This audio is from our virtual studio visit with artist Elsa Robinson in conversation with Dawn Carter, and was originally recorded on November 29, 2022 over Zoom.
About Elsa
Elsa Robinson is a Jamaican-Canadian multi-media artist and art educator. Elsa’s artistic expression uses painting, collage, textile art, installation art, poetry, dance, and acting to ‘speak’ to audiences from her cultural inheritance. Her decades-long devotion to artistic practice has imbued her work with vibrancy, versatility and an intuitive spiritual poignancy through which she transmits her deep love and care for humanity.
At the start of her art career, Elsa worked as a self-taught artist. Recognizing the value of extending her art making skills, her understanding of he own art and her place in art history, Elsa invested in her art education and now holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Art and Design from the University of Alberta and the degree of Master of Fine Arts from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Elsa is a passionate arts educator who facilitates workshops for artists of all ages and experience levels.
About Dawn
Dawn Carter is a writer, educator, performance poet, public speaker, entrepreneur, and community advocate of Barbadian British Canadian heritage. She is also the first Black woman to run a major 2SLGBTQ+ organization in Western Canada.
She emigrated with her family from England, where anti-Black racism was on the rise. Dawn and her family lived in rural Alberta before settling in Edmonton. After a few years in Toronto, she returned to Dirt City, where she considers herself a Northsider for life.
Through Dawn’s life experiences she has been able to create art that not only tells amazing stories but creates awareness and constantly contributes to the community around her.