Growing up in Satellite Beach, Robin was one of the first “girl” surfers to grace this coast! Sky and ocean have strongly influenced Robin after being “land locked” in Shreveport, Louisiana for 28 years. She is a past editor in chief of the Satellite High School and De Laura Junior High School yearbooks!

Robin's “Yellow Series”, her “first ever paintings”, started in 1991 when a Rabbi (who she was dating) challenged her to do “anything” on Christmas after she suggested they celebrate by doing anything they wanted to do on that day and not be “bound” by tradition. He said “You can’t do “anything” on Christmas. You can’t “paint a painting for instance.” Robin met this challenge with an acrylic on canvas portrait inspired by a black and white photograph of famous southern writer and photographer Eudora Welty. Robin did a series of paintings, deliberately unfinished and certainly primitive as this was Robin’s first attempt at painting without any education in art.

After the Yellow Series “played out” Robin decided to pursue art in general and began to learn in earnest. She became friends with Bruce Allen, the head of Centenary College Art Department in Shreveport. Robin audited undergraduate classes at Centenary going through the standard curriculum and advancing her friendship with Bruce and his wife who has been a lifelong performer, painter and healer. Art, travel and education opportunities with Bruce have included Chicago and Amsterdam.

The equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in art from Centenary College helped Robin advance her painting and she completed a series of oil paintings of realistic portraitures of her family members which were gifted to them over the years. In the late nineties Robin dated a gentleman who was a wild process artist who never stopped creating out of “anything”. She watched him create a beautiful sculpture as he ate a bunch of bananas and used the peel to trace the pattern on paper that he cut out, sewed and painted. Robin was faced with the stark contrast this “free process art” with Robin’s “brush work” insanity when doing realistic portraiture. Robin decided to “loosen up” and whimsically started pressing paint out with her hands on paper. This process started an explosion of work that continues today still constantly seeking new surfaces including glass blocks, lamp shades, paper, cardboard boxes, wood and metal!

Robin came to Brevard County in 2006 for breast cancer treatment and attended a workshop while bald but brave with Frits Van Eeden at the Brevard Art Museum school. Frits taught Robin how to be a “big, bad ass” painter through “commanding” large canvases. Frits also taught Robin how to use gesso (the basecoat on many paintings) to lay out a design and let it dry before commencing to paint. Robin began to paint in earnest while she was going through treatment and learned that she could paint even while bald! While picking up supplies one day for Frit’s class at Art Supply with lovely Ralph just down the street from the Museum School on lovely Highland Avenue, Robin noticed while getting out of her car a “For Lease” sign on the front window of the current Highway Grrls location. Surprised, she said “why that is my gallery and studio and I had no idea I had the need for one!” Having no forethought Robin called the realty company and rented the space opening for her First Friday in March of 2007. A surprise to everyone, including Robin! The name is the result of Robin continuing the Highway Man inspiration of sky and water in Florida as Robin’s parents collected the Highway Man works for decades.