“Open spaces—I have always loved and been drawn to open spaces," says artist Kathleen Robbins.
When artist Kathleen Robbins relocated to the rugged seacoast years ago, she was instantly captivated by its raw, natural beauty—the rocky shores, ever-changing tides, and moody skies. Over the past 30 years, she has roamed the coastlines of Maine and New Hampshire, immersing herself in their quiet coves and windswept beaches, drawing inspiration from the landscape’s character and drama.
“I am just fascinated by the number of beautiful coasts around. I feel very fortunate for that,” says Robbins. “I work on-site as a plein air artist but often from photographs. I start on site and take little color notes, write notes to myself, and take photographs. I then go back to the studio to finish.”
In her studio, Robbins finds refuge from the visual noise of the outside world. The space is open and serene, free from distraction, allowing her to focus intensely on memory, emotion, and form. Surrounded by natural light and quiet, she translates her impressions into paint. Her work reflects not only what she observes in the coastal landscape but also the emotional response each view evokes—subtle shifts in color, mood, and atmosphere that capture the essence of a place as she experiences it.
“Paintings are like poems. They should evoke a feeling or a memory of a place in time and record what is in front of me,” explains Robbins. “I choose to pare down my paintings to simple shapes and forms. I leave the small details for the viewers to discover by simply suggesting they are there. The viewer has to have an active role while looking at a painting. If I make it too easy, it's boring and loses its visual attraction.”
Robbins thoughtfully considers how viewers enter and move through her paintings. She pays close attention to visual pathways—how the eye travels across the canvas, where it lingers, and how it eventually exits. For her, space is more than just a backdrop; it’s an active part of the viewer’s experience.
While rooted in observation, her work engages with the modernist tradition, playing with the tension between flatness and depth. She creates scenes that suggest atmospheric distance while reminding the viewer of the painted surface through bold forms and gestural marks. This balance allows her to explore space as a physical environment and as a layered, emotional, and visual experience.
“A viewer has to be able to move around, and I have to influence how their eye moves around the painting,” says Robbins. “As a young artist, Richard Diebenkorn greatly influenced me. Even today, I look at his work and marvel at his mastery of flat modernist painting and his references to space and forms. He creates a feeling that both are happening simultaneously.”
This show runs through July 2 at 5 Chase Hill Rd in Kennebunk. Shows are open daily, 10 AM to 5 PM. FMI maine-art.com or 967-2803.