The Fables

By Kristin Roberts

July 1 – October 7, 2023

Artist Reception Saturday July 8, 2 – 4 pm

Lyndon House Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition, The Fables, By Kristin Roberts, on view from July 1 – October 7 2023. Reception for the artists is Saturday, July 8, 2 – 4 pm

For centuries, people across the world have grown up reading Aesop’s Fables. They teach children about conventional morality while retaining bleak undertones more easily understood by adults. It is this combination of personal accountability. The laws or nature, and the tenuous division between life and death that drew Roberts to illustrate the fables.  Like the stories, Roberts’ depictions aim to show the beauty and uniqueness of each creature, while maintaining a cautious attitude toward their outcome.  What begins as a look at a simple sparrow or modest hare slowly evolves into an underlying sense of dread for the characters involved.  Roberts’ overall goal for viewers is to at once recognize the aesthetic beauty of life alongside its intrinsic fragility.  

Kristin Roberts is an artist and illustrator based in Athens, Georgia. Originally, from a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, she began drawing as a toddler in her father’s office where he made her a desk out of a pine board and an old armchair. Her main influences were, and still are; illustrators such as Beatrix Potter and Edward Gorey throughout her life have inspired literature, animals, and nature.

Roberts studied studio art under New York artist Frank Owen at the University of Vermont and graduated in 2011.

Roberts work utilizes detail, harmonious color, and palpable textures to bring viewers deep into the worlds she’s created. She wishes to pique the interests of viewers through her compositions, open-ended storytelling, and small elements incorporated throughout her work.

Though she has made the transition into focusing primarily on children’s illustration, her goals for her art remain the same: to attract the interest of viewers/readers so that they may be inspired to read, write, draw, and explore.  She is currently working at the University of Georgia and illustrates for the non-profit Leap for Literacy.