F O R     I M M E D I A T E     R E L E A S E

August 10 2015 | Rochelle Weiner Fine Art | Milwaukee, WI

CONTACT:
Rochelle Weiner | 773 609 0008 | rochelle@rochellewcarr.com

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East Side Milwaukee artist returns home after 20 years in Chicago

Rochelle Weiner is an award winning contemporary artist, recently returned to Milwaukee, her hometown, after working and residing for 20 years in Chicago. She is now showing her abstract series, “Strata+Sphere”, at Lulu’s Cafe in Bay View and Juniper 61 in Wauwatosa.

Showing through October 2015
Lulu’s Café and Bar, 2261-2265 S Howell Avenue, Milwaukee WI

Showing through January 2016
Juniper 61, 6030 W North Avenue, Wauwatosa, WI

“It’s surreal to be an East Sider again after being away for so long - so much has changed yet much has remained the same. Twenty years ago I moved to Chicago to expand my career opportunities. Now I’ve moved back into my family home, and I’m setting up an art studio in my old bedroom.”

Pictured above: Rochelle Weiner

Rochelle’s main interest in painting lies in storytelling. Her “Strata+Sphere” series of abstract works uses layered painting techniques to depict abstract memories of growing up on Milwaukee’s East Side. The layered painting methods that she has developed - using opaque and transparent mediums to build up layers of color and texture, scraping and washing back to reveal earlier layers and then building up and covering up again, shows a history of what went before, even if in a very subtle way. This tells a story both of her painting process and of her subject matter. She works in varied mediums to achieve her goals, including watercolor on aquabord, oil/cold wax on board, watercolor and powdered charcoal on paper.

Rochelle hopes that the paintings will stir memories for those who lived in Milwaukee through the 70s and 80s. Titles like “Downer Ave Bike Race”, “Snake Hill”, and “Meet me at Bradford Beach” may be of some help.

"This is a series about memories of growing up in Milwaukee in the 70s and 80s. There’s a painting currently hanging at Juniper 61 called “Painting Kowalski’s Wall”. This title refers to a day when I was about 7 years old. My friend Laurie and I took a can of grey house paint and some brushes from my parent’s basement, hid behind a bush on Bradford and Downer right by the bus stop, and started painting the brick wall of the building there. A neighbor spotted us and alerted my mother – which quickly ended our fun. I got in big trouble for that caper. The bushes we hid behind are no longer there, but you can still see the grey paint on that wall today.”

Pictured above: “Painting Kowalksi's Wall”, oil/cold wax, 8" x 10" x 2"

"The painting called “Sr Agnes Marie”, currently hanging at Lulu’s, is about my 1^st grade teacher. She was a tiny, angry nun who taught at Sts Peter and Paul in the days when nuns could still get away with corporal punishment in the classroom. I was never the recipient of her anger, but I saw some kids get their heads rapped against the blackboard when they misbehaved. You did not want to mess with Sr Agnes Marie.”

Pictured above: “Sr Agnes Marie”, watercolor media on aquabord, 24" x 36" x 1.5"

Rochelle Weiner studied painting and drawing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works professionally as owner of Andiamo Creative, [ANDIAMOCREATIVE.COM], a full service branding and web development company now relocated to Milwaukee. Rochelle shows her work in Chicago at The Leigh Gallery, the Andersonville Galleria, and I Love Chicago on North Michigan Avenue and at O’Hare Airport. Rochelle won honorable mention in the 2014 Watercolor Showcase national competition with Watercolor Artist Magazine and her work was published in the April 2015 issue. She is a member of the ARC Gallery in Chicago, and is also a member of the Illinois Watercolor Society, where she won honorable mention at the 2014 Members show. She was given the “Award of Excellence” at their 2012 Members show, and was juried into the 2012 national exhibition. Rochelle’s work has been featured on the sets of NBC’s Chicago Fire, NBC’s Chicago PD, ABC’s Mindgames, USA Network’s Sirens, and Sense8 on Netflix. Rochelle’s work can be viewed online at rochellewcarr.com and facebook.com/RochelleWeinerFineArt. Rochelle Weiner is currently seeking gallery representation in Milwaukee.

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