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MAKING

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Personal objects and shared symbols help Carolyn Robles create

meaningful portraits and allegorical works with deeper messages.

by Stefanie Laufersweiler

C

arolyn Robles has painted

portraits of people for years,

but a goal to strengthen the

narrative has led her to

design paintings with greater mean-

ing. “They’re about the individual,”

she says, “but they’re also about the

human experience.” Robles carries her

storytelling further in other more

allegorical works she makes that are

statements not about the individual,

but about all of us.

A GALLERY DECISION

AND A SOLO SHOT

After years of teaching art to adults and

painting conventional portrait commis-

sions, Robles realized that she missed

creating art that felt more personal

and intuitive. She craved the joy of

playing, the challenge and fulfillment

of exploring deeper themes and ideas,

and the creative freedom that comes

when rules and restrictions are lifted.

“Narrative portraits are a lot more fun

and energizing to interact with than

a straight portrait,” the artist says.

Her recent shift to portraits that

share more of a story began last year.

Not usually one to enter shows or

frequently exhibit her paintings,

Robles says she took a chance and

decided to join a gallery in Tucson,

Ariz., the city in which she resides.

Shortly after her first exhibition at

Untitled Gallery, she was contacted by

Michael Fenlason, then the artistic

director of the Tubac Center of the

Arts, who offered her a solo show. She

was given just over three months to

prepare new work for it.

“It was intense and scary but

something for which I was so grate-

ful,” says Robles. She went to work

creating a collection of “symbolic”

narrative portraits. The paintings

Repairer of Souls (opposite), From the

Temple of the Musician (page 50) and

OPPOSITE

All of the items in Repairer of Souls

(pastel on suede, 36x30) belong to

the subject, Christine, a friend of the

artist, except for the shell she’s holding.

“She’d been working on her thesis

related to meditation,” Robles says,

“and had created almost a map of

emotions, which she hopes to someday

get into the hands of as many people

as possible, from prisoners to

students. Her project is, at fi rst glance,

about emotional intelligence, but

the implications are much deeper if

people might be able to use it to heal

themselves.” The shell Robles had

Christine hold reprsents a spiral

of emotions, and its cone shape the

idea of something small on the surface

leading to much more underneath.

“The bones and magician card that

Christine had pulled out of her bag

are about using magic to put the pieces

back together,” says Robles.