Robin Jack Sarner

Robin Jack Sarner is a Los Angeles–based abstract artist working in large-scale mixed media painting and works on paper. Her work confronts the invisible aspects of being human by materializing internal architecture. Working primarily in large-scale abstract mixed media, she builds dense, tactile surfaces using canvas, paper, gesture, and structural stitching in a cyclical method of accumulation and reduction. Her work moves away from passive abstraction toward a visceral, felt presence that functions as externalized frameworks for complex internal landscapes.

Sarner holds a B.S. in Art Education from Florida Southern College, where she received the Albert Key Award for highest honors. After a period working in business management and raising a family, she returned to her studio practice with renewed focus and rigor. Her work has been commissioned, collected privately, featured in publications, and was the subject of a filmed studio visit with art critic Peter Frank. Sarner is an active member of The Artist Studio collective at the Palos Verdes Art Center. A passionate advocate for arts education, Sarner designs and delivers abstract art curricula for K–12 students in local school districts, reaching over 6,000 children annually.

In the Studio with Peter Frank

What happens when a contemporary painter re-engages the language of Abstract Expressionism through her own experience, memory, and environment?

During his studio visit, art critic Peter Frank speaks with Robin Jack Sarner about the gesture, line, color, texture, and ephemera that shape her paintings—and the physical, intuitive process behind them. Together, they explore what makes Sarner’s approach to abstraction both deeply rooted in its history and distinctly her own.

©️EMS. Directed by Peter Frank

The Painting Process

Hipgnosis director Walter Mladina recently joined Robin in her studio to capture her painting process and talk freely about the experiences, ideas, and creative impulses that drive her work.

©️hipgnosis. Directed by Walter Mladina

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

1991 Florida Southern College - Lakeland, United States Bachelor of Science Art Education

SELECTED AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

2025

Brand 53 Associates Award, Brand Library & Art Center, Juror Sigrid Burton, Glendale, CA

Best Painting, Palos Verdes Library District, Palos Verdes, CA

2022

Best of Fair, Saatchi Art, The Other Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

Echoes and Emergence, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA

Anamnesis: Remembering What We Forgot to Be, Gallery 612, Santa Monica, CA

2024

Dissonance to Euphony: An Artistic Journey, The Upper West, Santa Monica, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026

Studio Systems, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

Bigger Picture, Southern California Women's Caucus of Art, Range Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

On Being Jewish Now, Jewish Artist Initiative of Southern California, The Braid, Santa Monica, CA

2025

Colorstraction, Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA

How’s the Weather, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (Juror Shanna Nys Dambrot)

Imagine, Gallery 945, Jewish Artists Initiative, Los Angeles, CA

Brand 53, The Brand Library and Art Center, CA

NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

TRYST, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

Graphic, Minimal, Abstraction, Coastline Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA

Art of the Peninsula, The Artists Studio Gallery, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

The Other Side, Garel Fine Art Gallery, Manhattan Beach, CA (curated by me)

2024

NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

Apophenia, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Brand 51, Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA

Spectrum Gestalt, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Story Mapping, AJL Art Gallery, Buena Park, CA

Roots: Where We Come From, Where We Are, 1202 Contemporary, San Francisco, CA

The Summer Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (2024, 2023)

Juncture, Garel Fine Art Gallery, Manhattan Beach, CA

Art For All, Gallery of Hermosa, Hermosa Beach, CA

Art Within Reach, Ace Tiger Gallery, Torrance, CA

The Winter Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (2017 - 2024)

2022

The Other Art Fair - Saatchi Art, Santa Monica, CA

Her Story, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY

The Healing Power of Color, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY

2021

PVAC90: Past, Present & Future, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Inspirational Art in Mixed Media, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY

RESET, Unita, Manhattan Beach, CA (3 person show curated by me)

RESIDENCIES

2026

Artist-in-Residence, Studio Systems Experimental Residency, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2025

Fellow, Kipaipai Artist Development Workshop, Joshua Tree, CA

CURRICULUM DESIGN

2015–Present

Developed and scaled regional K-12 abstract art curricula implemented across multiple California South Bay Area school districts, coordinating with local administrators to strengthen district-wide arts programming.

2026, Live Demo Painting & Discussion - Palos Verdes Art Center and The Artists’ Studio Palos Verdes

PUBLICATIONS

BOLD Journey - Meet Robin Jack Sarner, August 2026

Voyage LA Magazine - “Life & Work with Robin Jack Sarner of Rancho Palos Verdes” Local Stories (May 2026)

Canvas Rebel, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner" Stories and Insights (February 2026)

Gene Sasse "A View from the Studio: Robin Jack Sarner" Gene Sasse, Sasse Museum of Art (February 2026)

Melina Paris, “Echoes and Emergence: Movement, Memory & Emotion Made Visible,” Random Length News, December 22, 2025

Jordan Tate, “Layers of Memory & Healing in Mixed Media Abstraction,” Indie Pathways Magazine, Vol. 10, p. 24-28, December 2025

Voyage LA, “Robin Jack Sarner’s Story,” November 20, 2025

Genie Davis, “Welcome to The Other Side at Garel Fine Art,” Diversions LA, August 24, 2025

Kristine Schomaker, “Why We Need More Exhibitions About Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Mental Health,” Art & Cake, August 2025

Cindy Donnelly, “Art in Focus,” Palos Verdes Magazine, 47, April 2024: 14-15.

Jorge R. G. Sagastume, “On Madness, Literature, and Art,” The Pasticheur: Literature, Art, & Ideas, Volume 2:1, January 2024

Voyage LA, “Daily Inspiration: Meet Robin Jack Sarner,” May 27, 2024

Bold Journey, “Meet Robin Jack Sarner,” March 26, 2024

Shoutout LA, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner--Abstract Artist," September 9, 2024

New & Abstract, "Five Questions to Robin Jack Sarner," 2023

Canvas Rebel, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner," January 16, 2023

Gail Phinney, “90 People & Programming: PVAC Past, Present & Future,” 2021