04 Sep Artist Spotlights: Peggi Kroll Roberts

In recent years, Peggi Kroll Roberts has boldly and joyously veered away from the people-filled beach and parkland scenes that had secured her reputation as a sought-after plein-air artist depicting life along the sun-kissed West Coast. “I just totally burned out on the beach thing, and I’m sure some people think I’ve gone over to the dark side,” she says, laughing. Her recent work explores subjects such as still-life paintings, garden scenes, avian studies, Greek vases, more abstract forms, and occasionally, more familiar figurative pieces in a mixture of media that include gouache, acrylic, watercolor, brush-and-ink, and collage.

Lest longstanding fans despair, it’s important to note that the artist’s bright-hued palette has not significantly darkened. Nor, for that matter, has the cheeriness of Kroll Roberts’ lively, expressive brushwork and forms. Rather, you might say that she has simply shifted her perspective and broadened her range of subjects.

Playground | Acrylic on Mixed Media Paper | 18 x 24 inches

Kroll Roberts paints in a large studio she shares with her husband, respected plein-air landscape artist Ray Roberts, adjoining their home of almost three decades on 20 acres in rural Angels Camp, the historic Gold Rush town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Peggi and Ray first met as students at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, before she returned home to Phoenix, Arizona. There, she became a staff fashion illustrator for Goldwater’s Department Store, transitioning into full-time freelance work in that field. After moving to Los Angeles in 1980, she secured a coveted job rendering ad concepts for the clients of the respected agency Doyle Dane Bernbach — and soon after, she reconnected with and married Ray. The couple and their growing family eventually moved to Phoenix, where Peggi and Ray honed their skills at the Scottsdale Artists’ School and became full-time fine artists themselves.

Flowers | Acrylic on Mixed Media Paper | 18 x 24 inches

Her recent works reflect the simple joy Kroll Roberts has been finding lately in approaching subjects in a decorative manner rather than as a scene. This might result in a cheerfully composed assortment of garden flowers on the stem, each rendered in simple, bold strokes; or a collage of abstract shapes painted in various hues, clipped and arranged in a grid; or assorted birds jauntily posed on twigs as boldly brushed pure colors, arrayed in isolation against a neutral-hued background. Simple as these all may appear, their great appeal nonetheless derives from the eye and intention of an experienced artist. “My artistic career,” she explains, “has always been that I come out to my studio and I do whatever I want to do that’s going to float my boat.”

Kroll Roberts is represented by the Page Gallery in Camden, Maine, and Anne Neilson Fine Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Based in Marin County, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.