Expressions of
The Robinson

Philip Gerstein was born and raised in Moscow, USSR, and came to the US as a refugee. He began exhibiting his work in the 1980’s with the Boston Visual Artists Union, after pursuing a PhD in Art History at Harvard University. He studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Japanese calligraphy with Toshu Ogawa.

Philip exhibits frequently in New York City, Provincetown MA, and very extensively in the Boston area, as well as organizing and curating painting and photography shows. His work has been touted in such publications as The Boston Globe, ArtScope Magazine, and Art New England, and NYC art blogs. Philip is also a published essayist; his online feature, "The Art of Philip Gerstein", is published monthly in Scene4 – International Magazine of Arts and Culture and receives thousands of views every month.

"Ysabel's Table Dance (composite alternative take)", 54 x 63 in., Oil stick and acrylic on canvas, 2006-2012.

Duncan Johnson earned a BFA at Pratt Institute in 1987 and lives and works in Vermont. He was awarded a Pollack Krasner Foundation Artist Grant in 2010, an Academy of Arts and Letters award in 2009 and an Individual Artist Grant from the Vermont Arts Council, also in 2009. Johnson has exhibited in museums and art centers including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville FL, Brattleboro Museum of Art, Brattleboro, VT, Sam Houston Memorial Museum, Huntsville, TX, Museum of Art University of NH, Durham NH, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Pittsfield MA, Rose- wood Art Center, Kettring, OH, and Pelham Arts Center, Pelham NY, among others.

Duncan Johnson has been in conversation with wood since he was a small child. From his earliest obsession with gluing sticks of wood together to today’s mastery of craft and signature aesthetic, the inherent beauty and qualities of wood has been Johnson’s medium of expression. Working with reclaimed wood that he finds in his home state of Vermont, Johnson has been known for arresting sculptural works puzzling countless bits of wood into elegant organic forms.

Iaritza Menjivar is a documentary photographer whose long term projects aim to empower and represent her immigrant family and community. In 2016 through 2019, she was awarded the presidential scholarship for the “Advanced Mentorship Program in Documentary Projects” at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado. First Generation can be viewed in the New York Times publication, Honoring a Debt to Immigrant Parents and in the recently premiered documentary film, We Are Here Too. Iaritza is an active freelance photographer; her clients include the Washington Post, Maine Media Workshops + College, and LISC among others.

In her role as Events Coordinator at the Somerville Arts Council in Somerville, MA, Iaritza has shaped the focus of the Council’s work to create grant opportunities and event production support for local BIPOC artists. She coordinates festivals, assists with open calls, curation, and public art installations, and builds relationships with organizations and businesses in the local area.

When I was a teenager, my dad gave me a camera - a 1950 Zeiss Ikoflex Twin Lens Reflex - that uses 120 medium format film. I spent many hours in the darkroom, developing and printing images that I captured with that camera. I did not think of myself as an artist back then; I enjoyed the process of measuring the light and developing and printing images. After many years away from photography, I returned to my old passion with a digital camera. My current work utilizes both film and digital cameras.

My music photography grew out of thirty years in and around recording studios and clubs, where I was a live sound and studio-recording engineer, repair and maintenance tech, and equipment designer. My passion lies in being able to capture the moment when a musician/performer is completely in his/her element. My fine art photography exposes the overlooked or seemingly mundane in everyday life in a way that makes you take another look.

Suzanne Lubeck is a Somerville resident who has been working full time from her Vernon Street Studio for over 20 years. Suzanne's multidisciplinary work includes encaustic paintings (fusing pigmented bees-wax,) oil paintings, sculpture, and installations. Suzanne's work is playing with balance and "contingency plans;" within the varied materials, the fabulous shapes, and the worlds of luscious color.

Her work has been exhibited and awarded in shows across the U.S and Germany and is a part of many private collections.

Meagan O’Brien is an illustrator, designer and muralist who lives and works in Revere,MA. She has built a career around making work that inspires and unites communities. Her public art focuses on themes of diversity, environment, local culture, and history through the use of simple shapes, bright colors, and iconography. The larger mural installations she has worked on include the Lombardi Underpass Mural for Assembly Row in Somerville, MA and the Condon Shell along the Mystic River in Medford, MA.

Beyond her public art you can currently see her work all over Boston in different places including: the fence scrim along the Kensington Underpass in Somerville, chalk murals in East Boston at Excel Academy, Arlington’s painted utility boxes, Good Vibe’s Cannabis T-shirt Designs, and now on Seesaw children’s puzzles at TJ Maxx.

To see more of her work go to www.meaganobrien.com or follow her on instagram: @meaganobrien

Liz LaManche has been doing public art, murals and street art since 2012. With a degree in Architecture from Yale and a background in digital design, they take into account the experience of moving through the built environment and create site-specific interventions to add elements of delight, bringing out what's special about a space and the people who inhabit it.

Founded on the knowledge that color can create joy, Liz loves to brighten urban places with color, add humor and positivity, and help express the unique soul of a place or community.

Liz has won numerous regional grants and fellowships, including as a three-time winner of the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics Public Space Invitational. Liz also serves as Art Director at Neighborways Design, consulting to municipalities on placemaking and wayfinding. They have worked with municipalities, corporations and nonprofits including City of Boston, Oxfam, and Google. Their work appears in public and in private spaces in the US and internationally.

Susan Berstler is an artist and curator who has been developing innovative creative projects and spaces in Somerville for over 20 years. Susan founded the nonprofit Nave Gallery, which showcases local, national and international art in a variety of media and themes through a guest curatorial program. She created Project MUM, Squeezebox Slam Accordion Festival, Phone Art Box Project, and is contributing to the development of ArtFarm.

She has partnered with other arts organizations including Washington Street Arts, Brickbottom Gallery, The Somerville Museum, The Photographic Resource Center, and the Griffin Museum to produce the annual international Somerville Toy Camera Festival.