From Fabric to Paint
Funk, Soul, and the Art of Avis Robinson
curated by Timothy Brown and Katie Larson, PhD
June 7–29, 2025
Avis Collins Robinson, Jimi Hendrix, 2014, mixed media acrylic, 88 x 72.5 in
The exhibition From Fabric to Paint: Funk, Soul, and the Art of Avis Robinson weaves together themes relating to art, history, and identity to present a multilayered view of Robinson’s work. Her paintings and textiles embody her long held interest in African American history and culture, evident in the grand and poetic interpretations of her subjects. Some insights into her work can be gleaned from Papa’s Got a Brand New Flag, inspired by the 1965 funk classic by James Brown, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” By changing “bag” to “flag” in the title, Robinson broadens the political implications, prompting viewers to reflect on the meaning of U.S. citizenship in our contemporary moment. Robinson often sought to celebrate Black achievement through the representation of icons like Jimi Hendrix, as well as those within her family and community. In The Truth Will Be Told, Robinson pays homage to her husband, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Eugene Robinson. Eugene appears in silhouette, working at his computer. He is seen against a backdrop of vertical fabric strips that allude to the manifold layers of his accomplishments.
Conveyed through both figuration and abstraction, Robinson’s quilts and paintings reflect the strength, resilience, and courage of Americans who fought against social injustices in the quest for dignity and respect. She charts that struggle from the emancipation of slavery to the most recent attack on the United States capital in 2021. Art may not have been her first profession, but it was her preferred way of “remembering”—a legacy that will forever remain in the hearts and minds of those who encounter her work.
About the Artist
Avis Collins Robinson was an artist, activist, and environmentalist with a passion for African American history. She graduated from the Academy of the Holy Cross in 1971 and received her B.A. from the University of Maryland in 1974. She later earned two Master’s degrees, the first from Golden Gate University and the second, an M.P.A., from Harvard University in 1988. For 20 years, Robinson worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she conducted early research on climate change. In 2003, she continued the legacy of the Washington Metropolitan Scholars program, a non-profit organization that connected 50 of the nation’s leading universities to high-achieving minority students in the Washington metropolitan area. During this period, Robinson also became an avid collector of African American historical artifacts and documents, a portion of which are now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In 2008, Robinson began to devote most of her time to creating art with fabric and paint. Building on her earlier relationship with the Gee’s Bend quilters, Robinson developed a pictorial language of her own, which was later recognized through her commissioned portrait of Lincoln for the Ford’s Theatre. She was later awarded a residency at the Studios of Key West, and a solo exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art. Further recognition came through her association with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE). Robinson donated quilts which are on display at U.S. Embassies in New York, London, and Moscow. In 2023, FAPE commissioned her to create a series of eight quilts for each elevator bank at the new U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Organized by IA&A in partnership with Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE)
