Robbins’ Art Comes to Roost at Broadmoor

1/28/2010

At Rivers, teachers practice what they teach. Jazz instructors perform at Boston music clubs, Spanish faculty travel to Latin America for research and language immersion, and art teachers, like Whitney Robbins, regularly showcase their work in local galleries.

 

From January 10 to March 6, the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick is presenting “Rookery: New Mixed-Media Work by Whitney C. Robbins.” Revolving around the visual theme of the great blue heron’s nest, Robbins’ exhibit is a dizzyingly diverse display of styles and talents, including acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings, as well as sewn paper, tea bags, and other physical objects. “Many of the materials I have used represent my heritage,” says Robbins, citing fabric swatches from her grandfather’s textile mill in Maine and photos and stamps from old family scrapbooks.

 

Robbins says that the rookery theme has become particularly relevant for her as an artist. “The process of bouncing back and forth between representational drawings and more abstract mixed media paintings has made me question my own nesting habits and peculiarities as a species,” she says.

 

The exhibit at Broadmoor will also double as an educational tool: Robbins has coordinated visits to the sanctuary for Head of Middle School Susan McGee’s poetry class, as well as the 7th grade. “I want to show that this is more than just ‘precious art hanging in a gallery space,’” she says. “A show like this can also be used as a teaching opportunity for our students.”

 

For those interested in visiting, Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary is located at 280 Eliot Street (Route 16) in Natick. Please contact Broadmoor at 508-655-2296 or broadmoor@massaudubon.org for more information.