Painter and Bainbridge Island High art teacher Mary Rowland will exhibit recent works at Jeffrey Moose Gallery for the months of February and March. A reception will be held on First Friday, February 5th from 6 to 8 PM. The gallery will Livestream a walk through with Ms. Rowland between 6 and 6:20 on their Facebook page. The exhibit will run from February 5th to March 27th.
Ms. Rowland, who received a BA from Macalester College, St. Paul, MN and an MEd from Arizona State University, has taught at BHS since 2003. When not teaching, she is painting everyday in her second story studio out on Point No Point in Hansville, with an expansive view on Puget Sound towards Whidbey Island. Birds and water imagery make it into her compositions frequently, but so do humans, sometimes as portraits, sometimes as outlines.
Most works in the show were influenced by the theme, “Working from Home”, as she toggles back and forth between students on Zoom and compositions in progress. The repetition of some imagery in her works remind the viewer of computer and video screens which confront her characters. These seem to include her students, friends and, sometimes, her pets, who live in textured and color-layered environments amid blasts of light and dark.
Ms. Rowland has taught an extensive list of subjects, including Painting, Drawing, Design, AP (Advanced Placement) Studio, Sculpture and Printmaking. This is all the more impressive as Washington State schools have never had mandatory arts programs. Many of her students have gone on to art schools or related careers. One former student, Anna Tieche, had a solo show of her work at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art last year. Another, Anna Pollock, showed with Jeffrey Moose Gallery in October 2019, presenting portraits of great women in Jazz. Since then, she has painted commissioned portraits of famous Nashville musicians.
