{"id":8,"date":"2015-01-28T08:48:05","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T16:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2015-03-06T13:57:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T21:57:49","slug":"artistic-legacy-of-gene-rosa","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/spring-2015-issue-homepage\/artistic-legacy-of-gene-rosa\/","title":{"rendered":"The artistic legacy of Gene Rosa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The artistic legacy of Gene Rosa<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n

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\"IMG_2042\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Pierce Greenberg<\/p>\n

Late WSU sociology professor Gene Rosa was best-known for his influential academic contributions to environmental sociology and risk studies. But Rosa\u2019s written words and equation modeling only captured one side of his life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\"Gene<\/a>The other side was Rosa\u2019s artwork that he called \u201cecolage.\u201d His artistic method utilized discarded and found objects into art that spoke to social and environmental issues. The Bank Left Gallery in Palouse, Wash., owns Rosa\u2019s creations and displayed the work in an October showcase titled \u201cInstallations, Love, and Environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t fearful. A lot of us artists are fearful about what\u2019s going to sell…. For him, he created art that he loved and came from the heart, period,\u201d said gallery owner Nelson Duran. \u201cHe created things that would make you talk; things that would move you, that would bother you, but he still did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosa, a renowned supporter of arts on the Palouse, frequented Duran\u2019s gallery and its adjoining bistro.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just loved having him here. We felt so comfortable with him around,\u201d Duran said. \u201cHe was just a lovely man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosa was particularly fond of the historic building that housed the gallery. He told Duran and his wife, Pamela, that one day he wanted to display his art in an installation on the gallery\u2019s second floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never did anything about it, now I\u2019m sorry about that too,\u201d Duran said.<\/p>\n

But after his death in 2013, Rosa\u2019s estate donated a portion of his signature \u201cecolage\u201d to the gallery. Proceeds from the sale of Rosa\u2019s art will go towards the repair and upkeep of the historic building Rosa adored.<\/p>\n

\u201cGene Rosa cared about this gallery and he cared about the restaurant. So, I think he would be very happy to see the proceeds of the art going to the gallery,\u201d Duran said.<\/p>\n

A sociologist and artist \"Gene<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Rosa\u2019s artwork utilizes found objects and curiosities in inventive ways that reflect social issues. For example, one piece (pictured right) depicts environmental risks by showing a closet. One half of the closet includes a evening dress and fancy mask, while the other displays a stained dress and a gas mask.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really looked like pieces of junk, until you start putting it together,\u201d Duran said. \u201cThen, finally when we put it together, we started to make sense of it. It came alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Dietz, Rosa\u2019s longtime academic collaborator and friend, said that Rosa started out by collecting small oddities from throughout the world. But as Rosa\u2019s income grew, he became a collector of more \u201chigh art,\u201d and eventually began to create art himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always had a theme in his work of bringing in the sociology. What are the politics involved?… How can I make a statement about the environment?\u201d said Dietz, professor of sociology and environmental science and policy at Michigan State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cGene\u2019s art was something that… he took seriously in one sense, but there was also a playfulness about it. He tried to reflect important political themes, but always with a sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosa\u2019s academic work centered on heavy theoretical work through the philosophy of science, as well as quantitative work that modeled environmental impacts. But his artwork allowed for more creativity on the same topics outside the bounds of academic disciplines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought of his artwork as the other side. It\u2019s expressing some of the same ideas and thoughts, and some of his same ethical concerns, but in a way that he could express his sense of humor and playfulness and open creativity,\u201d Dietz said.<\/p>\n

Readers of Rosa\u2019s academic work will also be exposed to a small sample of his artwork for years to come. His last three published books each includes pieces of his artwork on the cover. One of those pieces, featured on the cover of Human Footprints on the Global Environment,<\/em> is now in Dietz\u2019s home office.<\/p>\n

Dietz, who coauthored the book with Rosa, hopes to show off the art to colleagues and students.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing Gene\u2019s tradition\u2014Gene was a great giver of receptions and parties\u2014[I want] the graduate students to come over and see it,\u201d Dietz said. \u201cThey\u2019ve all seen it as a book cover, but now they can see it firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the rest of Rosa\u2019s collection, Duran plans to keep the unsold art pieces after the gallery showcase to remind him of a great artist and friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Gene Rosa. We cared about him as an artist, as an individual,\u201d Duran said. \u201cI miss him still.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The artistic legacy of Gene Rosa   By Pierce Greenberg Late WSU sociology professor Gene Rosa was best-known for his influential academic contributions to environmental sociology and risk studies. But Rosa\u2019s written words and equation modeling only captured one side of his life\u2019s work. The other side was Rosa\u2019s artwork that he called \u201cecolage.\u201d His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-builder.php","meta":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[2],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/191"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soc.wsu.edu\/socnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}