Robert Place and The Alchemical Tarot

Robert M. Place is an internationally known visionary artist and illustrator, whose award winning works, in painting, sculpture, and jewelry, have been displayed in galleries and museums in America, Europe, and Japan and graced the covers and pages of numerous books and publications. He is the designer, illustrator, and co-author, with Rosemary Ellen Guiley, of: The Alchemical Tarot, the illustrations for which were exhibited at the Museo dei Tarocchi in Riola, Italy and which has the distinction of having sold for the highest price paid for a modern first edition Tarot at auction when it sold for $2,075 on eBay in September, 2007. Be sure to listen to the end of the interview where Robert gifts you a group reading… Powerful stuff!

Live Your Peace interviews
Robert Place

Place is the designer, illustrator, and author of The Angels Tarot, The Tarot of the Saints, and The Buddha Tarot, which are published by Llewellyn. The Tarot of the Saints has been favorably reviewed by Library Journal, appeared on the cover of Publisher’s Weekly in the fall of 2003, and has been awarded 1st Runner Up in Sideline/Interactive (the equivalent of second place) at the 2002 International New Age Trade Show. His fifth book, The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, is published by Tarcher/Penguin. Booklist has said, in a starred review, that The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination “may be the best book ever written on that deck of cards decorated with mysterious images called the tarot.” His latest Tarot deck and book set is The Vampire Tarot, published by St. Martins Press. He has also authored Astrology and Divination, Magic and Alchemy, and Shamanism, which are published by Facts On File as part of their Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena series and authored The Fool’s Journey: The History, Art, and Symbolism of the Tarot, published by Talarius Publications and included in the library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has recently published a set of art prints, called The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery, which were the focus of the exhibition that he curated at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. Illustrations for this deck received a 2004 ADDY award from the American Advertising Federation.

Robert Place’s art is not confined to one field he has continually created one of a kind paintings and sculptures while also creating art jewelry and mystical illustrations for his Tarot decks. In this work, Place focuses on figures and portraits as a living spiritual tradition. A tradition, which was created in the Classical world and that has been passed on to us by our ancestors. He considers art a craft and craft an art. But, his main concern is the capturing of a precious vision.

Place’s paintings and sculptures have been represented by the Razor Gallery and Auction 393 both on West Broadway in New York. His work has been exhibited in the New York State Museum in Albany, in 2000, he had a one person show in the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, and in January 2003 he showed his work with Robert Peterson at the Jim Kempner Gallery in New York. In July 2007, he had an exhibition of his original drawings for The Alchemical Tarot in the Museo dei Tarocchi in Riola, Italy and he was the guest of honor, who cut the ribbon at the opening celebration of the museum. His art for The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery and The Alchemical Tarot were exhibited at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, in 2010, and were the subject of two articles in The Los Angeles Times. His recreation of the oldest Italian woodcut Tarot in included in the permanent print collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Place is recognized throughout the world as an expert on and gifted teacher of the Western mystical tradition and the history and philosophy of the Tarot. He has conducted lectures and workshops in education centers throughout this country and in Italy, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Open Center, Omega Institute, The New York Tarot Festival, and The Reader’s Studio in New York, The World Tarot Congress in Chicago, The Southeastern Regional Tarot Festival in Florida, The Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, and The Museo Dei Tarocchi in Riola, Italy. He has appeared on the Discovery Channel series Strictly Supernatural and his work has appeared on The Learning Channel, A&E, and Animal Planet, and was featured in the television series Monk and Moonlight.

Together with his wife Rose Ann, he has been creating hand crafted jewelry for over twenty-five years. Their work has been exhibited in the White House, in the American Craft Museum, The New York State Museum, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Delaware Art Museum, The Montclair Art Museum, The Irish American Heritage Museum, the International Wilhelm Muller Competition, (which toured Museums in Germany), Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, England, and in numerous galleries in the United States, Ireland, Britain, and Japan. The Place’s jewelry has appeared in international art magazines, such as American Craft, Craft Arts, and Ornament and many others and has won a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship and the Niche Magazine Award for outstanding achievement in metal.

Here are the Three Cards of Advice Rob gifted to you and the community! Listen to the end of the interview to divine what the cards are saying to you.