We were lucky to catch up with Robin Lehrer Roi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Robin , thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?

After attending graduate school in California, I returned to my home state of North Carolina where I received an Artist in Residency from the North Carolina Arts Council. My residency spanned three years at three different community colleges in rural N.C. I gave workshops and had speaking engagements in the communities as well as the schools. I worked with prisoners creating a mural inside a federal prison. I worked with soldiers from Fort Bragg on a huge mural on a downtown building and with college students creating murals for the various schools. I gave slide presentations comparing contemporary art to local quilt making and other local crafts. I learned many lessons, some of them the hard way… by failing. I gained a great deal of humility, learned how to work as a team and how to be a useful member of a community. The projects I was able to accomplish were tremendously varied and provided a wealth of knowledge about how to communicate and share my skills as a working artist.

Robin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

A deep connection to the decorative arts has been a huge influence on my career as both a painter and a ceramic artist. This has often led to the investigation, study and application of decorative painting which has in turn fed and nurtured my fine art studio practice.

Since receiving my BFA in printmaking from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an MFA in painting from Claremont Graduate University in California, I have maintained a studio practice along with a career as teacher, designer, art director, gallerist, project manager and decorative painter.

In 1977, after a three year stint as Visiting Artist for the North Carolina Arts Council, I moved to New York where I was able to further my commitment to both the fine and the applied arts. Working at The Drawing Center, The American Crafts Museum and The Heller Glass Gallery provided ample opportunities to immerse myself in both worlds. At that time, I participated in what came to be known as “The Pattern and Decoration Movement”, exhibiting my paintings through the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in N.Y. and Bruno Bischofberger in Switzerland.

In 1983 I began a long and rewarding career as Director of Decorative Painting with Evergreene Architectural Arts in NYC. My fine arts background and passion for the decorative arts were a perfect marriage for the position that I held for 32 years. During my tenure, I designed and invented hundreds of decorative finishes for public buildings and private residences, led workshops, lectured, published articles and advised architects and interior designers around the country. I have led teams of artists working on some of the most iconic buildings such as The Chrysler Building, Radio City Music Hall, The Plaza Hotel, the United States Capitol Building and many, many more.

I retired from Evergreene in 2015 and have devoted myself to my own studio practice ever since. Every January, I take a month’s break from my own work to restore and repair damages to the painting and gilding of the horses on the amazing “Jane’s Carousel” in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Then, it’s back to my own studio, also in Brooklyn.

My fine art work, under the moniker “RobRoi Design” has taken many forms over the years. My ceramic work, both functional and sculptural have highly decorated surfaces filled with patterns culled from a lifetime of researching and collecting old wallpapers, historic stencils, textiles, dressmaking patterns, wrapping papers and other “flotsam and jetsam”.

My mixed media works on paper have a strong foundation in pattern as well, though my concerns are more narrative and biographical. With references to historic, botanic and multi-cultural patterning, and layered with personal stories, symbols and imagery, these two dimensional works provide depth both visual and metaphorical. Pattern is often the scaffolding beneath the narratives of these works on paper.

This long-standing passion for pattern, whether in nature, human nature or the man-made world continues to provide inspiration for both my two and three dimensional work.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There came a time in my career as a painter where as they say…I hit a wall. I had been under a lot of pressure to produce work and though my career was going great, my personal life was definitely suffering. Depressed and unable to paint, I soon realized I could no longer support myself through the sale of my art. and would need a job. During this period I worked at many wonderful art related businesses from The American Crafts Museum to The Heller Glass Gallery and The Drawing Center in SoHo and finally landed at Evergreene Painting Studios which later became Evergreene Architectural Arts. The stability of a full time job allowed me time to mature, marry and have two wonderful sons. But Evergreene provided me with so much more. It gave me huge opportunities to develop my painting skills and learn about a vast world of interestijng materials. I worked on important historical buildings and magnificent residencial projects. I was able to travel and work on projects around the country. Over time, I took on more managerial responsibilities and became director of the decorative painting department. I remained at Evergreene for 32 years. In 2015 I returned to my own studio practice in Brooklyn. Since then, I have put to great use all of the amazing decorative painting skills I learned over the years. Gilding, glazing, stenciling, faux finishing, trompe l’oeil…tools of the trade, are now part of the visual vocabulary for producing my portfolio of mixed media painting.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resources I wish I knew about earlier in my creative journey are people! During the difficult times in my career, I retreated. I went into hibernation. Rather than seeking guidance from other artists and art professionals, I hid my difficulties, pretending that I was fine. This has been the biggest mistake of my career. I allowed my pride and ego to determine my path. I was afraid to show my vulnerability and what I considered to be my failures. I wasn’t wise enough to realize how universal these feelings are and how most artists go through periods of great self-doubt. Asking for help and emotional support from other artists, sharing my vulnerable state would have saved years of unhappiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robroidesign.com/
• Instagram: @robroidesign
• Other: http://bohohome.com/tag/robin-roi/

Image Credits
Paul Takeuchi and Eric Snyder