a minor in Art History) from The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University at Bloomington, IN.

1973, studied art fundamentals at The John Herron School of Art at Indianapolis, IN.

TR Robertson has worked with nationally recognized artists Bonnie Sklarski and Jean-Paul Darriau. She taught public school visual arts for 5 years and continues to write and present concerns of deconstructing the objectification of the learner in American art education. Robertson free-lances as a stone carver, book illustrator, and graphic designer, and has her own line of mail order greeting cards.

She currently lives in New York, USA.


"I manipulate and juxtapose imagery in my work to make content and subject matter appear existential/phenomenological. A recurrent theme is the human condition, individual experience, and memory, which I represent as fragmented, damaged. Because of this approach, my work has been defined stylistically as post-modern and surrealistic.

Another favorite theme is the personification of animals (particularly dogs) and icons of popular culure such as toys, as imagery in my work, again to suggest a psychologically challenged and fractured sense of knowing. I use Merleau-Ponty's concept of memory and thus meaning-making as "situated knowing," fragmented, dependent on time and space, to help formulate the subtle tension I seek within the composition of each work. It is through a combination of this manipulation of imagery and formalistic elements/principles, that I feel my work takes on its expressive, psychologically challenging dimensions for the viewer as meaning-maker.

As with my teaching, I take issue with the objectification of the viewer (as art patron or learner) as passive object, while the art object/image is conceived of as active subject. I may juxtapose emotionally charged imagery in my art, but the art work itself is the passive object, unable to act upon the viewer unless he/she reads, engages with and thereby makes meaning about it. Therefore, I create art with the anticipation that the viewer as active subject and meaning-maker will create meaning about the work based on his/her lived experiences, situated knowing. Thus, my overarching purpose in creating art involves the desire to cause viewers to think and feel via the aesthetic experience. "

T.R. Robertson, August 1999



Read PaintingsDIRECT'S March 2000 exhibition featuring T.R. Robertson.


  • Solo Exhibition
  • 1999: World Fine Art Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1984: The Campus Community Arts Center Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; Selected Works: 1974-1984, The Time It Took To Get Here

  • Group Exhibitions
  • 2000:
  • The Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC
  • A Hunger Artist Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, Home

  • 1999:
  • The World Fine Art Gallery, New York; Solo Exhibition of Recent Work and Other Favorites: A postmodern Read...

  • International Showcase 1999, curated by Tim Slowinski, Director of The Limner Gallery, New York.

  • International Showcase, curated by Tim Slowinski, Director of The Limner Gallery, New York, September 1999.

  • National Showcase Exhibition, curated by Geno Rodriguez, Director of The Alternative Museum, New York.

  • Woman's Vision: The 11th Annual Juried Competition/Exhibition Celebrating Women and Their Achievements Through Art and Poetry, sponsored by The Department of Arts and Humanities and The Student Life Center, Columbia University Teachers College, New York. Collaborative work with John Broughton.

  • 1998:
  • SOHO 20 Gallery, 4th Annual International Exhibition of Women's Art, juried by Leslie Jones of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

  • Art of the Northeast USA 49th Annual Exhibition, juried by Lisa M. Messinger of the 20th Century Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT.

  • 1997:
  • National Juried Exhibition, juried by Marisol, Gallery 84, New York.

  • Carnegie Hall International Art Expo, juried by Joel Hochman and Larry Leichman, Carnegie Hall, New York.

  • No. B.I.A.S. '97 National Juried Competition, juried by Beth Handler, Department of Painting and Sculpture at The MOMA, No. B.I.A.S. Gallery, North Bennington, VT.
  • Emerging Artists with Weird Visions, curated by Tim Slowinski, Director of The Slowinski Gallery New York.

  • 1996:
  • Alumni Self-Portrait Exhibition: A Century Of Art, 1896-1996, 100 years, by invitation at The Fine Arts Gallery, The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

  • 1984:
  • Southern Indiana Nuclear Freeze Exhibition, by invitation at The Campus Community Arts Center Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

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    Selection of paintings from T.R. Robertson

    Read the guestbook of T.R. Robertson

    Sign the guestbook of T.R. Robertson

  • 2000:
  • Firts Place for Oil Painting, Albuquerque, NM, A Hunger Artist Gallery

  • Honorable Mention for Buster's Desire Filled the Room, The Touchstone Gallery, Washington DC.

  • 1999:
  • Artists Showcase Award, Manhattan Arts Magazine, "1999 Eighth Annual Cover Art Competition," New York, NY.

  • 1973:
  • National Society of Arts and Letters Award

  • 1972:
  • Second Place in Drawing, The Hoosier Hills Art Guild, Bloomington, IN.

  • Second Place in Drawing, The Brown County Art Gallery, Nashville, IN.

  • Scholastic Art Award, Scholastic Magazines, Inc., Indianapolis, IN.

  • Direct Art Buyer Magazine, Volume 2, November 1, 1999 issue date, Slow Art Productions, The Limner Gallery, New York.

  • McCluskey, A. (Ed.), Women In the Arts: A Celebration, Women's Studies Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.