Kathleen Robbins earned her MFA at Massachusetts College of Art where she later became a faculty member. Many of her landscapes reflect the seacoast area of Maine and New Hampshire. She has worked in art therapy at a local hospital over the past decade. Her inspiration comes from many sources including still life and landscape. “The process of building the painting is critical to my work. Gesture, color, line and surface all play with the space to create a distinct movement between representation and semi abstraction.” What drives her art is the initial response to a moment in time. The surface is often calm and time is suspended, with the ever-present tension on the verge of movement and change. How one object or shape affects the other is a continuing source of fascination for her. Layers are built upon or removed to create the final piece, as the painting takes on a life of its own. “You’ll find my work straddles the line between abstraction and figuration. Working directly from life I distill the elements of the landscape to an economy of mark making and random shorthand.” The loose abstract quality of the paint conveys the mood and sense of place. By stripping away explicit details and embracing the fluidity of abstraction, the work becomes a visual dialogue between the physical world and the emotional interpretation of the viewer.