Charlotte Rollman is an emeritus professor from Northern Illinois University School of Art and Design-Studio Art who taught watercolor painting for twenty-nine years. Her watercolors are not only well known locally but across the country that have been represented in galleries in Chicago, Indiana, New York, Missouri and Arizona; solo, group and juried exhibitions; and are in many public and private collections.
With watercolor Rollman learned and taught so much about color. The techniques, the brushes, the paper and the tubes of paint were all so beautiful seemingly to be the purest in color as to the color of light on paper. But she wanted a change, change of scenery, change away from teaching, to paint year round outside; and moved from Sycamore, Illinois, to Tennessee.
Departing from painting delicate transparencies, acrylic paints are lending themselves well for a plein air artist’s ability to paint quickly and with spontaneity. Rollman’s brushes are now tools for thick strokes of paint dabbed in several colors at a time creating representational art as visual experiences of contrast and elevated chroma.
On display in DeKalb is Charlotte Rollman’s exhibition titled “In the Garden” that are mostly acrylic paintings. “Growing up in Southern Illinois,” says Rollman, “I remember my Grandma Overton singing as she worked in her garden. She sang the old gospel hymn, ‘In the Garden’, as she tended to her flowers and vegetables. The hymn expresses talking and walking with God in nature. On my best days, painting outside, I can still hear her singing. I am also reminded of the original garden, the garden where nature and mankind were one. A lifetime as an artist requires an act of courage; but it also renews childhood innocence.”
“In the Garden” exhibition of Charlotte Rollman’s painting are on display at The Art Box gallery. The gallery will remain closed to the public until the Illinois Stay-At-Home edict is lifted. A reception for the artist is tentatively scheduled on May 3rd, 2020, from 2 – 4 pm. The Art Box is located at 308 East Lincoln Highway, DeKalb, Illinois. Hours are 11 am to 6 pm, closed Sundays and Wednesdays. For further information contact Daniel Grych by phone at 815-758-0313 or email dan@dekalbgallery.
