Bio
Aurora Robson (b. 1972) Toronto, Canada is a multi-media artist known predominantly for her meditative work intercepting the plastic waste stream. She grew up on Maui in Hawaii then lived in New York City for over two decades. Robson studied welding at Apex Technical School, a vocational technical school in Manhattan, earning her New York State metal welding certification and then completed a double major in art history and visual art at Columbia University, where she graduated with high honors. Subsequently, Robson worked as an art director and production designer at MTV Networks, following that, she began her full time practice as an artist. In 2004, she began her inquiry into plastic debris as a sculpture medium. While exhibiting and engaging around the topic of creative stewardship internationally, Robson has since developed an arsenal of innovative methods for sculpting with plastic debris, ranging from fastening to sewing, threading, injection and ultrasonic welding and most recently 3d printing.
Robson is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, a TED/Lincoln Re-Imagine Prize and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. She is also the founding artist of Project Vortex, an international collective of artists, designers and architects also innovating with plastic debris.
Robson currently lives and works in the Hudson Valley with her husband and artist collaborator Marshall Coles, along with their 2 teenage daughters, 2 cats and a very expressive dog.
Artist Statement
For over two decades I’ve been focused on sculpture and installation while developing techniques to highlight the potential of plastic debris as an art medium — instead of a toxic waste nightmare. It is clear to me that plastic debris (an insidious environmentally and socially destructive material) is appropriate for art and design applications wherein its longevity becomes an asset than the vast majority of applications for which it is used.
My studio practice is a form of serious play. It is a meditative exercise in subjugating negativity, driven partially by the fact that people continue to think of plastic as disposable when it is precisely the opposite. Working with other people’s trash (bottles, barrels, buckets, caps and other plastic ephemera) allows me to help create the conditions for hope. In my work, I strive to create a sense of balance from what otherwise appears to be chaos. I see plastic pollution as a problematic connective tissue giving all of humanity a shared challenge - despite being a massive problem for all life on earth, it also unifies us.
I love suspended applications for my work because they require viewers to take on a physical posture conducive to rational optimism. My work as a whole is a love poem dedicated to the intersection of nature and culture, with the goal of softening the edges in between. I humbly aim to be of service as an artist and operate in a state of gratitude for the miracle that is life on earth.
curriculum vitae (click for PDF)