Theresa Roberts | Safety
Theresa Roberts
Safety
FOCUS GALLERY
September 5 - 27
Opening Reception: September 5, 5-7pm
Theresa Roberts b. 1971 is a self taught artist with a developmental disability. She is deeply influenced by the natural world. She uses alcohol markers, coloured pencils, graphite and pen and oil pastel to depict the natural world. Roberts abstracts each element of her work, and changes her colour palate with the seasons. Each colour represents people, animals and other important elements in her life.
Theresa works in series, depicting other-worldly, abstract interpretations of the natural world, featuring moons, rainbows and other elements. Through layering, images are obscured, lost and re-found. Her work requires careful consideration and observation from the viewer, who must look closely to learn her art vocabulary. Part of Roberts' visual vocabulary is that circles always mean moons and the spectrum of colors she uses in her drawings represent different plants, animals and people. Her drawings bend our understanding of time and place as they take place during night and day, throughout many seasons and over the course of many cycles of full moons.
“The circles are moons. The moons come out at night. It’s really neat to see a moon. I like to look at the moon. I think about the wolves, when the moon comes out, then the wolves come out. That's a good thing. The gold moons, [they’re] like the sun. With the sun in it. It's the sun. Nice and warm out. That’s a good thing.
It makes you feel good. I like drawing, that's good. I like to draw rainbows and flowers. I think it's important to think about that; flowers and rainbows. Going to the garden is kind of nice. Flowers make me feel really good, because you can smell them. Makes me feel good. I like all the flowers. Animals are special as well. I like what animals do.
And then, I have rainbows. I use rainbows in many drawings. What do I like about rainbows? I think they’re special. They make me feel good. I like the rainbow when it comes out. It looks really pretty. I just put the colors in. I just put them in. The blue is the sky, I would say. The light blue; that's the clouds.
When we were walking we saw the birds on the tree. The black is like the ravens. I like birds too. Birds, when the birdies be your friends, that’s a good thing. Yes, birds are your friends. It is good to draw the birds; they’re cute, they are gray you see. Lots of gray, yes, gray birds. The red too, That's for the birds. Now, some red is the leaves. The pink is the clouds. Orange is the fox, I would say. The Green [is the] morning lights and grass and trees too.
I think art is special. I feel good about it. I'm very happy when I do art.”
THERESA ROBERTS
Theresa Roberts, b. 1971 is a self taught, neurodiverse artist from Whitehorse, YT. She has been married into the Carcross Tagish First Nation for 20 years and met her husband at a mask making activity. She is an avid member of People First, a disability rights and self-advocacy organization, which she describes as “a place to talk about sticking up for your rights, and they have nice suppers [at the meetings].” Roberts is also an athlete with the Yukon Special Olympics. She has competed nationally in Bocce and Figure Skating.
Roberts has a gentle effect and a calming influence on those around her. She describes herself as a nice person. She has a special connection with animals that frequently come up to her, which she enjoys. She talks to them, names them and often represents them in her art. She has been making since she was a little girl, and is deeply influenced by her observations of the natural world and its colors. Roberts was the January 2024 Jenni House Artist in Residence.
Past Exhibitions
