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Alma Roberts
"I am a self-taught, second-generation abstract expressionist artist who, at the age of 62, began producing “fully formed, energetic compositions,” expanding on my roles as an elder and activist. I consider artists Alma Thomas, Norman Lewis, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko as influences on my work. In 2021, I retired from a successful 49 year career in health care administration to pursue art fulltime."
Roberts has been in numerous group exhibits, including being one of six featured artists in the 2025 Baltimore Met Gala Exhibit, Timeless. She is an active member of the Black Art Today Foundation global cohort of artists, as well as a member of the Tribe 55+ cohort of Black women visual and literary artists age 55 and older. Roberts has had solo exhibits at Baltimore City Hall Galleries, and the James E. Lewis Museum at Morgan State University, where her work, A Vessel Full of Power, is in the Museum’s permanent collection.
She has been a part of a number of recent group exhibits including exhibits at Gallery B (Bethesda), Rush Gallery (Philadelphia), Quid Nunc Gallery (Baltimore), Honfleur Gallery (Washington, DC), Gallery Reimaged (Baltimore), and Spiralis Gallery (Easton, MD). Her work is currently in an expansive exhibit at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (Creatively Black Baltimore Exhibit), as well as an exhibit at Stem & Vine (Baltimore). Her painting, Escape, is featured as the cover art for the 2026 book, The Sacred Art of Teaching, by award-winning authors and educators, Drs. Lisa Delpit and Christopher Emdin.
Roberts is a founding member of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Joshua Johnson Council, and Co-founder of the Baltimore-based, Directors and Collectors Art Salon, a forum for ongoing dialogue to promote the historical relevance, and collection of Black Art. She has served on the boards of Maryland Art Place, the BMA, and most recently, on the Board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture. She is currently working on a book entitled Other Than Words (expected publication in 2027), chronicling her journey from literary to visual artist.
Roberts has been in numerous group exhibits, including being one of six featured artists in the 2025 Baltimore Met Gala Exhibit, Timeless. She is an active member of the Black Art Today Foundation global cohort of artists, as well as a member of the Tribe 55+ cohort of Black women visual and literary artists age 55 and older. Roberts has had solo exhibits at Baltimore City Hall Galleries, and the James E. Lewis Museum at Morgan State University, where her work, A Vessel Full of Power, is in the Museum’s permanent collection.
She has been a part of a number of recent group exhibits including exhibits at Gallery B (Bethesda), Rush Gallery (Philadelphia), Quid Nunc Gallery (Baltimore), Honfleur Gallery (Washington, DC), Gallery Reimaged (Baltimore), and Spiralis Gallery (Easton, MD). Her work is currently in an expansive exhibit at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (Creatively Black Baltimore Exhibit), as well as an exhibit at Stem & Vine (Baltimore). Her painting, Escape, is featured as the cover art for the 2026 book, The Sacred Art of Teaching, by award-winning authors and educators, Drs. Lisa Delpit and Christopher Emdin.
Roberts is a founding member of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Joshua Johnson Council, and Co-founder of the Baltimore-based, Directors and Collectors Art Salon, a forum for ongoing dialogue to promote the historical relevance, and collection of Black Art. She has served on the boards of Maryland Art Place, the BMA, and most recently, on the Board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture. She is currently working on a book entitled Other Than Words (expected publication in 2027), chronicling her journey from literary to visual artist.
