Mary Rowland: New Paintings and Prints

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 3rd from 6 to 8 PM. The gallery will Livestream a walk through with Ms. Rowland between 5:20 and 5:40 on Facebook. The exhibit will run from February 3rd to April 4th.

Most of the work originally created for this show was destroyed in the King Tide that hit Puget Sound on December 27th, so Ms. Rowland had to dig deep and work quickly. Fortunately, paintings and some prints in her upstairs studio were spared.

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 or printmaking 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 other critters make it into her compositions frequently, but so do humans, sometimes as portraits, sometimes as outlines.

Many works in the show were influenced by the theme of family and memories; Ms. Rowland lost her mother recently. The use of family photos or vintage photos conjures up a feeling of long ago, moments frozen in time. Many works are painted with casein, an unusual milk based paint that has a flat, dense finish. Black and grey scale Monoprints on exhibition were inspired by an interest in reusing product packaging and one series involves re-purposed painted canvas pieces decorated with stitches that outline shapes in a playful way.

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 in 2020. 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. Indeed, Ms. Rowland has made a difference.