Toni Robertson facts for kids

Toni Robertson (born in 1953) is an Australian artist. She is known for making posters and prints. Toni is also an art historian, which means she studies the history of art. She comes from Sydney, Australia.

Toni was part of a group called the Earthworks Poster Collective. This group worked from a place called the "Tin Shed" at the University of Sydney.

Early Life

Toni Robertson was born in 1953.

Her Art Career

Toni Robertson joined the Earthworks Poster Collective in 1974. Other artists like Mark Arbuz and Chips Mackinolty were also in this group. The Collective was active from 1972 to 1979. They used a method called screen printing to make posters. These posters shared ideas about important issues.

The posters covered many topics. They supported the Australian women's rights movement. They also spoke about Indigenous Australian rights and LGBT rights. Other topics included caring for the environment and helping people find jobs. They also made posters against nuclear weapons.

Toni also joined a group called "Women Behind Bars." This group helped women in legal trouble. Toni became an artist for the group. She made posters and art for a public campaign. This campaign was about a legal case in the 1980s.

She was also a key member of the Sydney Women's Art Movement. Other artists like Barbara Hall and Vivienne Binns were part of this group. Toni often made art that responded to current events. She used posters and banners to share her messages. Her skill in screen printing helped her spread these ideas easily.

Toni also became an art historian. She later stopped working as an artist. This was due to health problems. These problems were caused by chemicals she used while teaching.

Her Artworks

Toni Robertson's art is kept in important Australian galleries. These include the Museum of Applied Arts and Science. Her work is also at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. You can also see it at The National Gallery of Australia. The Caruthers Collection of Women's Art also holds her pieces.

Her artworks often used staged photographs. She would layer them with different inks and colors. This created strong images. These images were important to her political ideas. She often focused on women's rights in her art.

Once, she joined a protest at the University of Sydney. The protest was because the Philosophy Department did not want to teach a course. This course was about "Philosophical aspects of feminist thought." Toni and the other protesters succeeded. The university agreed to offer the course. Toni continued to include these themes in her art.

Toni once said about her work: "I think my work is very quirky. It’s very much individual politics. If you’re going to spend much of your life battling against the status quo you may as well find ways of getting a great deal of pleasure out of it. So it has to amuse me and I hope its humour entices people to look at it." This shows how she used humor in her art.

Some of her well-known works include:

• The women cashiers at Target (from the Taking Marketown by strategy series) 1976–1977
• It won't be long now (from the Taking Marketown by strategy series) 1953
• The grenades are inside the frozen chickens (from the Taking Marketown by strategy series) 1976–1977
• Anniversary, a print from 1987

Art Shows

Toni Robertson's work has been shown in many exhibitions:

• Women in the Sheds (1970s–1980s)
• Women at Watters (1955)
• Out of the Void: Mad and Bad Women. Art from the Collection of the Queensland Art Gallery (1955)
• Review (1955)
• In the Company of Women: 100 years of Australian women's art from the Caruthers collection (1995)