Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1924, Charlotte began her career as a portrait artist, refining her drawing techniques and honing her keen observational skills. After World War II, she studied at the Art Students’ League and at NYU in New York City, followed by travel and study in Europe and at the Corcoran School of Art in the early 1950’s. When she moved to Madrid, Spain in 1960 the color and landscape of her youth in Texas beckoned and lured her into more abstract painting. She and her husband, Robby, moved to Virginia in the 1960’s and settled in the Lake Barcroft area in 1965 to build a home and studio along the water. The lake allowed her to stretch her imagination and to dive into the science and sensation of water on a daily basis. Based in the nation’s capital, she became immersed in the nascent feminist and environmental movements emerging in the late 1960’s. This nexus of natural environment and political activism provided a framework that would influence her artwork for the rest of her life.
Robinson chose painting because it is flexible, immediate and able to incorporate any number of other possibilities into the creative mix. Her inquisitive nature constantly opened new doors to experimenting with a diverse array of media. Her lengthy career attests to a fearless spirit of exploration in numerous media including drawing, print making, collage, assemblage, works of handmade paper and quilt making.
Having grown up in Texas where she developed a strong attachment to the land from an early age, Robinson’s abstract expressionist forays owe a great debt to landscape. While her work dove into the Color Field style in the early 70’s, influenced by artists such as Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler, it is her steadfast study of the natural world, the activity of water and the abstract patterns that it continually creates that inspire her work. In her hands, these subjects become rich source material for a visual, metaphorical and intellectual evolution on canvas.