Silver Rosemary/After Katrina from the Horn Island series
acrylic on canvas, 60x62
2006
Artist Robert Riseling
Courtesy of the artist, Robert Riseling
Riseling joined the faculty of Memphis College of Art in 1974 and influenced innumerable art students since, continuing his role as an educator to this day as Professor Emeritus. Throughout his career, he has traveled extensively as a visiting artist and lecturer, leading the college's yearly Spring Break trips that exposed students and faculty to the great art destinations of the world. Furthermore, he founded the signature student experience of the annual sojourn to Horn Island off the Gulf coast in homage to visionary artist Walter Anderson for over twenty years, an experience that inspired Silver Rosemary/After Katrina. This painting serves as a touchstone for many with recollections of the traumatic effects of the hurricane that hit the Gulf coast in 2005, the plant withstanding and thriving in the face of the force of nature that wreaked so much destruction.
