Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson #WomensHERstoryMonth (Patreon)

Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (February 18, 1940 – May 22, 2015) was a prolific American artist who represented Black American history through art. An advocate for Black American history, Robinson was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2004.

Robinson was born Brenda Lynn on February 18, 1940, in Columbus, Ohio. She was raised in Poindexter Village, a neighborhood historically populated by Black Americans. Her father taught her how to work with raw materials and items such as charcoal, glass, leather, seashells, animal hides, clay, rope and wood. He also taught her the use of rabbit-skin glue and his own creation of a substance called HawgMawg- which consisted of brick dust, red clay, mud, glue, twigs, leaves, animal grease, and lime.

She attended East High School in Columbus, and received her formal art training at the Columbus Art School (now the Columbus College of Art and Design) from 1957-1960. In 1958, Robinson got a job at the Columbus Public Library, where she did illustrations and also studied the history of the city's Black American neighborhoods. In 1974, she purchased a house which would double as her art studio; in 1979, after taking a trip abroad to study, Robinson adopted the name Aminah, changing her name legally in 1980.

In 1990, the Columbus Metropolitan Library commissioned her to create 40-foot panels that would illustrate historic Black American neighborhoods within the city. The large-scale, intricate masterwork, called 'Life in Sellsville' (1871-1900) and 'Life in the Blackberry Patch' (1900-1931), took two years to complete. In 2004, she was awarded the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant.'

Her work has been displayed at the Columbus Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Brooklyn Museum, and more. Robinson has been the subject of nearly 200 solo and group exhibitions, writing & illustrating several art books along with children’s picture books.

On May 22, 2015, Robinson died of a heart complication at 75. She left all her belongings to the Columbus Museum of Art; it established the "Aminah Robinson Legacy Project," & transformed her house into a residency area for Black Artists.

[unhurried] {witness}: https://unhurried-witness.aadhum.org

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Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture'

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6

Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa

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Links:

http://aminahsworld.org/

'Buttons, beads and bravado - Celebrating the simple joy in Aminah Robinson's art:' https://www.npr.org/2021/10/01/1041301066/buttons-beads-and-bravado-celebrating-the-simple-joy-in-aminah-robinsons-art

'Aminah Robinson exhibition at Columbus Museum of Art gives intimate view of beloved artist:' https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/arts/2020/11/21/aminah-robinson-exhibition-columbus-museum-art-celebrates-artist/3770277001/

Aminah Robinson Biography: https://biography.jrank.org/pages/2534/Robinson-Aminah.html

Overlooked No More - Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Whose Art Chronicled Black Life: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/obituaries/aminah-brenda-lynn-robinson-overlooked.html

The Late Artist Aminah Robinson Dedicated Her Life to Recovering America’s Lost History. At Last, She’s Finding a Bigger Audience:' https://news.artnet.com/art-world/aminah-robinson-columbus-museum-1924856