b. 1940 d. 2015
Site Affiliation: Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Home-Studio and Artist’s Residence
Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (1940-2015) had a passion for history and community. Art was an intrinsic part of her life, nurtured by mother, Helen, who taught her needle and button work and encouraged by father, Leroy, himself a fine draftsman. In 1940, the Robinsons moved to Poindexter Village, an inspiration for decades of her art production. Robinson studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design, lost her scholarship, and did not graduate. Following school and marriage, Robinson worked as a draftsman, illustrator, lecturer, and art instructor across the country before settling into a two-decade career as art instructor in Columbus. In 1991, Robinson achieved her dream to be a full-time artist and received an Honorary Master’s
Degree from CCAD. Robinson received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004, and when she died in 2015, she left her home, art, writings, books, personal effects, and even her dog in Trust to the Columbus Museum of Art.
Primary Medium: Mixed media
Primary Stylistic Term: Post
Modern / Contemporary
Fun Fact: From a child Robinson loved animals and kept them with her in the house. A self-portrait, done when she was nineteen, entitled Self Portrait with Rabbit (Pincko), 1959, shows her pet rabbit emerging from the front of her head. Always in the company of dogs, cats, and even free-roaming lizards, Aminah outlived her last pet chihuahua, Baby who was entrusted to the Columbus Museum of Art in 2015.
Recommended Publications: Raggin’ On: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s House and Journals by Carole Genshaft (2020); The Teachings: Drawn from African-American Spirituals by Aminah Robinson (1993)