Edie Roberson was born on February 18, 1929, in Wilmington, Delaware. She is a painter that uses a wide variety of techniques and styles. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Roberson studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later with Charles McClelland, a student of Howard Pyle. In 1960, she moved to Utah, where she immediately became active in local exhibitions and had two solo shows at the Salt Lake Art Center. Since that time, Edie Roberson has become one of the state's most important imaginative and visionary artists.

Her painting Channel Three is a trompe l'oeil style painting that shows a cork bulletin board complete with thumbnailed or stapled notes, cards, photos, and drawing cutouts, etc. As a , it deceives the viewer into thinking the objects in the painting are real and not merely represented. Her work is routinely exhibited throughout the state.

Biography adapted from Springville Museum of Art.

Edie Roberson was born on February 18, 1929, in Wilmington, Delaware. Roberson studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later with Charles McClelland, a student of Howard Pyle. In 1960, she moved to Utah, where she immediately became active in local exhibitions and had two solo shows at the Salt Lake Art Center. Since that time, Edie Roberson has become one of the state's most important imaginative and visionary artists.

Roberson believes art is a vital method of communication, and her artwork is intended as personal statements. Her work has been described as eclectic (made up of various sources) and as Magic Realism. She describes herself as a Super-Realist who likes to get close enough and deep enough to explore every surface and detail, taking small objects and painting them in large scale. Channel Three, like many of her artworks, is a trompe l'oeil (French term for "fool-the-eye") painting.

Roberson has a wide a range of subjects, techniques, and styles. Her works vary from trompe l'oeil to direct landscape painting, and she works in many different media including acrylic, oil, pastel, and watercolor. Found objects and manufactured items such as dolls, toys, and postcards play a significant role in her works. These objects and their arrangements convey her feelings about the passage of time. According to Robert Olpin, "[Her] mastery of medium is thorough but purely for purposes of expressing deeply held feelings regarding the world's things." About her work Roberson says, "The subject matter for my paintings is chosen intuitively from all kinds of objects I've collected through the years. . . old rusty bicycles, dolls, miniatures, toys, and objects like marbles and feathers.

Each has a special history whether known or unknown, and when they come together in different ways, they tell a story. They're like symbols in a dream." Roberson is careful to leave room for viewers to make up their own stories from the objects she puts in her pieces.

In Edie Roberson, Utah inherited one of its most significant intellectual and philosophical artists. Robert Olpin notes, "[She has] a rather romantic interest in the lives surrounding and shaping and touching the surfaces of inanimate objects."

Channel Three is her painting of a cork bulletin board complete with thumbnailed or stapled notes, cards, photos, and drawing cutouts, etc. As a trompe l'oeil, it deceives the viewer into thinking the objects in the painting are real and not merely represented. This works particularly well with this painting because the painting is on the same plane and the same scale as an actual bulletin board.

The title Channel Three is not representative of what the painting is and yet, neither is this a bulletin board; it is a painting. In addition, the title refers to the surrealist notion of channeling responses, which leads the viewer to question realities, as in the floating jellybeans. The artist makes viewers want to touch the painting because mere eyes cannot be trusted. However, the Museum rule is: "You can look but you must not touch!"

Biography courtesy Springville Museum of Art.

Artist's website.

Books

• Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (ed). The Artists Bluebook. AskART.com, 2003.
• Davenport, Ray. Davenport's Art Reference. [Ventura, Calif.] 1302 Beachmont, Ventura 93001, 2001.
• Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Paintings and Sculpture. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publishers, 1991.
• Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Current News Articles

• “Showing at Local Galleries.” The Deseret News.30 May 2004. E3
• “Showing at Local Galleries.” The Deseret News.25 May 2003. E3
• “Showing at Local Galleries.” The Deseret News. 21April 2002. E2
• “Showing at Local Galleries.” The Deseret News 17 September 2000. E2
• “Showing at Local Galleries.” The Deseret News. 27 December 1998. E2
• “Galleries.” The Deseret News.5 March 1995. E2
• “ Tricks and Treats.“ The Deseret News 11 October 1992. E1
• “ Art Canvass.” The Deseret News. 13 September 1992. E3
• “ '91 Saw Tepid Art Bidding, Blockbuster Exhibits.“ The Deseret News. 
  29 December 1991. E2
• “ Knowing Something About the Artist Will Increase Appreciation of the Art.“ The Deseret News.14 July 1991. E2
• “ Spring Salon Displays Vitality and Variety of Old and New Artists.“ The Deseret News. 21 April 1991. E2
• “ 1990 Arts in Review.” The Deseret News. 30 December 1990. E1
• “Go Gallery-Hopping, Shopping.” The Deseret News. 16 December 1990. E3
• “ Colors are Brilliant - in Hills and Galleries.” The Deseret News. 14 October 1990. E2
• “ Non-Conformist artists Paint the Town .” The Deseret News. 3 June 1990. E3
• “ Spring Salon Open to All Styles of Art '90 Exhibit at Springville Museum is Truly a Full-Spectrum Show..” The Deseret News.6 May 1990. E3
• “ New Shows at Gallery, Art Center Offer Sizzling Assortment of Styles.“ The Deseret News. 15 April 1990. E3
• “ Sneak Previews of 4 Local Art Exhibitions.“ The Deseret News. 11 February 1990. E3
• “ Utah Landscapes Grace Springville Gallery.“ The Deseret News. 12 November1989. E3
• “Gallery Stroll May be Lucky Day.” The Deseret News.8 October 1989. E3
• “ All Art Syles Will be Welcome at Springville Show.“ The Deseret News.9 April 1989.E3
• “ Art Treasures Offer Possibilities for Treasured Christmas Gifts Salt Lake Area Exhibits Tailored to Fit Many Holiday Budgets.“The Deseret News. 11 December1988. E3
• “Fantasy, Macabre Art on Exhibit in Utah County Galleries Have Treats for Halloween Visitors.“ The Deseret News. 23 October 1988. E3
• “ Versatile Utah Artists Refuse to be Stylistically Pigeonholed.“ The Deseret News. 16 October 1988. E3
• “ Artistic Landscape.” The Salt Lake Tribune.20 April 2003. D1
• “ Coming Up: Visual Arts.“ The Salt Lake Tribune. 12 February1995. E9
• “ Deceptive artists Show Off Tricks of Trade in Logan.“ The Salt Lake Tribune. 11 October 1992. E2
• ” Exploring Depth and Scope of Utah Art at Springville.“ The Salt Lake Tribune. 10 November 1991. E3
• “ Art scene: Utah Spring Salon's 67th Edition Welcomes New Artists.” The Salt Lake Tribune. 21 April 1991. E5
• “ Visit Pleasant to Springville Museum.” The Salt Lake Tribune. 3 March 1991. E9

Periodicals-

• Editors. “In the Galleries.” Art Talk March, 1999.