Art Bio(2009)

ART BIOGRAPHY: Greg Robinson

My name is Greg Robinson. I am a member of the Haisla Indigenous Community of Kitamaat Village, BC, Canada. I was born in the summer of the year 1956.
My late father was 'The Hamaas', Hereditary Chief of the Haisla, and Chief of the Haisla Beaver Clan. The Haisla are the northern most segment of the Kwakiulth Tribe. My mother, who is a descendant through her mother, of the Killer Whale Clan of the Tsimpshian community of Hartley Bay, BC, was born in Kitamaat and both adopted into the Haisla Eagle Clan and raised, by her grandfather David Shaw, who was a carpenter and dugout canoe builder. David built a canoe that was eventually painted by Bill Reid, and is now on display in the UBC Museum of Archaeology in Vancouver, BC., Canada.

At this relatively late stage in my life, I am learning to more diligently express my personal artistic vision. For me this process has involved a very steep learning curve, from being totally computer illiterate in 1999 to teaching myself computer graphics. I have always had a desire to describe the images and the statements that billow across my mind’s eye. My first efforts began in 1976, with the purchase of a Pentax 35 millimeter SLR camera, and figuring out how to use it. But it is only in the recent few years that I have begun a more serious practice of developing my personal expression. I began by learning through self-study, the basics of North West Coast form line design. Teaching myself to work with computer graphics software, I began to integrate these two art forms.
The more I learn, the more aware I become of how much more there is to learn. But also and more importantly, the more potential I can see in both myself and others around me, as well as in the tools that continue to evolve with time. And although it is at times overwhelming, I cannot help but to become increasingly exited at the constantly growing list of the things that I want to do. A major restriction that I have to deal with, and that serves to contain my personal development, is poverty. I do however, continue to work against this constraint.
I occasionally hear people complaining about how bored they are. I find it incredible that anyone can possibly be bored in this day and age! There is absolutely no time to be bored.