Just Imagine

Paintings of Sarah A. R. Kimbrough

I was born on October 10, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama, daughter of a real estate agent, Forris Sylvester Robinson and his wife Eunice Reed Robinson. I studied nursing at Carraway Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Birmingham and after certification as a Registered Nurse, I became an Instructor in Nursing at Jefferson Hospital in the same city. I also attended Birmingham Southern College where I met my husband to be, S T Kimbrough, Jr. We married soon thereafter and upon his graduation, we moved to North Carolina where he became a graduate student at Duke University Divinity School.

When he began Ph.D. studies at Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, NJ), I had the opportunity to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree at Rider University in Lawrenceville studies incorporated courses in applied and visual arts, history of art and educational methods involving the use of the arts. It was at this time that I also formally studied Applied Arts at Princeton University with George Ortman, Artist in Residence, and developed skills in sketching and oils, water colors, and other media.

In 1970 our family, including four sons David, Timothy, Steven, and Mark, moved to Bonn, Germany, where S T pursued post doctoral studies at the Kaiser Wilhelm University of Bonn and became a leading baritone of the Bonn Opera Company (Theater der Stadt). While employed as the Teen Director for the American Embassy in Bonn, I conducted numerous Graphic Arts Workshops for youth, a USA Support Activity of the American Embassy in Bonn. Later I was employed as Assistant to the Pastor and Administrator of The American Protestant Church there.

I began to explore for the first time the use of polyester resins as the ground for painting with oils, acrylics, and watercolors. Thus I produced my first relief paintings in a three-dimensional style. I started working both on canvas and on wood. After sketching on one of those surfaces the image I wished to produce, I would then apply fiberglass to the wood or canvas. During a period of twenty to thirty minutes using small palette knives and sculpting tools I would shape or mold the image in the fiberglass to be painted. After it had dried and hardened, if necessary, I used chisels, a small hammer, sandpaper, and other abrasive substances to refine the image. Once it was shaped as desired, I began the painting process.

The International Women's Group of the American Embassy Club provided one of the first opportunities to exhibit my earliest works which were well received.

Upon returning to the United States in the 1980s to pursue a graduate degree at Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, NJ), I was able to continue developing the relief style of painting, but I also expanded my work to the flat-surface use of pastels. Numerous opportunities presented themselves to exhibit works at Princeton's Nassau Club, numerous libraries throughout New Jersey, Duke University, Ocean County Medical Center, and the American Cancer Society. In addition, my works were accepted in many juried exhibitions in the US and abroad and shown in galleries, institutional, and corporate settings. Memberships in a variety of artists' groups in New Jersey provided the opportunity to share with colleagues in developing ideas, style, and exhibits: Ocean County Artists' Guild, Manasquan River Group of Artists, and Monmouth Arts Foundation, Inc. I am grateful to all who have shared in aiding my development as an artist and who have expressed appreciation for my paintings in diverse ways. I realize that the three-dimensional element of many of them is not fully realizable on the flat surface of a page. As you peruse the following pages "just imagine" which is what I have sought to do.

Sarah Ann Robinson Kimbrough