This post commemorates the great achievement of Austin-based artist Deborah Roberts with her first solo Texas museum exhibition. She has been on my podcast twice and we covered her early life and the progression of her career from humble beginnings until just over a year ago. I’m thinking about asking if she would come on a third time to get updated with this new phase her career. Very exciting! She inspires a lot of artists and those two interviews are definitely ones that people positively comment to me about the most. Have a listen here or anywhere you listen to the podcasts and be sure to buy a ticket to see her exhibition if you will be in Austin before August 15, 2021. It has been a long time coming and I’m so happy for her and her success. If you want to read further there are quite a few great articles about her new show that I will link to at the end of this post.
“I’ve always dedicated my life to the work, and whatever the work needed that’s what I did.”
Text from Episode 19 summary- March 2018
It has been an incredible year for Austin based artist Deborah Roberts. But after decades of hard work and scholarship, it’s not really a surprise. She was already an established artist long before deciding to go back to school to get her MFA in 2014, to study and find the language and direction for her new work. Her imagery started out in a very romantic Americana style but after a time that didn’t completely match the reality of what she was feeling and seeing in the world. The work needed to change. After finishing school she gave herself two years to succeed in art before having to give up once and for all. Then she received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2016. For the first time, she could spend a whole year completely focused on her art full time and create without fear. What has followed is sold out shows all over the country and lots of press praising the work and giving her credit which was overdue.
With a focus on collage, painting, mixed media/installation, and text, Roberts is best known for creating portraits of young black girls, aged 8-10, that ask the viewer to consider how their beauty has been imagined: by art history, pop culture, American history, and black culture. And when and why do these young vulnerable girls have to put on their gloves and start fighting battles? It's important work and it resonates with a lot of people.
Deborah is a delight to be around and the interview was a lot of fun. We go all the way back to her beginnings in art and work our way to the present. She then dissects the meaning and language of the work and talks about the future and her newfound fame.
“I’m going to continue to push my work forward. The work has always come first. It has to be the work because it’s no good if it’s not. That’s my philosophy. I don’t push that on anyone else. That’s just always been my thing. That the work has to do what it needs to do.”
Text from Episode 71 summary - Oct 2019
In this highly anticipated follow-up to my first interview with Deborah from March of 2018, we sit down to talk about all of the wonderful and sometimes challenging aspects of her amazing career over the last year and a half since we last spoke. From grants to residencies to gallery representation in Los Angeles and London, it has been a wild ride. But don’t think she is an overnight success. Her work ethic and passion have carried her through over four decades of pursuing art to where she is now. As they say, luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
Deborah shares how her work has been evolving and where it is headed, her studio practice, as well as giving us a peek into some ideas for her upcoming one women show at The Contemporary Austin a year from now. I think Deborah proves that hard work, integrity, and persistence can change your life and the lives of others in a positive way. She is even planning to start a foundation to help other artists get the help that she so dearly needed to grow her career early on. If you haven’t heard our first conversation that covers the history of her life and career before last year, have a listen to Episode 19.