Museum of Art

Hilda Robinson

Hilda Robinson (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1928; d. Oakland, California, 2023) created vibrant oil pastel artworks that layered color upon color to express compiled memories, recollect observed characters, and capture the movement of the human spirit persisting in Black American communities.

Robinson’s curiosity about people and their expressions infused her art with purpose. Frequenting public transportation, she observed interactions, conversations, and fashion among people at bus stops, parks, and other public settings. She would sketch her observations in a notebook, later synthesizing these memories and the characters she encountered into her large-scale works. Her preferred medium, oil pastels, enabled her to capture the loose movement of memory and the colorful sensation of the human form. Robinson’s childhood also significantly influenced her art. She reminisced about experiences such as jumping rope, swinging in playgrounds, and standing in Sunday Best attire, to reflect on her cultural upbringing in the 1930s, while also infusing new memories of her children and their children.

Robinson studied painting at the Tyler School of Fine Arts at Temple University before other dreams led her to a career as a professional dancer in New York and later, as a mother in California. Nevertheless, she continued her educational pursuits, earning her B.A. (1978) and M.A. (1980) at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied under Joan Brown. As her art practice flourished in her mid-fifties, the works presented in this exhibition speak to the nonlinear pathways of creating art, witnessing life, and holding space for joy while nurturing community amid life’s challenges.

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Hilda Robinson Retrospective is organized by the Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (SMCMoA) and Saint Mary’s College Office of Inclusion and Belonging. SMCMoA gratefully acknowledges lead support provided by Dr. Terri R. Jett and Dr. Ramona Bishop. Additional support comes from the Alameda County Arts Commission, SMC Committee on Diversity, Belonging and Liberation, Cora (Coco) Guston, Rachel Osajima, and Virginia Smyly. Thank You.

Above image: Hilda Robinson (1928–2023) Mandela, 1991, oil pastel on paper, Courtesy of the Bishop family.

Exhibition Resources

image of Dr. Ramona Bishop speaking at event

watch

Half Full - Hilda C. Robinson, M.A.

Presented in collaboration with the Office of Inclusion and Belonging, this talk shares reflections and interpretations by Dr. Ramona Bishop on the work of her late mother, artist Hilda Robinson. Dr. Bishop, a scholar, activist, and educator, examined the impact of her mother's art and perseverance, connecting it to her life's work in education and bridging access points.

image of museum visitors looking at pastel work of art

press release

Three Spring Exhibitions at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (SMCMoA): Artists Hilda Robinson and Beth Van Hoesen, and a Collaborative Commission with Printmaker Zach Clark

The exhibits highlight the legacies of two Bay Area women artists. And the commissioned project showcases the campus landscape and student voices. Celebrate all exhibitions at an opening reception on February 12.