Working for many years as an objects restorer/conservator has had a profound effect on the way I see things. I am attracted to misfits, leftovers, rejects, ruins and things which have become obsolete. I work intuitively responding to my samples, discoveries and emotions of the moment. The rejects, often years old, are resurrected, transformed by different processes and interests slowly becoming my new paintings, works on paper or sculptures. The materials chosen … semi transparent silk organza, thread, drafting film, tulle and aluminum wire lend themselves to tracing, recording and constantly changing their shape. While I admire gorgeous thick applications of paint in other artist’s work I tend to water down my acrylics till they stain the surface or apply them like a bead on the paper or silk to define and activate the surface…the weblike lines slowly moving across the surface. I am attracted to an organic form of abstraction combining drawing, painting and photography. Aerial photos of my trips home to Canada have surfaced in my recent work. I have always been interested in making objects that collapse the boundaries between painting, photography, sculpture and fiber based work. I feel somehow compelled to make connections with things that don’t seem to belong together. I want you to wonder what you are looking at…a painting, a photograph, a stereoscopic view of something or maybe even a quilt.
Themes of fragility, transparency, the discarded and the forgotten have long been a constant connecting thread in my work.
As an adoptee I have always imagined myself to be a thousand different people from a multitude of different landscapes. I believe my work has followed a similar path, one of constant searching, always seeking new experimentation, always seeking new indefinable experiences in hopes of finding those moments of magic.
Kathy Robinson-Hays 2026
BIO
Kathy Robinson-Hays is a Canadian born, long time Texas visual artist and art conservator/restorer. She received her B.F.A Honors in painting from the University of Manitoba. After studying in Italy and New York she obtained her M.A. in studio art from N.Y.U. Venice Study Abroad Program in 1996. Her work has been included in New American Paintings #84, Studio Visits Magazine and Peripheral Vision Issue 7. She is represented by Ro2 Art in Dallas. She and her husband Terry Hays have worked side by side in their Duncanville home studio for many years, both inspired and energized by the forest and landscape surrounding them.
@kat_rob_hays.com on Instagram
Represented by Ro2Art@ro2art.com