Check Out John Rose’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Rose.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am from a very small coal mining town in South Yorkshire, England. Art was definitely not on my list of what was to become of me. I had a choice of working in the mines or on a construction site, neither was palatable to me for the long haul. I was always drawing as far back as I can remember- always a sheet of paper and a biro pen in my hands. It took some convincing, but I was able to get a spot at my local art school and started there in January 1966 and even though it was gray and rainy that day, the sun shone for me. I knew I had made the right choice and I was off and running.

After that, I went to Gloucestershire College of Art and then on to Birmingham College of Art for my master’s degree. I was offered my first teaching position in a comprehensive school in the Midlands and eventually, I was offered a lecturing position in a college in Northern England, and off I went, always looking for the next best gig, I’ve always thought life was a series of stepping stones. So I taught a wide range of art activities and ran the ceramics workshop then was offered the Lecturer in Foundation Studies at Blackburn College of Art. And finally had a tremendous opportunity to leave England to start a new job with Hong Kong Polytechnic University; I worked there for eight years until I was invited to a party and met an amazing lady, an American gal by the name of Kate. I have spent the last 40+ years living and working in my studio in Venice CA. Best decision I ever made.

So I’m somewhat of a hybrid now, a mix of having lived and worked on three different continents: England, China, and America. I was an educator for fifteen years, always an explorer, making paintings first for many years and eventually making sculptures my blend of mixing science and calligraphy.

My most recent works are about visualizing energy as a physical and material form.

The forms I build make the unknown known and the invisible visible.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth would never be a word to describe my journey- Life was big on jumps and bumps. But isn’t that what makes life a journey? Moving from one city to another, jumping from one continent to another. Making friends and then losing friends. Changing artistic mediums – drawing to ceramics to painting to sculpture and then finding my way back to all of them again. Embrace the bumps; you never know what they will bring you.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m known more for my sculpture which I’ve been producing for over 30 years now. I specialize in being able to cut and bend this kind of wood into twisting, turning, and spiraling muscular forms relating to cell structure and calligraphy. At the moment I’m concerned with making energy visible, my sculptures have developed over time from association with DNA, proteins, and string theory to flow dynamics. I have been showing my work in galleries for over 40 years in England, Hong Kong, and the US and continue to do so. I have also produced many commissioned works for corporations such as Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Morgan Stanley Corporation (New York), The Ritz Carlton Millennium Hotel (Singapore), UC Santa Barbara – School of Theoretical Physics, and The Cancer Center (Santa Monica) to name a few.

The piece I’m most proud of is the one I did for The USC Children’s Hospital. There are eight 17 ft long ribbons suspended in the entrance 45 ft wide, 35 ft tall, and 6 ft wide. It took six months to build the forms and one week to install, working from 8 pm to 4 am. One of the nurses leaving at the end of her shift christened the piece “Ribbons of Hope.”

Lately, I’ve been making both sculptures and sculptural paintings- though they don’t necessarily relate to one another. My sculptures are made from poplar wood because of its malleability and my paintings are papier mache over aluminum mesh on wood panels.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
You don’t really find a mentor, they find you, it may be only one or two, but they see something in you that they can work with, talk with, and hopefully help. I still remember the guys who made the most impression on me back in my college days and the ones I continue to have in my life now. I guess I used to network more in my early years here than I do now, word of mouth has always worked well for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.johnrosestudio.com
• Instagram: @johnrosestudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrosestudio/