Mother
Nature sometimes plays strange tricks on us. Her years of painstaking effort
to find the exact formula for creating her internationally recognized Blanket
series of pastel paintings, Dolona Roberts has found that she is allergic
to the fumes of the plastic sprays and turpentine she's been using in her
work.
She isn't about to let that stop her, however. "It just means I'll
have to make some changes,' , she says. ' 'The fumes affect my breathing
and make me very sleepy, so I'll have to curtail my use of pastels to about
one month a year, maybe in the middle of summer. I'm busy now, working with
acrylics, to see if I can get the feel of pastels into my work.' , Roberts
is also working with Vincent Kennedy, a chemist with Color- craft, a manufacturer
of non-toxic poster paints for children, to see if he can develop non-toxic
materials for use by artists.
The technique Roberts used in creating her Blanket series involves
grinding chalk and mixing it with turpentine or a fixaitive, then applying
the mixture as a wash and using a turpentine- soaked brush to produce a
fluid, water- color effect. As the series became more popular, she experimented
and refined her use of materials to include a variety of pigments, thickeners,
softeners, catalysts, extenders, and metallic and pearlescent bases.
Roberts' pastel paintings of the backs of Indian men and women, draped in traditional blankets, have been described as luminescent, shining with mother -of - pearl opalescence, as incorporating , 'hues almost holy.' , Her paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Canada, with plans in progress to exhibit in Japan early next year.
Roberts' Blanket series is a combination of realistic and abstract.
Careful never to copy a design from a real Indian blanket, each of her flowing,
multicolored geometric designs is her own creation. "I don't want to
paint a blanket created by another person,' , she says. ' 'I incorporate
basic geometric shapes used for ages by mankind in weaving.' ,
A native Santa Fean, with a bit of Chippewa blood running through her veins,
Roberts feels very strongly about Indians and Indian traditions. For in-
stance, when performing ritual dances, Indian women hide their faces behind
evergreens or baskets. Roberts respects this tradition and paints Indian
women from the back ,with baskets pro- filing their heads. ' 'Indians believe
that you capture their souls if you paint or photograph their faces,' ,
she says. ' 'This is something I have always respected- the traditions of
the Indian culture.
"For example, the motifs found on blankets are trademarks that distinguish
the individual weaver. He or she puts his or her 'soul' into the weaving.
Therefore, I utilize generic symbols in the blankets of my subjects. There
is no one actual blanket copied. Instead, they represent blankets of all
cultures, all ages. Man has always shared common symbols and ideas, and
this is what I in- corporate into my work."
Circle of the Ceremony, acrylic, 48" by 58"
"This painting is the result of San Geronimo Day, The Sunset Dance-Ceremony
to the Evening Sun. This painting is perhaps also influenced by a]osePh
Sha111 painting entitled Sunset Dance.' ,
Art began to play a part in Roberts' life when she was just 5 and helped
her grandmother, an artist, mix paints. Her grandmother, taking note of
the child's interest, provided painting lessons under Indian painter, Louis
Crow. Roberts recalls doing charcoal sketches under the portal of the Palace
of the Governors, the setting for the annual Indian Market, and being
fascinated
by the colorful blankets of the Indian women.
While attending the University of New Mexico, where she studied under Randall
Davey, John Tatschl, Kenneth Adams, and Elaine de Kooning, Roberts was already
exhibiting her abstract collages at museums and galleries in New Mexico
and New York. One of her pieces showed in New York and traveled to Paris,
France, in 1960, where it won the Prix de Paris. By the time she graduated
from the university, Roberts had also illustrated an article in Atlantic
Monthly and had done the illustrations for a book, both of which dealt
with the Mayan culture.
Taos Men at the Dance, acrylic, 68" by 38"
"San Geronimo Day at Taos Pueblo was the inspiration for this painting,
This Feast Day at the Pueblo is one of the most spiritual, combining the
Catholic and Native American religions."
Although her Blanket series has brought her national and international acclaim, Roberts isn't limited to painting. Her ceramic and bronze sculptures of Indian women are haunting. after a trip to Africa, she produced monotypes inspired by her sketches of animals and African masks and symbols.
Roberts
also works with watercolors, lithographs, and serigraphs, and does landscapes
as well. She hopes one day to work with woodcuts in a vein similar to the
Japanese Ukiyoe or' 'floating world' , style, where Japanese women are depicted
in a very stylized fashion in their kimonos doing daily chores.
Roberts is devoted to her work. Her frequent 18-hour days at the easel allow
her to produce an awesome 200 paintings a year, plus a variety of other
work. During some of those painting sessions, Roberts experiences what she
calls' 'a state of grace.' 1 She gets so wrapped up in creating a painting,
she says, that it almost feels like she has left her own body and is watching
herself paint-
'It is an intense concentration, almost like meditation,' , says Roberts. ' 'My mind is so introverted that it seems as if my talent is overcoming my mental direction. Without any preconceived idea of where I am going, I create as I go along, and the result is very pleasurable. When I experience a state of grace, I come out of it feeling restful rather than tired, and I have a feeling of accomplishment. The paintings seem to be in tune with everything. The light is so great it almost seems as if it's coming to life. I can always recognize which painting in a group of my paintings was done under those conditions. I think other people can see something, too, and know there is a spark of life there.' ,
Roberts' career hasn't always been idyllic. Like most artists, she has come through some rough times. Following her graduation from the University of New Mexico, she tried working a full- time job during the day and painting at night, which was completely unsatisfying. She married an artist and moved to Texas, where she did pen and ink landscapes and collages with Mayan figurines. The marriage didn't last, and she returned to Santa Fe to pursue her painting.
Living
at home with her mother helped financially, but a real boost in Roberts'
career came in l978, when Les Josephson, a former linebacker for the Los
Angeles Rams, purchased 80 of her drawings and 380 of her Tesuque Deer
Dancer prints as an investment. ' 'The sale was enough to get me through,
to help me make some contacts, and have some pieces framed that I wouldn't
have been able to do otherwise,' , she says.
In 1981, Roberts was named Artist of the Year by the Santa Fean, and in 1985, she was chosen to create original Easter egg paintings for the White House, paintings that are now housed at the Smithsonian Institution. Also in 1985, the Southwest Association of Indian
Artists selected her painting, Feast Day, as the official poster
for the 65th annual Indian Market in Santa Fe.
Looking to the future, Roberts has this to say: ' 'I see some
changes corning, but slowly,' , she says. ' 'I may move to more frontal
views, but still not a real image, and I would love to create a very large,
six-foot-by-eight-foot, landscape painting in acrylic. What I would really
like to do is take a year off to paint by myself, a period where I could
experiment without other demands interfering. Pastels will always be my
first love, but I want to see how far I can go in other media. At heart,
I will always be an abstract expressionist. Colors and shapes are [more]
preferable to me than composition. The paint or the medium-not the subject
matter- becomes the important vehicle.' I D
Many Colored Baskets, acrylic, 40" by 48"
"This painting was used to express color and composition, with the
paint controlling the fabric of the blankets. I also believe the relationship
between the artist and the painting should be a personal and private experience."
Art of the West July/ August 1989