We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robin Davisson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’m Robin Davisson, and I make abstract art for ambitious idealists and curious thrill-seekers at my studio-gallery, StudioLab RD, in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

Before I became an artist, I was a STEM researcher for nearly three decades. When I traded my lab coat for paint-splattered pants, I instinctively began experimenting with blurring the line between the art and science of cultivating joy.

The result has been my greatest breakthrough yet.

StudioLab isn’t what most people picture when they imagine an art gallery. If you pop in, you’ll find me painting while tunes are playing and coffee is brewing. I also host freestyle Art Parties – a new way for couples, friends, and colleagues to get messy, take creative risks, and unleash their inner artist in my art studio – and community events like my Salon Series featuring local thinkers and makers.

My mission is to pull back the curtain on the art world to help art lovers feel inspired to make bold gestures and brilliant discoveries of their own.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I create abstract art for ambitious idealists and curious thrill-seekers from my studio-gallery in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

A former STEM researcher, I traded my lab coat for paint-splattered pants – and you’re invited to peek behind the curtain at the creative process. Who knows? You just might feel inspired to make bold gestures of your own.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

My business includes mulitple revenue streams:

1) Dynamic abstract paintings, rooted in curiosity with threads of scientific inquiry, for sale both in my brick-and-mortar studio-gallery called StudioLab RD and in my online gallery.

2) Fine art commissions based on the idea that art is relational, not transactional. Commissions are an especially intimate process – it’s about so much more than delivering a custom painting: it’s about learning who the artwork is for and how you want to feel in your space; it’s experiencing the room where your art will live, so it can contribute to the energetic conversation; it’s giving the customer a glimpse of the creative process, so it’s less mysterious and entirely thrilling.

3) Freestyle Art Party at StudioLab is a new way for couples, friends, family or colleagues to get messy, take creative risks, and unleash their inner artist – together. Painting partners collaborate on one large canvas, so they can make broad gestures and move around during the creative process. It’s not a paint-along or paint-by-numbers like so many “sip and paints”. It’s painting an original work of art folks will actually want to hang on the wall. Instead of staying seated at their own canvases and painting replicas of the same image, they create a truly distinct piece of artwork. I provide all the tools, space and guidance needed to spark creativity. The only rule? Anything goes.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Not too long ago, you’d have been more likely to find me in a pristine white lab coat than with paint-covered hands.

You see, it wasn’t until recently that I turned the page on an exciting new chapter that engaged my creativity and passion for discovery in a fresh, and what initially seemed like a totally different way.

You might be wondering how someone transitions from scientist with a tenured professorship at a major research university to uncovering hidden truths with paint and brushes.

It might be easier than you think since both fields require similar habits of mind – observing, hypothesizing, experimenting – and a desire to discover the truth.

However, artistic pursuit requires additional important variables – the ideas, instincts, and perceptions of the artist – which are as true as any scientific measurement.

My process is simultaneously the same as laboratory science and completely different. Both in science and art, if you follow the data, it leads to the truth.

In the laboratory, the most successful experiments are those in which all the variables except one are held constant. In the studio, the most successful paintings are those in which I put several variables into play and change them at once— I dance the shimmering line between control and surrender.

In the lab, the goal is to repeat the exact experiment over and over to get to the truth. In the studio, it’s the opposite. The experiment can only be carried out once and the truth can only be found in a singular and distinctive way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robindavissonart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robindavissonart/