Roberta Fallon, a beloved Philadelphia artist and co-founder of the digital publication Artblog, has died at the age of 76. Fallon passed away in her longtime home city on December 5, 2025, after suffering injuries when a car struck her last November.
Colleagues and friends remembered Fallon as a warm and energetic force in the Philadelphia arts community. A forthcoming memorial will be held on March 7th at the Moore College of Art and Design.
Alongside fellow artist and writer Libby Rosof, whom she met when their daughters were in kindergarten at the same school, Fallon founded Artblog in 2003. The publication, focused on the local Philadelphia arts scene, gained recognition for centering underrepresented artists and galleries through reviews, interviews, comics, and other content. Artblog amassed 4,500 subscribers before shuttering last summer after Fallon stepped down as its executive director.
In a phone call with Hyperallergic, Rosof recounted early conversations about art between the two friends. “We were appalled by the way that women were excluded,” Rosof said. “We went to New York all the time, and most of the shows were male-dominated.”
The two sculptors’ conversations progressed into artistic collaborations and, later, the co-founding of Artblog. “She was an amazing person, and she was a builder of links between people. She created a community,” Rosof said. “The art world became a community because of her.”
Born in 1949 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fallon moved to Philadelphia in 1984 and began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts shortly after. In the early 1990s, Fallon became a founding member of Philadelphia Sculptors, an organization established to provide more opportunities for local artists working in the medium. From 2009 to 2021, Fallon also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Fine Arts Department at Saint Joseph’s University.
Describing herself as both an artist and activist, Fallon sought to make art more accessible to wider audiences.
“Two big ideas have propelled my career: community and accessibility. Much art is inaccessible, hidden in museums that are not affordable or in galleries that do not make people feel welcome,” Fallon said in a profile for the Da Vinci Art Alliance.
“But art can be made accessible by writing about it, showing images of it in a free medium people can access any time, day or night,” she continued.
Art writer Annette Monnier, who served on Artblog’s board and contributed to the publication, remembered Fallon’s uplifting effect on the city’s arts ecosystem. “Roberta remained optimistic. She saw an art world that was better than the real one, and she gave us an alternative history,” Monnier told Hyperallergic.
Rosof recalled that Fallon “had no end of energy and creativity” for her work, even when Rosof herself grew worn out.
“She never stopped thinking how she could make things better, how she could make it a better world, and how she could help artists who were struggling, who deserved to be seen and know, and that was her mission,” Rosof said.
Moore College of Art and Design will preserve Artblog as a digital archive, according to local news outlet WHYY.
Fallon is survived by her husband, Steven Kimbrough, her three children, and four grandchildren.
