Howard University

“Successions: Traversing U.S. Colonialism” on Exhibit at American University Museum

“USVI Spiritual, Moko Jumbie: Walk Tall and Heal Forward” Mixed Media on quilt, (back of “USVI Political”) 2021 (Courtesy of Amber Robles-Gordon)

Amber Robles-Gordon’s “Successions: Traversing U.S. Colonialism” has a dual purpose. It consists of her “Place of Birth and Breath” solo exhibit viewed first in her native Puerto Rico in 2020, and it has evolved into a component exhibit, which is an exploration of the historical underpinnings of U.S. Colonialism.

Robles-Gordon is a mixed media visual artist whose solo exhibit at the American University Museum opened in August and can be viewed Fridays through Sundays, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. until Dec. 12.

What began as a quest, “to heal my five-year-old self: to empower her to fight for herself, her language and her culture,” the exhibition took on “the intersections of language, culture, institutional racism, anti-blackness and their immeasurable impact within the U.S. territories,” said Robles-Gordon.

A native-born Puerto Rican with family from St. Thomas, St. John, Puerto Rico, Tortola and Antigua, Robles-Gordon created a visual discussion of the historical and political plight and resilience of the District of Columbia, where she resides, and the five U.S. territories that her two-sided quilts represent. They embody the artist’s creation of a political study of the territories and on the reverse side, a spiritual and cultural study.

Robles-Gordon’s early love of art and creativity moved her delight with fabrics, quilts and found objects to the discovery that these could and would be her artistic narrative.

A writer uses words to express; my medium of expression is my art, she said. “I use a myriad of materials according to what I’m trying to convey in a particular project or a particular narrative. It’s very essential that I match up with what I’m trying to convey,” Robles-Gorden said.

The decision to dismiss her native language, Spanish, came as a result of the teasing and ridicule Robles-Gordon experienced as a five-year-old kindergartener at her school in Arlington, Virginia, far away from her birthplace of Puerto Rico. She did not look like a Latina girl that was familiar to her classmates, and hence developed the bullying of this little brown-skinned girl.

In time, Robles-Gordon realized the importance of embracing her language and her culture and the need to find ways to heal through her research and employ it through her art as the medium on her journey to healing.

Speaking of her years as an artist, Robles-Gordon’s journey toward healing is what she brings creatively in her discoveries about U.S. Colonialism, “I think that it’s a beginning. There’s not an end to my journey. It’s a part of my journey. I think I’ve done a hell of a job in starting it. I actually feel proud about it in my own life. That feels good,” she said.

Robles-Gordon made the universe know how important this part of her journey is. “I think I’ve done that,” she said.

“Successions: Traversing U.S. Colonialism” exhibits the component of Robles-Gordon’s body of work containing six quilts embodying the Commonwealth of the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. The other component, “Place of Birth and Breath,” is the collage on canvas series created in 2020 and exhibited at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, (University of the Sacred Heart) in Puerto Rico.

“Place of Birth and Breath” is Robles-Gordon’s 10 mixed-media collage canvases that are a result of the visit with her mother to Puerto Rico where both women recaptured their roots, one of her childhood home, and the other of her birthplace.


“Isla del Encanto” collage, 18×24, 2020. (Courtesy of Amber Robles-Gordon)

A foundational symbology of the “Birth and Breath” body of work is the rubber tree that grows on the campus of the University of the Sacred Heart, which Robles-Gordon was introduced to while in Puerto Rico. “This tree appeared to be a literal fusion of past, present and future states of creation or sustaining an ecosystem. Throughout the series, are abstracted representations of the rubber tree – an entanglement of strong roots – as an example of its resiliency this tree most recently stood-fast to its native soil while 155 mph winds battered the campus,” Robles-Gordon noted.

Robles-Gordon shares her intricate ideas of how she layered her work depicting and interpreting the transitions of day to night and night to day. She relates to three major ethnic/racial groups – the Taino, the Spaniards and Africans, the stranglehold of the United States and the impact of the Caribbean Sea with its threat of hurricanes, scorching summer heat and lush landscapes.

Successions: Traversing U.S. Colonialism at American University exhibition closes on Dec. 12. The journey continues. The conversation continues. The healing continues.

See Amber Robles-Gordon’s website here..

Next up!!!! Saturday, April 7, 2018 Panelist at the James A Porter Colloquium, Howard University

Next up!!!! Saturday, April 7, 2018 2:15-3:15Artist Panel: Materiality and Space at the @jamesa.portercolloquium1990Panelists:@jmaurelle @amberroblesgordon @gregory.coates Panel Moderator:  Margo N. Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Engli…

Next up!!!! Saturday, April 7, 2018 2:15-3:15

Artist Panel: Materiality and Space at the @jamesa.portercolloquium1990

Panelists:

@jmaurelle @amberroblesgordon @gregory.coates 

Panel Moderator:  Margo N. Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of English, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania #portercolloquium

Check out my podcast interview with CONTEMPORARY BLACK CANVAS!

Check out my podcast interview with CONTEMPORARY BLACK CANVAS!

On this episode of Contemporary Black Canvas, we had the pleasure of interviewing the mixed media visual artist, Amber Robles-Gordon.  She primarily works and is known for her use of found objects and textile to create assemblages, large-scale sculptures and installations.  Her work is representational of her experiences and the paradoxes within the female experience.

Read More

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

BYT Staff, https://brightestyoungthings.com

March is Women’s History Month. Throughout the month we be profiled D.C. based women you should know. Amy Morse, the founder of Ideas Club, headed the project. Today she profiles Amber Robles-Gordon.

Amber is a D.C.-based changemaker who turns big ideas into visual art. Her work, which ranges from 50-foot banners draped on D.C. buildings, to installation art and mixed media assemblages, addresses global consumerism, gender imbalance and other major social cultural themes. Through the symbolic use of materials and their interactions, she exploratory meditations on her work read like spiritual healing practice. Her vantage point is unique, academically grounded (MFA in painting from Howard University), and incredibly beautiful. For those who enjoy interacting with creative nonfiction cultural critiques, she is a gem in D.C. of social commentary, drawing from an intuitive connection to herself and her spiritual practice.

Read More

MATRICES OF TRANSFORMATION: A Process of Discovery through Collage and Assemblage

The Art of Amber Robles-Gordon

My Thesis Defense Exhibition

Exhibition: Monday November 22, 2010 - Wednesday December 1, 2010

Howard University Thesis Defense: Monday November 29, 2020 3:00-500 pm

Michael Platt’s Studio 1468 Chapin Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 (Between Adams and Bryant Street) Viewing by appt. contact:

(202) 332-6917 or michealbplatt@verizon.net 

Amber Robles–Gordon (240) 417-4888 aroblesgordon@yahoo.com

Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles Gordon: Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings

Amber Robles-Gordon Milked, 2010, 30x30 on canvas

Jamea Richmond-Edwards Unforsaken, 2010, 18x24 on canva

Friday September 3- Friday September 17, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Gallery at AYN Studio in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, will present an exhibition of collage and assemblage creations by artists Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon entitled, “Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings”. The exhibition will open on Friday September 3, 2010 with a public reception from 6:30-8:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view by appointment until Friday September 17, 2010.

“Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings” is inspired by the themes in their work that convey the feminine mystique. Both women focus on their personal stories and the roles of women in society. The “Pretty Things” refers to the physical beauty and the sentiment that women attribute to the things they collect and adorn themselves with. “Little Treasures” are the intricate details that create the narratives. The “Hidden Meanings” are the various images and concepts that encompass the feminine mystique, yet reproduce social norms that confine.

This exhibition is the product of an artistic partnership and dialogue about emerging women artists. The dialogue began about how to navigate through the art world and challenge the notion of the individual and isolated artist. The two artists met while working on their MFA’s at Howard University and through their affiliation with Black Artists of DC. They discovered commonalities in their work and decided to partner and exhibit works focusing on womanhood.

Detroit native Jamea Richmond-Edwards studied painting and drawing at Jackson State University.

She primarily paints women and is influenced by childhood memories and the complex lives of the women in her life. She has developed her own unique style of mixed media portraiture using paper, graphite, and ink.

Amber Robles-Gordon is an artist, student, and native of Puerto Rico. She is currently finishing her Masters in Fine Arts at Howard University. Her medium is collage and assemblage. She focuses on fusing found objects to convey her own personal memories, inspired by nature, womanhood, and her belief in recycle energy.

Artist work can be viewed at www.jamearichmondedwards.comwww.amberroblesgordon.com

Interview Contact and to make appt: Amber Robles Gordon Telephone: 240-417-4888

Contact: The Gallery at AYN Studio 923 F St. NW Suite#201, Washington, D.C. 202-271-9475 http://www.aynstudio.com/ gediyon@AynStudio.com