The Arts in Focus

Mike Robbins’ apartment or condo bedroom looks more like an artist’s studio than a location to sleep. He has blank canvases in one corner of the space, an area of a wall for incomplete canvases and another area for completed canvases. He likewise an easel and 2 desks, one with paint and another with sketchbooks and note pads. “My bed is the important things that simply appears like it does not belong,” Robbins stated. When Robbins, now a senior guard on scholarship, signed up with the Owls for the 2014-15 season as a sophomore, he made paintings every day, except for when the group took a trip, and he continued to do so last season.

He just had 18 profession minutes entering this season however understood he ‘d have an opportunity for more playing time. Sophomore guard Trey Lowe was redshirting the season, senior guard Josh Brown was recovering from a tendon injury in the Achilles and freshman guards Quinton Rose and Alani Moore II didn’t have any college experience. He wished to be totally concentrated on basketball.

Robbins didn’t paint at all in the fall term. He wasn’t himself. He got the brush once again throughout winter season break and stated he felt less stressed out and more complimentary on the basketball court. Robbins’ finest scoring video game came prior to winter season break on Dec. 10 when he scored a career-high 8 points versus DePaul University, however he had a career-high 3 helps in 14 minutes versus Central Florida on Dec. 31. “I believe the balance of both of them is exactly what keeps me at my finest on the court,” he stated.

Robbins and his older bro Greg both played basketball in custom basketball jerseys at Lower Merion High School Mike had a three-year university profession, that included leading the Aces in scoring in the 2012 state champion. When previous Owls assistant coach Dwayne Killings informed Robbins he needed to change from the No. 11 he used in his very first season, Robbins selected No. 22, the number Greg used in high school and his 4 years at the University of Richmond and the number his daddy Carl used when he dipped into the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s.

Unlike Greg, who finished as Lower Merion’s 2nd all-time leading scorer behind 18-time NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, Mike wasn’t signed from high school. St. John’s University in Queens, New York City was the only school Robbins applied to from high school and just since he got an e-mail that enabled him to use without composing an essay, he stated. He invested one term there, sharing a space with his buddy, however wasn’t sure exactly what he wished to pursue academically. He went back to Philadelphia to take a term off, then he took classes at the Neighborhood College of Philadelphia in Summer season and Fall 2013 prior to registering at Temple in Spring 2014.

Prior to he checked out for the basketball group in the following term, Robbins worked the graveyard shift at a hookah bar near Villanova’s school in Spring and Summer season 2014. From about 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. he prepared hookahs and cleaned up the restrooms. “I sort of felt typical when I was working there, like I wasn’t any person unique,” Robbins stated. “And after that as soon as I made the group, it resembled I was living the dream.” Robbins enjoyed to attract intermediate school, however chose he wished to paint when he made the Owls’ lineup.

“I went from not playing basketball to being a Department I professional athlete,” he stated. “I sort of seemed like anything was possible in all elements of my life. … I stated, ‘Why not go to the next level?’ Due to the fact that I seemed like painting was the supreme evidence that you’re an artist. So I wished to take my illustrations from my note pads onto canvases and see if I might truly be an artist too.” Robbins is an accounting significant and stated he’ll likely get an accounting task and paint on the side as soon as he finishes. He stated he wishes to turn his paintings into an income source in between season’s end and graduation.

He has lots of relative to request for assistance when he requires it. 2 of his cousins are artists, one in fibers and knitting and the other in painting, illustration and graphic style, and his half sis Trilby is a painter. However he leans on his 30-year-old sibling Lindsay, who found out ways to weave at the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers and is a 2012 printmaking alumna of the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. She was operating at the Fabric Arts Center in Brooklyn, New york city till she returned to West Philadelphia last month. She now teaches after-school sewing classes at Butcher’s Sew Store in Center City.

Lindsay is Mike’s “teacher,” who addresses his technical concerns like the best ways to make earth-toned browns and aids with the viewpoint on figures in his work, like an individual’s hand. She stated Mike does not ask much about topic, which frequently consists of Black identity that originates from being combined race. Mike Robbins the painter is “more susceptible” and “in tune with his environments,” while Mike Robbins the basketball gamer in the classic basketball shirts and basketball shorts persona is “a jock” who is “pleasant,” “friendly” and “does exactly what he’s expected to do.” Both exist side-by-side within the exact same individual.

“I resemble so amazed that he’s had the ability to discover the balance in between the both and still make time for things that imply the most to him, which resembles going house and painting after he’s been practicing permanently and raising weights and all that,” Lindsay stated. “It’s sort of insane that he has the ability to discover that balance however he does entirely.”