Alma Roberts is a self-taught, second generation abstract expressionist artist who at 62, began producing “fully formed compositions.” She has recently been in numerous group exhibits throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including being one of seven featured artists at the 2025 Baltimore Met Gala, Statement Art Exhibit- Timeless. She has had solo exhibits at Baltimore City Hall Galleries, the James E. Lewis Museum at Morgan State University, where she also has a work (A Vessel Full of Power) in the Museum’s permanent collection, and Spiralis Gallery in Easton, Maryland. Her works have been the cover art for magazines and professional journals (Black Mental Health Alliance, Healthy Living Magazine, Passager Literary Arts Journal) and will be the cover art for an upcoming book by bestselling authors, Drs. Lisa Delpit and Christopher Emdin (The Sacred Art of Teaching). She is an active member of the Black Art Today Foundation global cohort of artists of color. Roberts is one of the founding members of the Joshua Johnson Council at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and co-founder of the Baltimore-based Directors and Collectors Art Salon. She has served on the Boards of Maryland Art Place, and the BMA. She recently completed two terms as a member of the Board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture. She is currently working on a book chronicling her journey from literary to visual artist, entitled, Other Than Words, as well as the publication of her children’s book, Who Said I Can’t Fly (expected publications in 2027).
Artist’s Statement
I am an African American Abstract Expressionist painter. I am an Elder. I am an Activist, and an Optimist. My art is my medicine. It is my messenger. It is my legacy.
Every time I step up to and into a blank canvas, I enter spaces that bring me into contact with different realms, unlike those I experience in what I have come to consider "the real world." As I paint about my emotions, about my interpretation of life, about things beautiful or somethings that are unsightly and unfathomable, I get to create a new dialog using a new and different language with each painting.
My paintings allow me to bring colors, shapes, movement, feelings, and new dimensions from those other realms onto my canvas and into my "real" space for others to experience, stretching their imaginations beyond what they see and think is "real." This is the joy of painting abstractions. It is also the responsibility of painting abstractions.
When the viewer encounters one of my pieces and "sees" or feels something they can't quite explain, then I know that I have done my job as an abstract artist. I know I have created a bond between the work and the viewer no matter how fleeting. And in that fleeting moment, I also get to convey a message of hope; because no matter how dark the subject, every one of my paintings will have an element of hope included, and that, more than anything, is the message I want to convey repeatedly through my art. As Thomas Carlyle stated, and I firmly believe: "He [she] who has Hope, has everything."
I am honored to wear the mantle of “elder”, accepting the charge to convey messages through my art that translate society, culture, faith, values, and relationships for those who follow me.
Alma Roberts
Artist’s Statement
I am an African American Abstract Expressionist painter. I am an Elder. I am an Activist, and an Optimist. My art is my medicine. It is my messenger. It is my legacy.
Every time I step up to and into a blank canvas, I enter spaces that bring me into contact with different realms, unlike those I experience in what I have come to consider "the real world." As I paint about my emotions, about my interpretation of life, about things beautiful or somethings that are unsightly and unfathomable, I get to create a new dialog using a new and different language with each painting.
My paintings allow me to bring colors, shapes, movement, feelings, and new dimensions from those other realms onto my canvas and into my "real" space for others to experience, stretching their imaginations beyond what they see and think is "real." This is the joy of painting abstractions. It is also the responsibility of painting abstractions.
When the viewer encounters one of my pieces and "sees" or feels something they can't quite explain, then I know that I have done my job as an abstract artist. I know I have created a bond between the work and the viewer no matter how fleeting. And in that fleeting moment, I also get to convey a message of hope; because no matter how dark the subject, every one of my paintings will have an element of hope included, and that, more than anything, is the message I want to convey repeatedly through my art. As Thomas Carlyle stated, and I firmly believe: "He [she] who has Hope, has everything."
I am honored to wear the mantle of “elder”, accepting the charge to convey messages through my art that translate society, culture, faith, values, and relationships for those who follow me.
Alma Roberts
