Annemarie Rogalsky, a member of First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., had a solo show of her landscapes at the Minto Gallery in Harriston during the month of February. Of her images, she says:
“I am interested in nature that is accessible to everyone. That is, nature in the city or the bits of parkland and wilderness we set aside within driving distance of it. Painting is a way of reflecting on nature and how we humans are part of it and interact with it to live.
“What I paint and how I paint are both important to me. Slowly building up the paint stroke by stroke complements the narrative the painting tells. It helps me see that there is a rhythm to being alive.
“A few of my paintings are reflections of our contemporary human culture of technology and image within image. Can we store nature, control it and shape it? Is it ours to manipulate as we see fit? Do women and girls have a voice on how we use and nurture nature? Nature nurtures us. Will we have it in the future?
“The seasons come and go, and repeat in a cycle. So do our lives. We have times of great achievement. We have times of rejuvenation and times of decline. There are times when what we do is very fruitful and times when we kind of harvest what we set in motion long ago. There are times when life feels cold and fallow. We may even feel useless and hopeless that anything we do is of any worth.
“So I paint in a slow stroke-by-stroke way, building up the forms on the canvas. . . The hope is that, looking at the images I produce, it produces thoughtfulness and greater creativity and hopefulness in the lives of those who come to see my art.”
‘Death and Life.’ A stump rotting away at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp speaks of a life well lived and a death creating new life. (Photo by Canadian Mennonite)
Annemarie Rogalsky’s Waterloo ‘Hinterland’ paintings, a four-season cycle, at her solo show ‘The Anthrocene Revisited’ at the Minto Gallery in Harriston, Ont., in February. (Photo by Canadian Mennonite)
Annemarie Rogalsky presents her artist’s statement at the opening of her solo show ‘The Anthrocene Revisited’ at the Minto Gallery in Harriston, Ont., on Feb. 4. (Photo by Canadian Mennonite)
‘Hope Realized.’ This painting focusses on a swamp at Rondeau Provincial Park in southern Ontario. Of no intrinsic value, it harbours the only Canadian nesting site of the Prothonotary warbler. Reflecting on this scene begs the question about hierarchies of values. (Photo by Canadian Mennonite)
‘The Case for Persons.’ This painting commemorates the 1929 British Privy Council decision that, in spite of male wording in the British North America Act, women were indeed persons. (Photo by Canadian Mennonite)
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