Dolona Roberts utilizes a wide variety of techniques to portray Native American women wrapped in evidences of their culture. By Louise Turner
"SPIRIT
BLANKETS," serigraph, 22~ by 28 inches, edition of 100.
The shrouded backs of Indian figures wrapped in blankets appeared in several
dozen vivid canvases in Dolona Roberts' recent one-person show in Santa
Fe. In her "Blanket Women" series, black geometric lines zig zag
boldly through brilliant crimsons and blues of the backgrounds of the blankets.
In some, even more breath-taking canvases, they slash through the tenderness
of peach or rose hues, blending in amazing harmony with the stark lines.
Often, hazy lavender or purple rivulets of paint trail from the top to the
bottom of her large canvases.
These radiant and dramatic canvases are representative of the
work Roberts has been creating for the past seven years.
On the occasion of the late-August opening, Roberts was attired
in fawn silk with turquoise highlights, the fabric seeming to pick up some
of the pastel background colors of her work on canvas. As the attractive
artist moved about the brightly lighted gallery, a handsome, silver-haired
gentleman approached her and inquired, "Why do you always paint the
backs of Indian women?"
Roberts' response was gracious and confident. "Well, first,
why not? And second, such a composition lends itself to what I do. I've
been called a 'contained abstractionist.' That is, in the upper part of
the painting, where the head is defined, a certain amount of Realism is
represented. Then the geometric designs lend them- selves to a form of abstraction.
The designs are from my own conceptualizing. They are the craftsman's own
creation. They aren't representational."
The silver-haired gentleman moved away, nodding in agreement,
to gaze at one, then another, of the arresting canvases.
Roberts' artistic raison d'etre in this genre makes literal
and traditional sense. In the former case, the large blanketed backs (they
are usually larger than life) enable her to work with a vast space to achieve
the broad, rich hues in the backgrounds of her canvases; the geometric strokes
therefore do not intrude upon nor overwhelm the backgrounds, which are frequently
the most delicate and fragile of pastel colorations. Composition is never
com- promised. Balance is achieved in the combination of the strong, positive
geometric lines and the confident use of background color, be it muted or
splashy.
"I am a colorist, basically, more than anything else in
my artistic life," Roberts says. "I'll see a beautiful little
blue plant next to a pink hollyhock, and the combination of colors will
trigger some- thing, color-wise. A skyline or a sunset or the colors in
a fabric will set me off on a color course. I start mixing paints. Then
one color merge~ into another, and another, and pretty soon I'm into something
new-a new color, a new combination of colors. I don't mean that I'm painting
the little 
blue
plant and the hollyhock, but I'm devising colors that were inspired by the
flowers. Earlier, my colors were very intense, and now they've started getting
softer, more muted, more luminescent."
Roberts greatly respects the traditions of the Indian people. In ritual dances, for instance, women rarely expose their faces. As they turn to the east, south, west and north, their faces are obscured by evergreens or baskets that the women hold before them. In Roberts' representations, therefore, the faces, except for an occasional suggestion of a profile, are not presented to the viewer.
"It is the combination of concepts- space, color and tradition-
from which the 'Blanket Women' style emerged," she explains. Roberts
admits that the repetition of the same theme over an extended period of
time is a challenge. Recently she began working on fabric with a new line
of pigments that has enabled her to elaborate upon the geometric design
without the necessity of wondering how it will look on the back of an Indian
woman. She concentrates solely on the design, which will surely later find
its way onto a canvas. In the meantime, the fabric work serves as .a kind
of rehearsal medium for future canvases.