EXHIBIT 1
Exhibit of self-taught artists at UWM Union Gallery
1992
“Rosemary expressing her feelings about the art world says ‘I don’t know noting and I don’t know nobody.’ Her small apartment is filled to capacity with her work. It covers the walls, peeps from behind the chairs, sofas, cabinets, and lines both the closet and hall spaces. She says it all began about two years ago when Jehovah inspired her and directed her to paint. She stared with some bed sheets as her canvas and then moved to boards and markers on paper. The outpouring of images is staggering. When she is not at work, rummaging at ‘second hand shops’ for frames or attending religious services; she is creating art- work. Rosemary also writes extensive prose about her work. Often the meaning of what she has painted is not revealed to her until much later, even up to a year or more. This exciting body of work reflects the years that she lived as a faceless, well-dressed mannequin enduring sexual, physical and mental abuse; as well as her recent journey to enlightenment.” Evelyn Patricia Terry; Artist and Curator
Exhibit of self-taught artists at UWM Union Gallery
EXHIBIT 2
“ Rosemary Ollison packs an amazing amount of anguish and hope into a truly impressive array of seemingly autobiographical drawings, in markers on paper.” James Auer, art critic, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
EXHIBIT 3
Black History Month Exhibit at the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library
While much of the work in this show is noteworthy, the mixed media works of Rosemary Ollison and the masks of M. E. Johnson are among the more engaging pieces. Rosemary Ollison has a characteristic style that is at once complex and light. Her use of bright colors, glitter and even sequins betrays a cheerfulness despite her obvious commentary on social and personal issues. Oversized bare feet---some with more than five toes---and large pointed breasts with jeweled nipples are recurring images, and their exaggerated forms suggest their meaning: the feet represent toil and burden; the breasts comment on the sexual role. Ollison’s style is decidedly surreal---with forms and shapes blending and shifting into one another in an often illogical yet completely rational visual progression. In ‘Get Off My A— the woman is seemingly being pulled, breast first, toward a big question mark, while simultaneously being propelled forward by a contorted, needy mass of connected faces adhering to her behind. (No interpretation needed here). Julie Pratt McQuiston.
EXHIBIT 4
“Since 1991, Rosemary Ollison has produced more than two thousand works on paper, canvas and cardboard. Many of her works are brightly colored and vividly patterned compositions. In 1994, she ban matching poetry to here images. Currently, Ollison is working on a book that documents her images and poetry.
Like Grgich, Ollison’s adult life has been rife with crisis and instability. Prior to 1991, Ollison captures the repressed anger that followed from her abuse and turns it into a healing force. Specifically, she notes that , through her art, she has been able to develop a personal relationship with God. Ollison suggest that her images relate messages sent to here by God to help heal from the trauma she experienced. The works in this exhibition are only a few of the many images that document her journey.
The abuse from which Ollison suffered was primarily inflicted on her by women. As such, her relationships with women were difficult, and she often believed that women would keep her from experiencing happiness. In an attempt to expel her rage about her abuse, Ollison drew an image of a large vividly patterned foot kicking a similarly patterned diminutive woman holding a staff signifying authority [cat. No. 26]. THE QUALIFIER In a poem that she wrote to accompany this image, Ollison identifies that woman as the “qualifier”. The large foot is a self-portrait, the embodiment of the newfound self-worth that she experienced while healing from her abuse; the small woman---the “qualifier”---is being physically pushed out of Ollison’s life. In addition, the vivid patterning in this image is a declaration of freedom from the oppression inflicted upon the artist by the “qualifier”. By creating a boldly colored and patterned drawing, she rejects any compulsion to follow a rigid patterned set by the oppressor.
In another drawing, THREE HEADED FOOL Ollison draws a woman holding a sword. This sword embodies the physical aggression that the artist felt as a result of her anger. When angry, Ollison believes that she could turn into a “three headed fool” and perform act that she knew she would later regret. Instead of acting on these impulses, Ollison funneled her anger into a drawing of a creature with three heads---a fool---wielding a threatening sword.
A series of three works, created over a five-year period, also documents her attempt to free herself from the prison of her anger and frustration. First in this series is Get These Freaks Off My Back [cat. no. 28], followed by Give Me a Tail Please [cat. no. 30] and Thanks! [cat. no. 30]. In these works, Ollison desperately cries for help in removing the demons of abuse that lingered in her mind; she begs for assistance in ridding herself of her anger; and finally thanks those who helped her to overcome her frustration.
According to Ollison, her art making has given her new life. She believes that making art has helped her heal and has helped her foster a personal relationship with God. In her work, Ollison tries to communicate her harrowing journey from being a victim of abuse to being the author of her own self-expression.” (Nicole Derenne---Walker’s Point for the Arts
Milwaukee, Wisconsin---2004).
