Alma Roberts

"I am a Baltimore-based, second-generation abstract expressionist artist. At the age of 62, I literally picked up a paint brush and began producing what has been described as “fully formed, energetic abstract compositions” that belied the fact that I was, at the time, new to the medium. My works provide an insight into my viewpoints on life and the issues and forces that impact it."

Alma Roberts' father was a portraitist. He drew the faces of those fighting and yearning for a new way of life in this country, and she tackles the same issues with her abstract paintings. She uses a broad pallet of colors to grab the attention of the viewer ,and then she adds splattering, markings, pours, and layering to get her messages across. She relies heavily on the use of circles and dots to represent humanity both living and past. Her work conveys her deep commitment to messages that are culturally grounded and focused on the struggle to undo racism and its traumatic generational impact on people of color in the U.S. Even as she engages in this continuous struggle, all of her work has some point of hope. In the words of poet, Amanda Gorman, “The hope for real change is what has driven my activism all of my life. I have tried to see the Light, and I have tried to be the Light.

For many years, Roberts’ creativity was channeled through spoken and written imagery. In 1983, she founded an award-winning cultural arts organization (New Breezes, Inc.) that promoted the works of regional and national literary, visual, and performing artists. She uses her visual works to connect to and translate her life to those she lives with and lives for. Even at this age, it is her intent to stay unapologetically woke and present through her art. She feels she owes that to her father, to honor the gift of his artistry that he passed on to her, and the sacrifices he made to give it. She also owes it to society to fight for what is needed to move our democracy to be the best that it was intended to be for all of its citizens.

Roberts is a self-taught artist who is influenced by artists Alma Thomas, Jack Whitten, Norman Lewis, Sam Gilliam, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko. She has had numerous exhibits over the years. In 2017, she had a successful solo exhibition at the City Hall Galleries in her hometown of Baltimore. She also has one of her compositions (A Vessel Full of Power, 2017) in the permanent collection of the James E. Lewis Museum at her undergraduate Alma Mater, Morgan State University (Baltimore). She is included in the Baker Artist Portfolios, and she is a Maryland State Arts Council Grant for Artist grant recipient (2022). Roberts is a founding member of the Joshua Johnson Council at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture, and is a Commissioner on the Baltimore Public Art Commission that oversees and approves the installation and maintenance of public art throughout the city.