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Sue Ann Robinson is an artist, educator, and museum professional who has worked in all three fields across the United States. She is currently the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum of Art, teaches Artists Books and Papermaking at California State University Long Beach, and maintains her studio in Long Beach where she is presently working on two art commissions. She is a member of the Guild of Book workers and the College Book Art Association.
She began her employment at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1988 as the Artist-in-Residence with a grant from the California Arts Council and then became the Director of Education, a position that she held for sixteen years. She is an educator who has taught in colleges and schools on both coasts and in informal settings like hospitals and elder care facilities as well as museums. Robinson was co-founder with Dr. Marcella Brenner of the first graduate school program for the training of museum education professionals at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has taught art history, art appreciation and professional skills for artists at Otis Art Institute and area community colleges as well. She teaches the book arts to people of all ages in many venues and at conferences like the B.E.S.T. Arts conference for pre-school educators, the Durfee Foundation’s conference “I © LA,” and “Book Arts for All: Parents, Teachers, Artists, and Caregivers,” as well as throughout the Long Beach Public Library system as an artist-in-residence.
Robinson has worked in many museum settings including as a consultant to the Seattle Art Museum, and a researcher for the Council on Museums and Education in the Visual Arts. As Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum of Art she created nineteen exhibitions for the 60th anniversary of the Museum, including “A Light in the Shadow—Women Artists.” She writes essays and produces catalogues for temporary exhibitions. Her responsibilities include care of the collection and developing the collection with such donations as the Lipton Collection of contemporary turned wood. Her knowledge of the history of the Museum, art history of 20th century Southern California, and her knowledge of the Museum’s permanent collection enable her to create multiple connections among the artworks and engaging exhibitions of art in more than one medium to illuminate their stories for visitors. She is currently organizing a major exhibition of contemporary ceramics from a local private collector.
She created mixed media, unique and limited edition artist’s books. She is drawn to the form for its intimate and participatory nature, especially since the form provides a place and time for contemplation. She works in series and has produced artist books and installations about oak trees and the American cowboy. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including from the National Museum of Women in the Art, the City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship, the City of Long Beach Artist Fellowship, and residencies at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY; the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY; Centrum in Port Townsend, Washington; and Dorland Mountain Artist Colony in Temecula, CA. Her artist’s books are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the University of Washington, the Environmental Library at UC Berkeley, Yale University, and the Getty Research Institute among others. Her works are included in regional and national exhibitions.
