“My subjects are people, places and the things around me,” she said. “Nature, the change of seasons, the change of color of daylight always inspire me, and also people, their movement and their atmosphere. I try to capture the beauty of everyday life and ordinary things.”
The gallery is located in the Community Room in City Hall, 2342 Oak Road. The art can be viewed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Rothwell received her art degree from Okayama University in Japan. She has had numerous one-person and group shows. She has shown in selected National Exhibitions including the American Artists Professional League National Exhibition and the Pastel Society of America in New York and the Pastel Society of Japan in Tokyo.
She has received many awards including the American Artists Professional League Dianne B. Bernhard Award and Artist of the Year, National League of American Pen Women Atlanta branch.
Her works have been purchased by the State of Georgia and many corporations including the George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C., Southern Company, Continental Telephone, Kaiser Permanente, the Northwest Memorial Hospital in Chicago and the M.C. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
She is a Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America, a member of excellence of the Atlanta Artists Club and the Southeastern Pastel Society, a Fellow of the American Artist Professional League of New York, and a Board Member of the Pastel Society of Japan. She is also a member of Plein Air Painters of Georgia and Plein Air Painters of the Southeast.
Her work has appeared in five books including “Best of Pastel,” “Best of Sketching and Drawing” and “Pure Color.” She was one of four artists who were featured in the article “Unforgettable Landscapes: Different Approaches to Light and Texture” in The Pastel Journal May/June 2000.
Her article, “A Lesson from the East” appeared in The Artist’s Magazine in June 2004. “Junko Ono Rothwell,” by Caroline Purtell appeared in The Pastel Journal in August 2004 and Rothwell was featured in Jennifer King’s “Art from Many Influences” in 2008.
She is represented by Anderson Fine Art and Frameworks Gallery in Georgia and Wells Gallery and Portfolio Gallery of South Carlolina.
“Most of my paintings are done on location,” she said. “For figure paintings I paint from live models. I can learn and understand more with the subject in front of me. The most important thing is to paint what I feel. For instance, plein air painting is wonderful because when I stand in a field I can watch water rise at high tide, smell the ocean, hear the birds and taste the salt air. When I paint on location I see and feel everything vividly, as if I have become part of nature. This is what I try express on my canvas.”
