Artist Statement

A recurring theme in Rosemary Cooley’s art has been water, the shapes and colors it becomes in glass vessels, how it shimmers in lakes and rivers when viewed from the air, the transparency of repetitive green waves in South Africa’s Indian Ocean, the slow lapping of the South China Sea.

Water carried her down the Li River in Guilin, across the Yangtze River and its Three Gorges Dam, and was her daily vision from the Shanghai apartment which she shared with her husband, overlooking the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze. There, hundreds of craft freighters, sculling sampans, Chinese Navy vessels and the occasional junk floated downriver into the South China Sea or upriver toward Tibet. Patterns of watery ripples in the ubiquitous koi in ponds all over Asia remain a strong memory. The calligraphic manner in which water is rendered in China, at once differentfrom, but akin to Leonardo’s whorls of water, join to form a rich visual inspiration which has fascinated the artist. Glinting rivers at sunrise give way to the murky, mysterious liquid movement at dusk.

A particular interest in this exhibition is that which is under the water. Microscopic creatures, Radiolarians, fascinate with their filigree beauty. Their silica skeletons (amazingly) are full of magic geometry, and in their millions, they make up such diverse phenomena as the White Cliffs of Dover and Diatomaceous Earth!! Ernst Haeckel categorized them in the late 19th century. Catalan architect, Antonio Gaudi loved their delicate shapes and capped his chimneys and towers with like forms. They speak of a godlike beauty.

Biography

Rosemary Cooley was born and educated in the United States, but lived for 15 years in Africa, Asia and South America. The resulting perspective of cultures together with printmaking studies in Italy, and Jungian studies have created a new awareness in light, color and content. A believer that process can be more important than product, her prints produce a wordless language based in dreams and aspirations.
Architecture, glass vessels, fish, water, trees and flowers combine to form the visual language of Cooley’s watercolors and prints. The addition of old script, evidence that each person can draw, adds humanity to the world view of these archetypal objects.
The monoprint, is a painterly process which begins on a plexiglas plate with oil or water-based inks. Japanese or other papers, may be added (Chine Colle) as the print passes through the etching press, creating a layered result. Intaglio is another favorite of Cooley, who uses the traditional acid etched method as well as Solarplate Intaglio, a non-toxic process which is etched in sunlight and developed in water. Lithography, using the Gum Arabic transfer process and Solarplate allow for the addition of remnants of old postcards and bills of lading, treasures of script uncovered in markets of France and Italy. Relief prints and Carborundum Collographs also feature in the work, sometimes in concert with the other methods. Cooley is a process driven artist who loves the mechanical and chemical surprises which printmaking reveal.
Her love for art history, which she has taught for many years, surfaces in unexpected ways. Cooley’s work is in the collections of Georgetown University, Drew University, Delbarton School, and many others in the U.S., South Africa, France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, China and Japan.