It's Giving Professional Artist
- Alexis Robinson
- Jun 5
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 30
Studio Updates, Art Residencies, and Workshops
June 5, 2025
What's Been Going On In My Studio
Happy Pride Month! It has been an entire month since I last updated the blog. A little shameful for myself, I had lofty goals to make this a bi-monthly or even weekly occurrence- but alas the end of April and the entire month of May proved very chaotic.
My art has taken precedent the last few weeks and I made significant strides in my large 24” by 48”. The entire background is complete and all that is left is the small figure in the upper left hand corner. I think stylistically this is one of my strongest works from the last year and my painting techniques have come together to create something magical on the canvas. Transparency is something that I am always considering in the painting process, it lends itself to unique forms and colors that cannot be achieved with straight opaque colors- which is why I completely switched from acrylics to oils a few years ago. Although acrylics can behave similar to oils I don’t think they give the same luminosity in most cases, for right now oils and their properties serve a vital role in my compositions and help push forward my multilayers surreal themes. Earlier in the year, I had someone remark that my work was “juicy”- its vibrancy spoke to them on a level that evoked a sense of transparent saturation, and I don’t think I have ever felt more flattered. As someone who is very interested in the brain, and uses their work to explore the complexities of human cognition, I think “juicy” is an excellent adjective for my work and something that I will continue to search for in my paintings.
On the topic of adjectives, I have also started to incorporate “fuzzy” back into my art. Before I started this blog and went two feet into my artistic career- I was a wee little undergrad student with lofty dreams of entering into the textile field and did my senior thesis in textile. After thousands of hours of crocheting and two mega crochet sculptures my wrists needed a bit of a break, I set down my hooks “temporarily” and then never picked them back up. A real shame, but something that I needed. I did a lot of exploring and grew so much during my four year break and taught myself oil painting, which of course now is my main medium. But one day, out of the blue, while I was spending time writing up a description of my work, I struggled to describe and name my form of mark making. I enlisted my partner’s opinion and he immediately said, “they look like stitches Alexis”. My memory of this event looks something like this…
I was resistant to calling my marks stitches but then quickly realized there was no other way to describe it. I was absolutely stitching with paint and have been doing it since I left college. Which brought up a touchy and impactful memory of my senior thesis critique.
At the end of college before final exhibition you need to present your work to a panel of professors and get feedback; one of the biggest suggestions I got from a professor was to abandon the painting portion of my work and make images out of full textile, or vice versa. His main reasoning was that there seemed to be little connection between the two parts of my work thematically. It was a valid critique and something I explored once I was out of college. The critique stuck with me and pushed me to pursue more painting. So when my partner called my marks stitches, it was shocking and difficult to admit that my art was still textile based, even when I wasn’t using textiles.
Unlike in undergrad, I think my work does have a strong thematic connection between the two mediums and shows the bridge between both our cognitive world and tactile world. I am still in the early stages, but have already started a new series of work that collides both my textile craft and painting. A new chapter in my art journey that I am thrilled to share once it is a little bit farther along.
Upcoming and Previous Workshops
I believe my last post went over the decision to cut down teaching hours to explore more opportunities closer to home! I am happy to update that my risky move has led me toward some really awesome connections here in Seattle. I recently connected with the team that hosts the Belltown Art Walk and taught a workshop on portraiture with Slip Gallery, their home base gallery. The event was held on June 2nd and was a smashing good time. I met some really lovely learners and can’t wait to host the next one which is currently in the process of being planned.
My goals for these workshops is to bring more beginner focused single-topic art workshops to the Seattle area. There are many art courses around the city but especially for older learners it can be hard to commit to 8 week semesters to learn the basics of drawing- which is something that I really want to provide for my community. I know many people who want to learn to draw or take classes to keep up their skills but finding the right place to learn can be a challenge.
The last workshop taught the very basics of portraiture. For the next one I am planning on teaching a perspective 101 course which will guide beginner sketch artists on ways to understand and accurately capture 3D subjects in space, a really great segway to further their ability to draw not only simple objects but portraits! I chose the topic based on the feedback I received following the class on June 2nd and I can’t wait to plan and prepare the activities and coursework!
I am so thankful for the support of Slip, I wouldn’t be able to host these events in such an accessible space without their support and I am looking forward to seeing you at my next class! Dates are still be solidified but will be announced shortly, registration will be held on my new shop tab here at alexisrobinson.com.
Chasing Residencies
One of the main reasons it took me so long to update the blog was the extensive applications I had due in April and May. I applied to a number of new jobs around the city, none were fruitful and took an unfortunate amount of time to apply to. Alongside the job applications, I submitted my work to a few residencies in the area. Which have proven to be a bit more hopeful in appearance. Nothing is set in stone and I don’t want to get my hopes too high, but I have an upcoming interview with Seattle Restored for their artist residency program. If I pass the interview a whole lot of doors will open for my career. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed and prepping like never before to ace this interview.
Entering into a residency was one of my biggest goals for the year and this upcoming interview has me feeling really hopeful. As many that graduated during the COVID-19 lockdown and are currently establishing themselves during the AI boom; my experience entering into the professional landscape has been incredibly difficult, and most likely exaggerated because I have personally been trying my hardest to avoid graduate school and incur crippling student debt- it just feels like I would be trading a poor situation for a poor situation. Many entry positions have been completely eradicated or automated and the job market has only gotten more fiercely competitive as more and more people are job searching due to layoffs.
If you want my own anecdotal evidence of how competitive the workforce is right now- I applied to be a cashier at a craft supply store a few times (the same job had been posted and reposted a few times and I continued to apply because why not?) and I recently found out that despite the application not stating the following requirement… They only hire people with 2-3 years of art store specific cashier experience. Needless to say I no longer feel in the dumps about being rejected from that position.
Since graduating I have only made it to the interview process six times and so far landed three of those six (hopefully four by next Tuesday). I have applied to a conservatively estimated 400 opportunities since 2021 (it is definitely way more, but to think about it is really really depressing, I know in 2021 I applied to over 200 jobs because I kept track of the first 200) which puts my success rate at a whopping 0.75% success rate in the job market (I have tried everything at this point and I just need to keep pushing and hoping that eventually the spaghetti I have been throwing at the wall eventually snags a nail, this is a who knows who market and I don’t think applications do much in the greater scheme of things, I probably have over 50-60 versions of my resume just in the last two years). Needless to say if Seattle Restored works out my life and career trajectory will completely change and I am so incredibly hopeful for what the future holds. So keep your fingers and toes crossed for me, I need all the luck I can get 🥲.
Wrap Up
Many things have changed in the last two months and I am still pushing forward more than ever before. I will try to keep you updated and will absolutely make an announcement about my upcoming workshop with Slip when the registration goes live (tbh probably before then too). If you would like to see more of what I am getting up to in the studio go check out my instagram and YouTube @artisticallyalexis. I update both regularly and take you all along my art journey week by week.
Thank you for reading and I hope your week is filled with exploration and excitement!
Warmly,
Alexis
Painter on the Page
Affiliate Links
If you are interested in supporting me as an artist I am a Blick affiliate; which means if you use any of my links to purchase art supplies at Blick Online I will receive a 10% commission at no cost to you, which helps me continue to afford to create art and run this blog!
Blick Art Supplies Link:
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