Robin Gammons
Robin Gammons is a NYC-based painter and large-scale ceramic sculptor from Butte, Montana. She received a BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2019 and an MFA from New York University in 2024.
Collect Bean: What is the kindest thing someone can tell you about your work?
Robin Gammons: I love it when people describe their reaction to my work in terms of their own body. When someone says my work made them notice their heart beating or sent a rush down their spine, I take it as such a high compliment. I think a somatic reaction like that is particularly honest and real, and I want my work to be understood in the body first.
Collect Bean: Tell us about a time when you felt you found your groove as an artist.
Robin Gammons: Big emotional experiences really fuel my practice. Going through the upheaval of heartbreak and coming out the other side intact can make you feel so powerful. It seems like when your heart breaks open, it stays a little more open forever—a little more tender, more attuned to emotional nuance. When things get really shaken up, the silver lining is that there’s a new facet of my heart to explore and glean inspiration from.
Collect Bean: Where are you currently finding inspiration?
Robin Gammons: I’m really inspired by the world of science. I come from a family of scientists, and for a long time, I felt like my brain was wired so differently from theirs that we were experiencing totally different worlds. But in the past few years, I have realized that science and art both require a type of abstract thinking that can be really generative. I see the amount of imagination it takes for a scientist to observe their surroundings and come to conclusions, constantly negotiating their idea of reality with observed reality. I’ve started approaching my art practice as if I’m collecting data, gathering clues from my thoughts, and recognizing patterns. Lately, I’ve been particularly interested in weather phenomena. Learning more about these huge forces that affect us every day is fascinating from both a scientific and spiritual perspective.
Collect Bean: How does your painting process look like from start to finish?
Robin Gammons: Usually, I plan a painting out completely before I start working. The way I paint can often be really reliant on clear sequential steps, so I like to set everything up before I start and then try to immerse myself in the act of execution without thinking too hard about it. All the thinking happens before and after the piece is made. I bet, though, that as I become a better and more experienced painter, I’ll find more and more space for improvisation in my process.
Collect Bean: How does where you grew up influence your work?
Robin Gammons: I’m from rural Southwest Montana- I’ve always been grateful to have grown up in such a striking and vast landscape, but when I moved away, my appreciation for the place evolved. I learned that longing can be an important tool in art making. Living in New York, I remain fixated on the romance of Montana’s big sky. The haze of distance from the place I love has brought a new dimension to the landscape, and I am fascinated by the way that time and space make important places and people simultaneously more and less real- I like observing how we can grow a new place in our minds from a fragment of memory. I think a huge part of making art is wanting something impossible and trying fruitlessly to make it real.
