Rockin’ at the gallery
By STACEY ASHCRAFT, DMG WriterArticle Photos
HOUGHTON - Since moving to the Copper Country 13 years ago, Geologist Susan Robinson began collecting agates from the shorelines of Lake Superior.
Inspired by their luster and depth, Robinson decided to paint pictures of the stones mirroring color and shadows.
"I paint what I see ... I paint what's in front of me," Robinson said.
The acrylic paintings will be part of the "Let's Rock" exhibit at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet, she said.
A reception for the exhibit, which features not only paintings by Robinson but also photography by John Jaszczak, sterling jewelry with local Keweenaw stones by Julie Sanford and a mineral specimen lecture by Dr. George Robinson, will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m., Friday at the gallery. The month-long exhibit will feature art for viewing and for sale.
Nineteen of Robinson's paintings will be a part of the exhibit.
"I have a four-year degree in Geology," she said. "I've always enjoyed the shoreline pebbles."
Since moving here, she began painting large and small pictures of the different agates she collects.
"I just really like the different patterns and colors," she said.
To make them appear life-like, sometimes so precise they resemble photographs, Robinson leaves nothing out from her paintings - even cracks.
Most of the larger paintings have taken around three weeks to complete, she said and of the 19 paintings, some have driftwood and stones pressed onto the frames.
"There is a fellow that I found down in Wisconsin who ends up making those frames," she said. "Then I glue on those tiny little pebbles and itty bitty pebbles onto them."
Robinson has been painting for more than 30 years and usually paints different stone specimens or still-life paintings of mining hammers and lights.
"Then when I get tired of all of that, I start painting birds usually on pieces of driftwood," Robinson said.
Ed Gray, gallery owner, said he is happy to have Robinson as a part of the exhibit.
"She does an incredible job," he said. "Her use if the media is incredible, the way she uses the shadowing."
Dr. George Robinson, Susan's husband, is the curator at the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University. He will hold lectures, the first being held at 7 p.m. Friday, July 17 at the gallery and the following held at 7 p.m. the following Friday also at the Ed Gray Gallery.
One program will be an illustrated talk about rocks and minerals as naturally occurring objects on art, Gray said, and the process of studying them. The second lecture, titled "Is This an Agate?" will focus on beachstones and identifying rocks.
"It will be something to help people identify the beachstones by themselves," Robinson said of her husband's lectures.
The Ed Gray Gallery is located on Fifth Street in Calumet. For more information, call 337-5970.
Stacey Ashcraft can be reached at sashcraft@mininggazette.com
