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Brenda Lynn Robinson was born in Columbus in 1940. During a visit to Africa in 1979, an Egyptian holy man gave her the name “Aminah” which she legally affixed to her given names. For almost seven decades, she created art that she described as “filling in the blank pages of American history.” She did this by depicting the lives and events of both ordinary and extraordinary African Americans.

Aminah, as she preferred to be called, spent the first 17 years of her life in Poindexter Village, one of the nation’s early federally funded apartment complexes for African Americans. In 1974, she moved to Sunbury Road in the Shepard community of Columbus where she remained until she passed away in 2015. She left almost her entire estate to the Columbus Museum of Art. The home studio was renovated and is now a residence for African American artists and writers and a daily workspace for local artists. (For more information, visit Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Residencies and Fellowships).

"I began drawing at the age of three. My father would give me wood to paint on and paint in little enamel tins. My studio was under my bed...I never had any doubt in my mind about being an artist." Aminah

Poindexter Village - First Families in 1940, 1995 Private Collection

1940

Brenda Lynn Robinson is born in Columbus, Ohio.

Family moves to Poindexter Village, Columbus, one of the nation's early federally funded apartment complexes.

Untitled, (Aminah and her dog), 1950, CMA, Gift of the Artist
Elijah Pierce, his wife Estelle, and Aminah at Beatty Park Recreation Center, 1950.
Aminah between her parents with sisters Sue and Sharron, 1951.

1957

Graduates from East High School, Columbus.

Enters Columbus Art School (now Columbus College of Art and Design).

Aminah, 1957

"Elijah Pierce was my spiritual mentor and friend. He was a great person, a great artist, and a person who walked with integrity, and he passed on so much of that wisdom to me... We just generally like to be around each other. There was just a connection there." Aminah

1963

1963 Participates in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

1964

Marries Clarence Robinson who is in the U.S. Air Force and moves with him to a military base in Boise, Idaho.

1967

Sydney Edward Robinson is born in Biloxi, Mississippi.

1968

Elijah Pierce, Mrs. Pierce, Aminah

1971

Separates from Clarence and returns to Columbus with Sydney.

Aminah and Sydney, 1968

1972

Begins 19-year career with Columbus Recreation and Parks.

1974

Moves with Syndey to house at 791 Sunbury Road in Columbus.

1979

Study trip to Africa, receives name "Aminah" From a holy man in Egypt.

Aminah demonstrating spinning at a Columbus Recreation and Parks program, 1979. Photo by Kojo Kamau.
Child of the Field (Sydney, age 11),, 1978, CMA, Gift of the Artist
Gift of Love, 1974-2002, Columbus Museum of Art,
Gift of the Artist

"I started this chair in 1974. I was trying to find furniture for the house. So I said, "I need to build a chair." I didn’t really have the materials, so my father and friends gave me scraps... It represents my family and community. That's what the chair is about—life in Columbus." Aminah

"I made paper before going to Africa... I made a leather pack to hold my drawing paper and a leather pack to hold my pencils and ink. All I wanted to do was draw and capture the spirit of the people." Aminah

Streets of Dakar, Senegal, 1980, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist

1983

Visits Sapelo Island, Georgia, where her ancestors were enslaved before and during the Civil War.

First group exhibition at the Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Red Scarf (from New York Series), 1989 Private Collection
Basket Woman, 1984, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of The Huntington National Bank

1989

Receives Governor's Award for the Visual Arts from the Ohio Arts Council.

Receives a grant from the Ohio Arts Council for a residency at PS 1 in Queens, New York.

Receives a Minority Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to work with Robert Blackburn at the Printmaking Workshop in New York City.

Group exhibition - Stitching Memories: African American Story Quilts, Williams College, Studio Museum of Harlem, Oakland Museum, and others

"Sapelo, Georgia, is off the coast of Savannah, Georgia and it takes twenty minutes to cross over on the Sapelo ferry. In the early 1800s, it was owned by Thomas Spalding. He would go to the auction block in South Carolina, purchase a lot of slaves, and bring them back to Sapelo to work the cotton and sugar cane fields." Aminah

Life in Sellsville and Life in the Blackberry Patch, 1990. Columbus Metropolitan Library

1990

Columbus Metropolitan Library commission for grand staircase

1992

Group exhibition, Will/Power at the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University.

Writes and illustrates The Teachings, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

"The spirituals speak of survival, of freedom and determination, of love and faith, of justice and hope." The spirituals, weaving together the memories that carry us into the future, must not be forgotten. They are our stories, our chants, our dreams, our lives. As they did so long ago, they continue to reach out and offer hope. Aminah, from The Teachings

Cover art for The Teachings, 1992, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist

1994

Aminah's son Sydney dies.

1997

First exhibition at Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus.

1998

Ohio Arts Council residency in Herzilya, Israel.

Muslim Arab, Old City of Jerusalem, 1998, Columbus Museum of Art, Estate of the Artist
Orthodox Jew, Old City of Jerusalem, 1998, Columbus Museum of Art, Estate of the Artist

"In Israel, I took in the three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I saw a whole spectrum of people, and they were all sacred." Aminah

Cover, Symphonic Poem catalogue, 2002

2002

Symphonic Poem, retrospective exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Receives an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Ohio Dominican University.

2003

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center commission, Cincinnati.

2004

Travels to Chile supported by an Ohio Arts Council Grant; solo exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago

MacArthur award

2005

Travels to Italy and visits Rome, Florence, Padua, Vinci, Venice, and Lucca

Journeys, detail, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center,Cincinnati

2006

Symphonic Poem travels to Brooklyn Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, and Toledo Museum of Art.

Travels to Peru

Untitled (Peruvian Woman), 2006, CMA, Estate of the Artist

2007

Ohio University Baker Center commission.

Aminah at Ohio University Baker Center, 2007 ©Gary J. Kirksey 2007
Life Along Water Street, exhibition, CMA, 2007
Life Along Water Street, CMA, Gift of the Artist

2010

Feb. 6 – March 20 Two Black Women: Faith Ringgold and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, ACA Galleries, New York City

Nov. 19 - April 10, 2011 Aminah Robinson: Voices that Taught Me to Sing, Toledo Museum of Art

2012

Inducted into the City of Columbus Hall of Fame

2015

Interview with Denny Griffin, retired President, Columbus College of Art and Design at the Metropolitan Club, Columbus

Aminah at 75, Hammond Harkins Galleries, Columbus, Ohio

May 22, Aminah dies of heart failure; leaves her estate to Columbus Museum of Art; memorial is held at Columbus Museum of Art on July 18

Praying Homeless Woman Outside the Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy, 2012, Estate of the Artist

2016

Robinson’s Presidential Suite at Columbus Museum of Art and Hammond Harkins

2018

Aminah’s World, an activity book and children’s guide by Carole M. Genshaft, published by Columbus Museum of Art

April 18 – August 25 Kindred Spirits: The Art of Elijah Pierce and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Columbus Museum of Art

2019

Renovation of Robinson’s home studio is completed with support of the Columbus Foundation

Establishment of the Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Residency and Fellowship in collaboration with the Greater Columbus Arts Council Click here for more information about residencies and fellowships.

Aminah’s home studio at 791 Sunbury Road, Columbus, OH

2020

Columbus artist DonCee Coulter is first Aminah Robinson Fellow

Nov. 18 – October 3, 2021 Raggin’ On: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s House and Journals, Columbus Museum of Art with accompanying book

2021

May- August Johnathan Payne is inaugural recipient of Aminah Robinson Residency

Sept.- Nov. Columbus artist Wendy Kendrick is Aminah Robinson Fellow

2022

Richard Duarte Brown receives an Aminah Robinson Fellowship

Darlene Taylor receives inaugural Aminah Robinson Writing Residency

Brenda Lynn Robinson was born in Columbus in 1940. During a visit to Africa in 1979, an Egyptian holy man gave her the name “Aminah” which she legally affixed to her given names. For almost seven decades, she created art that she described as “filling in the blank pages of American history.” She did this by depicting the lives and events of both ordinary and extraordinary African Americans.

Aminah, as she preferred to be called, spent the first 17 years of her life in Poindexter Village, one of the nation’s early federally funded apartment complexes for African Americans. In 1974, she moved to Sunbury Road in the Shepard community of Columbus where she remained until she passed away in 2015. She left almost her entire estate to the Columbus Museum of Art. The home studio was renovated and is now a residence for African American artists and writers and a daily workspace for local artists. (For more information, visit Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Residencies and Fellowships).

"I began drawing at the age of three. My father would give me wood to paint on and paint in little enamel tins. My studio was under my bed...I never had any doubt in my mind about being an artist." Aminah

Poindexter Village - First Families in 1940, 1995 Private Collection

1940

Brenda Lynn Robinson is born in Columbus, Ohio.

Family moves to Poindexter Village, Columbus, one of the nation's early federally funded apartment complexes.

Untitled, (Aminah and her dog), 1950, CMA, Gift of the Artist
Elijah Pierce, his wife Estelle, and Aminah at Beatty Park Recreation Center, 1950.
Aminah between her parents with sisters Sue and Sharron, 1951.

1957

Graduates from East High School, Columbus.

Enters Columbus Art School (now Columbus College of Art and Design).

Aminah, 1957

"Elijah Pierce was my spiritual mentor and friend. He was a great person, a great artist, and a person who walked with integrity, and he passed on so much of that wisdom to me... We just generally like to be around each other. There was just a connection there." Aminah

1963

1963 Participates in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

1964

Marries Clarence Robinson who is in the U.S. Air Force and moves with him to a military base in Boise, Idaho.

1967

Sydney Edward Robinson is born in Biloxi, Mississippi.

1968

Elijah Pierce, Mrs. Pierce, Aminah

1971

Separates from Clarence and returns to Columbus with Sydney.

Aminah and Sydney, 1968

1972

Begins 19-year career with Columbus Recreation and Parks.

1974

Moves with Syndey to house at 791 Sunbury Road in Columbus.

1979

Study trip to Africa, receives name "Aminah" From a holy man in Egypt.

Aminah demonstrating spinning at a Columbus Recreation and Parks program, 1979. Photo by Kojo Kamau.
Child of the Field (Sydney, age 11),, 1978, CMA, Gift of the Artist
Gift of Love, 1974-2002, Columbus Museum of Art,
Gift of the Artist

"I started this chair in 1974. I was trying to find furniture for the house. So I said, "I need to build a chair." I didn’t really have the materials, so my father and friends gave me scraps... It represents my family and community. That's what the chair is about—life in Columbus." Aminah

"I made paper before going to Africa... I made a leather pack to hold my drawing paper and a leather pack to hold my pencils and ink. All I wanted to do was draw and capture the spirit of the people." Aminah

Streets of Dakar, Senegal, 1980, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist

1983

Visits Sapelo Island, Georgia, where her ancestors were enslaved before and during the Civil War.

First group exhibition at the Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Red Scarf (from New York Series), 1989 Private Collection
Basket Woman, 1984, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of The Huntington National Bank

1989

Receives Governor's Award for the Visual Arts from the Ohio Arts Council.

Receives a grant from the Ohio Arts Council for a residency at PS 1 in Queens, New York.

Receives a Minority Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to work with Robert Blackburn at the Printmaking Workshop in New York City.

Group exhibition - Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts, Williams College, Studio Museum of Harlem, Oakland Museum, and others

"Sapelo, Georgia, is off the coast of Savannah, Georgia and it takes twenty minutes to cross over on the Sapelo ferry. In the early 1800s, it was owned by Thomas Spalding. He would go to the auction block in South Carolina, purchase a lot of slaves, and bring them back to Sapelo to work the cotton and sugar cane fields." Aminah

Life in Sellsville and Life in the Blackberry Patch, 1990. Columbus Metropolitan Library

1990

Columbus Metropolitan Library commission for grand staircase

1992

Group exhibition, Will/Power at the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University.

Writes and illustrates The Teachings, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Cover art for The Teachings, 1992, Columbus Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist

"The spirituals speak of survival, of freedom and determination, of love and faith, of justice and hope." The spirituals, weaving together the memories that carry us into the future, must not be forgotten. They are our stories, our chants, our dreams, our lives. As they did so long ago, they continue to reach out and offer hope. Aminah, from The Teachings

Muslim Arab, Old City of Jerusalem, 1998, Columbus Museum of Art, Estate of the Artist
Orthodox Jew, Old City of Jerusalem, 1998, Columbus Museum of Art, Estate of the Artist

"In Israel, I took in the three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I saw a whole spectrum of people, and they were all sacred." Aminah

1994

Aminah's son Sydney dies.

1997

First exhibition at Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus.

1998

Ohio Arts Council residency in Herzilya, Israel.

Cover, Symphonic Poem catalogue, 2002

2002

Symphonic Poem, retrospective exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Receives an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Ohio Dominican University.

2003

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center commission, Cincinnati.

2004

Travels to Chile supported by an Ohio Arts Council Grant; solo exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago

MacArthur award

2005

Travels to Italy and visits Rome, Florence, Padua, Vinci, Venice, and Lucca

Journeys, detail, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center,Cincinnati

2006

Symphonic Poem travels to Brooklyn Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, and Toledo Museum of Art.

Travels to Peru

Untitled (Peruvian Woman), 2006, CMA, Estate of the Artist

2007

Ohio University Baker Center commission.

Aminah at Ohio University Baker Center, 2007 ©Gary J. Kirksey 2007
Life Along Water Street, exhibition, CMA, 2007
Life Along Water Street, CMA, Gift of the Artist

2010

Feb. 6 – March 20 Two Black Women: Faith Ringgold and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, ACA Galleries, New York City

Nov. 19 - April 10, 2011 Aminah Robinson: Voices that Taught Me to Sing, Toledo Museum of Art

2012

Inducted into the City of Columbus Hall of Fame

2015

Interview with Denny Griffin, retired President, Columbus College of Art and Design at the Metropolitan Club, Columbus

Aminah at 75, Hammond Harkins Galleries, Columbus, Ohio

May 22, Aminah dies of heart failure; leaves her estate to Columbus Museum of Art; memorial is held at Columbus Museum of Art on July 18

Praying Homeless Woman Outside the Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy, 2012, Estate of the Artist

2016

Robinson’s Presidential Suite at Columbus Museum of Art and Hammond Harkins

2018

Aminah’s World, an activity book and children’s guide by Carole M. Genshaft, published by Columbus Museum of Art

April 18 – August 25 Kindred Spirits: The Art of Elijah Pierce and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Columbus Museum of Art

2019

Renovation of Robinson’s home studio is completed with support of the Columbus Foundation

Establishment of the Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Residency and Fellowship in collaboration with the Greater Columbus Arts Council Click here for more information about residencies and fellowships.

Aminah’s home studio at 791 Sunbury Road, Columbus, OH

2020

Columbus artist DonCee Coulter is first Aminah Robinson Fellow

Nov. 18 – October 3, 2021 Raggin’ On: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s House and Journals, Columbus Museum of Art with accompanying book

2021

May- August Johnathan Payne is inaugural recipient of Aminah Robinson Residency

Sept.- Nov. Columbus artist Wendy Kendrick is Aminah Robinson Fellow

2022

Richard Duarte Brown receives an Aminah Robinson Fellowship

Darlene Taylor receives inaugural Aminah Robinson Writing Residency