Today we’d like to introduce you to Gem Rosenberg.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I am a local. I’ve lived between towns and cities in and around Boston for most of my life. For myself, the best part about living in the Boston Area is getting to experience different seasons and a cozy balance between urban life and nature time. Having had family in Falmouth and Quincy growing up, my soul has really grown with the ocean. I work with the ocean and what it represents to me, conceptually, in my art.
I have made art since before I can remember. Even when I was a child, my family knew I was an artist, and that I would always be. My paternal grandmother is a fabulous painter, printmaker, and textile artist. Her mother, who I am named for, was also an extraordinary textile artist and ceramacist. I identify with this lineage of women artists in my family. As a child, I loved painting, drawing, beadwork, and just about any craft.
The only time I didn’t live in the area was when I went to art school in the Bay Area, CA. There, I got to experience a whole new way of life. I began to think about making art a lot more in terms of the theory and concepts that could influence my work. My work, although at times subtle or personal, is also political in terms of the issues it addresses. I’ve been known to make work touching on a range of topics including animal rights, environmental issues and even issues pertaining to gender and body image.
Please tell us about your art.
I am an interdisciplinary artist. I’ve always been too curious and explorative to settle on any one medium. Currently, most of my work is collage or performance art, but I have also made book-arts with poetry and small sculptures using found objects.
Sometimes, my performances require some costume or set design that might beckon me to sew or even learn a new skill. Sometimes I’ll make my own soundscapes for my performances.
For a decade, I have created most of my work with a strong environmental ethic in mind. I strive to make work out of reused materials with little waste. Having gone through times with little financial accessibility for my art practice, collecting and reusing also became a way to continue to feed and nurture my practice. I believe that creative expression is a birth right and a necessary tool to facilitate healing and transformation in the world.
I really enjoy collage because I love the process of digging for materials. Its meditative and filled with loads of surprises. I love how collage lends itself so well to a surreal realm. Removing images from their context and mixing them up keeps me engaged in mystery and endless possibility. There is always a part of the process that is there for me. When I am feeling the initiative, I can work on composition. When, I need to just mindlessly work towards something, I can just cut, and collect imagery for further use.
Performance art came out of a desire for larger scale work as well as a craving to be in community with kindred spirits. I love to make my own performances, but I also love to do somatic movement and Butoh, making performances with groups that explore and express our inner world and even our shadow side. As soon as I began going to see performances, I was hooked. When the artists body is the medium, I can relate to the work on a deeper level. Performance is so inherently connected to our humanity. It is such a magical art form. I find there is constant synchronicity taking place in performance that connects us to each other and all elements of the universe. Made with care, it is a very powerful craft.
Explorations of healing, health, gender, the environment and human/animal relationships influence my creative practice. I enjoy making work that has a balance of critical thinking behind it, as well as freedom of expression, intuition, and spontaneity. I am equally enamored with color and texture as I am with creating a work that has meaningful intent.
My hope is that my work would inspire others to dig deep within themselves, to listen, feel, share, create, and collaborate. I always feel really touched whenever anyone shares with me that my work made them feel more aware, inspired to find their own creative voice or make positive change in the world around some of the issues that my work addresses.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
I think it is important for us to nurture ourselves as people and be practical about our survival. What do we want to learn? How can we best care for ourselves? How can our work life support our creative practice? What are our intentions and goals, and how can we achieve them? This is very personal, but these are some questions I ask myself. Brainstorm. Keep a journal. I think the more self-actualized we are, the stronger we will be as artists.
Be active. Connect with art organizations and other artists. Independent local newspapers and social media are the best for this. It is important to have inspiration and community as an artist. We can be resourceful together.
My other piece of advice is to be open to constructive criticism, but don’t let it control you. Practice using your intuition and hearing your truth. Dream big, but start small. This is how we grow our achievements.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can see my work online at gemrosenberg.com.
In terms of support, some of my work is available for sale. Many of my collages are made affordable as prints, and you can also pay me to perform or commission me to make artwork.
I want to share my work, so I would love to hear from curators, gallerists, alternative spaces, and other artists who might want to show my work or collaborate on a project.
Contact Info:
- Website: gemrosenberg.com
- Email: gem@gemrosenberg.com
- Instagram: @gemica.rosenberg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gemrosenberg
Image Credit:
Penny Goddess image by Tom Maio
Sasha Wolfe
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
