https://www.robinschwartzman.com/studio daily 1.0 2025-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1559664629559-BY7U1AASZB5J10TXSTVE/4_Arrow.jpg Studio Oasis is a series made for the 2013-2014 Jerome Fellowship Exhibition in the Main Gallery at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. My interest in roadside attractions led me to examine kitschy relics through a more candid lens of material and structure. Three large sculptures attempt to deconstruct the spectacular and explore the unreal. This is the culminating work of my 2013-2014 Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1559669603743-S65AYUOMJLPZ930DHUB3/P6170035.JPG Studio For me, the thought of summer vacation invokes a visual splendor reminiscent of kitschy seaside resorts and endless leisure time. FUN FUN FUN is a modern homage to these bygone days that was inspired by 1950’s era signage. This celebration of vintage design lit up the former Blacklist Vintage storefront throughout the summer of 2013. Thanks to Joan Vorderbruggen of the Artists in Storefronts project for making it all happen! Photos by Steven Lang. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1559666958503-1E5LUH1YCRURBB7SLLPT/20110428-0144.jpg Studio Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, April 2011. Each sculpture in this installation had audio triggered by a variety of physical interactions. Vocals: Miss Daisy - Molly Corkins, Ned the Fruitcrate - Peter Rusk, The Toll Bridge Troll - David T. Steinman, The Lonely Tree and Clovers - Justin Spooner. Images by Mark Vancleave. Parts of this installation were shown at the Walker Art Center for their First Free Saturday Event in March, 2011. Miss Daisy and The Lonely Tree were also on display at the Bethesda Hospital Healing and Sculpture Garden in St. Paul, MN from August 2011-June 2012. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1560301435888-J11J5ZJAJNK8SEONGFS3/3.jpg Studio - THINK AND WONDER, WONDER AND THINK This work spanned the Dr. Seuss quote, "THINK AND WONDER, WONDER AND THINK" across both sides of the historic Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis in the form of twenty-eight giant illuminated letters. The installation was commissioned by NorthernLights.mn and made in conjunction with the Northern Spark 2012 festival. The work became the theme of the event that year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1580402615370-K4TAT6YGMKID84EVLOJ6/galleryview4.jpg Studio Last Resort is a series of works inspired by the bygone era of the Borscht Belt. At its peak, the Catskills region in upstate New York had over 500 hotels that offered visitors fresh air, Kosher meals, nightly entertainment, swimming, dancing, golf, ice skating and more. This summer getaway might best be known for the many famous Jewish comedians whose careers began in its glitzy nightclubs and lounges. The sculptures and prints of Last Resort are directly inspired by artifacts of the era and draw upon the carefully crafted design elements used by various Resorts to establish their brand in the ethos of an attainable, yet aspirational, all-inclusive Kosher vacation. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Sabes JCC hosted an event called “Borscht Belt Time Machine,” where the gallery became a backdrop for local Jewish comedians to read some of the best, sappiest routines from the pioneers of stand up, accented by a drummer playing rimshot sounds after each punchline. Virgin versions of period appropriate drinks, tacky snacks, and laughter were all served. This work was on display from January 13-February 20, 2020 at the Sabes JCC Tychman Shapiro Gallery in conjunction with the Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival. Thanks to Robyn Stoller Awend for the opportunity and to Lauren Cutshall for photographing the exhibition and event. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1559664895873-S8SZW269F5BOQUNG9OSV/duck+duck+what+2.jpg Studio Duck Duck What? was commissioned in January 2018 by Northern Lights.mn for Illuminate South Loop, a three-night, light-based art festival during the weekend of Superbowl 52 in Bloomington, MN. The piece plays off the classic childhood game that if you grew up in Minnesota, you called Duck Duck Gray Duck, but if you grew up in any other state you’d call Duck Duck Goose. Visitors to Illuminate South Loop were invited to hit the blue or yellow buttons to vote for the game they grew up playing. A running tally was kept throughout the weekend and Gray Duck took the lead by just over 200 votes. Thanks to Paul Tinetti Fine Furniture for metal fabrication, Terry Bridges for assistance with illumination and custom duck and goose and to Rory Alt for creating the brains of the piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1635002833033-UEGVEQIBC3JDSLADZJUU/IMG_0357.jpg Studio This piece was commissioned by the Minnesota JCC to be on display as part of Simplicity Made Complex: The Life and Legacy of Rube Goldberg in the Tychman-Shapiro Gallery at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis. The exhibition featured the breadth of Goldberg’s life and career, with emphasis on his trademark machines that perform simple tasks through exhaustively complex means. October 14 – December 20, 2021. The machine was created with special assistance from Reese, Jojo and Simon Awend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1693275745583-QN6SN4WIR2GBWFD60VKB/wide3.jpg Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1672676919347-OQRUVMSPQZ6TF0Y1ZD5L/IMG_8174.jpeg Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1711209186393-P942AYI02VOSK4MZK21G/020224_image67.jpg Studio This giant loop was commissioned as part of a dazzling cosmic footgolf course for Silverwood Park’s Midwinter Melt event in February 2024. Holes were designed by teams of artists and members of the public. The event was in partnership with The Great Northern. Photo Credit: Jayme Halbritter https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1722348715768-YMVW7TLWYL8VT6JE8FS6/IMG_0435.jpeg Studio This series of work was commissioned for the "And Such Small Portions! Food and Comedy in the Catskills Resort Era" at the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, NY. This exhibit, on display July-November 2024, explores the interplay of food and humor that happened in Borscht Belt dining rooms, kitchens, and theaters, and ultimately shaped a uniquely Jewish American culture that still thrives today. The World's Biggest Bowl of Borscht - An oversized sculpture representing the beet soup known as borscht that was ubiquitous on the menus of 20th-century Catskills resorts. In a 1937 issue of Variety, editor Abel Green coined the terms "borscht circuit" and "borscht belt" to refer to Jewish resorts in the Catskills. The phrase caught on and was popularized by Catskills veteran Joey Adams and other comedians and columnists. Jewish immigrants savored the rich flavor of borscht and the connection it offered to their Eastern European heritage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1559665139347-7DH7NTD92YSB4WZD9M8P/8_BarterBoat.jpg Studio Barter Boat is a carnival-inspired pop-up trading post captained by a trio of sailswomen who travel from city to city trading with the citizenry. Focused on moments of generosity, Barter Boat engages audiences through the act of barter, oral storytelling, and visual art. We ask with every interaction: after money, what makes something Valuable? Barter Boat is a project by RADAR Art Collective (myself, Anna Abhau Elliott and Desiree Moore). It has been to Minneapolis (Northern Spark Festival), Indianapolis (IN Light IN), Baltimore (ArtScape), Atlanta (Art on the Beltline), Scottsdale (Canal Convergence), Breckenridge (BreckCreate), Grand Rapids, MI (ArtPrize), Bentonville, AR (The Momentary) and Cincinnati, OH (BLINK). Barter Boat is the recipient of an ArtPrize Seed Grant and was named one of five projects on the Juror’s Shortlist at ArtPrize 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1755558908632-MK0A1EPGNNW8FNFUZOVH/IMG_6356.jpeg Studio Clown Cones: Homage to Wayne Thiebaud, made for the 2025 Crop Art Exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair. It placed 6th in the Class 3 — Artistic, dyed or painted, amateur, out of 61 entries. https://www.robinschwartzman.com/contact daily 0.75 2019-06-04 https://www.robinschwartzman.com/about daily 0.75 2025-12-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cf68d4d288ffb000156b7e6/1571870079714-MHUUBMOKBS0LKTLLPOTY/151917_0126.jpg About https://www.robinschwartzman.com/pagecv daily 0.75 2026-03-25 https://www.robinschwartzman.com/statement daily 0.75 2025-04-23