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Early in life, Rosemary Daugherty has found in her
creativity both a safe harbor and an observation point. Out of the storms of
adolescence emerged a body of work with remarkable maturity, revealing a gift
for capturing the female form in a way that was accurate in a most abstract way.
Especially arresting was the way her figures inhabited their respective spaces
with perfect grace and a whimsically achieved sense of realism. Her work during
this period won numerous "school days" honors, including a Congressional Art
Award.
Growing alongside her forays in fine art, Ms. Daugherty
had a passion for fashion design and illustration. Leaving hometown Tulsa for a
stint at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, she found an ideal curriculum
for developing both. The experience there added some technical skills and
experimentation with various media, and the cross-pollination between fashion
illustration and fine art played perfectly into her evolving interest in the
place of the fanciful femme in the realm of the aesthetic.
Upon her return to Tulsa, Ms. Daugherty's education
continued with her first art-related "real job," a much-coveted position as
studio assistant to Tulsa's nationally known painter, P.S. Gordon. Getting a
fly-on-the-wall view of Gordon's technique, work ethic and business practices
took the young artist up a steep and exhilarating learning curve in the world of
a successful fine artist.
Meanwhile, Ms. Daugherty's own work had taken a turn
towards a deeper exploration of the beautiful, shadowy world of the female
psyche. Drawing on the pop art penchant for making novel use of found objects,
she began applying her subject to such familiar modern elements as sheets of
aluminum and salvaged house windows, using an ever-changing array of paints,
crayons, nail polish and her signature favorite, cake glitter.
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