Monthly Meeting - November 4
" A Sense of Place and Time: A Sense of Pose - An Artist Talk"
By Gena Brodie Robbins and Monica Lynn James
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"Alliance" acrylic, Gena Brodie Robbins
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"Brown Sugar Makes it Better" serigraphy,
acrylic and oil, Monica Lynn James
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"Crossing Over" mixed media on panel,
Gena Brodie Robbins
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"Sugar Magnolia" serigraphy, acrylic and oil,
Monica Lynn James
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Both Monica Lynn James and Gena Brodie Robbins received their Master of Fine arts degrees in
painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah GA. In fact, both artists were
awarded the Savannah College of Art’s "New York City Workspace" given quarterly in 2004 and 2005.
There, both artists were also awarded internships at Exit Art Gallery in Chelsea and at the Artist’s
Workshop in Brooklyn. Currently Gena Brodie Robbins teaches art at Matanzas High School in Palm
Coast, and Monica Lynn James teaches art at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
The paintings of Gena Brodie Robbins and Monica Lynn James invite viewers to contemplate layers of
contradicting line, shape and color, emitting a harmony of ghostly imagery that disappears and
reappears like history caught in a repeating loop. Subject matter pertaining to time and history are
explored on canvas.
In Monica Lynn James’ work, symbols of the deep south, the cotton icon or past victims of slavery, exist
within transparent glazes of paint or glass-like layers of epoxy. Her experiences in Savannah,
Richmond, and other cities of the south have given rise to works pertaining to the history of African
Americans. Her physical act of layering is a metaphor for history. Images buried in the deepest layers
are excavated from anthropology, reformed into her own subconcious script.
In the work of Gena Brodie Robbins, the elements and effects of time are explored through the process
of wiping away and the bringing back of objects, faces, or figures of interest. The spirit beneath or
within the imagery is revealed through a process of elimination. Color is washed on, bold in various
places; accented with gestural line voicing a presence past, or fleeting imagery from memory. This
excavation of paint uncovers the ephemeral sense of the moment and our own impermanence.
Additional Meeting Photos
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