Rosemarie Sturgill: Welcoming You To Her Home In An Open Studio Tour This Weekend
By Summer Krafft
Rosemarie Sturgill, a local artist, art teacher, and photographer, invited me to her home just days before her Artist Open Studio Tour. It is rich in textiles, her own work, work by other local artists, plants, her two dogs, and a serene welcoming energy. After a tour, we sat in the living room and talked about how she curated her studios, the magic of capturing live music, the philosophies of artists like Ai Weiwei, and what’s next for her while photographer, Iris Garcia, snapped shots of the conversation.
She is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with ink, pencil, colored pencil, pastel, graphite, paint, photoshop, and multimedia, in addition to photography. She seems best known for her paintings, “I have explored many styles from non-objective to realism and am still defining my personal style.” She most prefers to draw, stating, “I hope to show virtuosity by depicting realistically with the least effort, the fewest lines, the fewest brushstrokes. I have more drawings than any other medium, and drawings allow me to do this,” but lights up when she talks about photographing live, local music.
Rosemarie is someone you might guess is an artist: she is tall, poised, and striking. With a slight Stevie Nicks energy, she wears beautiful fabrics, stone jewelry, and berry lipstick. She looks like someone who should have a camera in her hand at a rock concert–the music she most prefers. Though she also enjoys jazz, singer-songwriters, and a wide-variety of styles, but her favorite is anything she can find locally. “It’s great to support!” She adds.
After a recent renovation, Rosemarie has two studios in her home: one, a front room off the kitchen with a mahogany stained drafting table, a painting she did of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and stands full of prints. The other, a bedroom converted into a studio filled with her sculptures and ceramics, taxidermy butterflies, and a large easel she plans to fill with a painting of a photo she shot of Tiffany Rose and the Outlaw Hearts–her favorite local band, of which she has many photos.
She calls live music, “full of energy” and loves that there’s “so much chance and luck in getting it just right.” She’ll shoot many shots in order to get just a few stills that capture what she’s looking for. Among the artists she likes to shoot are Téa Noelle, David Dow & Friends, Horizon Point, and Jeff Moore. She’s done a piece based off of Téa, as well, which she gifted her, the two being dear friends.
What you might not know about Rosemarie is that her recent contribution to the campaign by Ai Weiwei, legendary Chinese artist and activist, will be featured in his upcoming documentary, Turandot, about the movement geared towards raising awareness about Julian Assange, who was imprisoned in the Ecuadorian Embassy on charges of conspiracy of computer intrusion related to involvement with Wikileaks. This campaign centered around a treadmill he was gifted, which represents the human ability to make effort for forward momentum while not successfully moving forward, and the inherent value of trying.
Rosemarie, in response to this movement, submitted a flip book she made on an Oxford English Dictionary, representing the freedom of the press, with a figure drawn on the pages in sharpie. However, because the sharpie bled through the pages, in the animation, you see two figure running in opposite directions. This was coincidental, but meaningful and served as a metaphor for how activism is never-ending. This footage was selected for the film Incipit Film Company, an Italian Production company, has set to release this summer. The film will be showing in the Bay Area, date to come.
Rosemarie respects Ai Weiwei’s work and holiosophy that “Everything is Art. Everything is Politics.”
She says, on resistance, that “you have to be selective. You have to choose what matters. Making art, like teaching, is a political act. Art is not the most pragmatic; it is not made for sustenance directly…Art defines humanity, as humans are the species that have most mastered art.”
Not only that, but Ai Wei Wei, early in his career, would sit in Times Square and draw portraits of people. Similarly, Rosemarie offers this service now. You can purchase a live portrait in alcohol marker at her home during her Open Studio on April 5th and 6th.
In her home, you will see a painting of hers based off of Roy Lichtenstein’s work, many drawings of nude figures, some nature scapes, a cubist painting, walls full of photographs, and works by other local artists. Local artists whose work she has collected include Zoe Toscano, Jim Christiansen, Christopher Gracia, Amy Bauer, and Mark Holden. “I hope to collect more art from local artists,” she adds.
She also shows a handmade book she created in 2002 for which she won the Stan Hinson award. The cover is made of a cast of her hand and is full of etchings that sprawl the open pages. It is one of her works she holds most dear.
When not teaching or creating, she likes to be on the town, going to events, walking her dogs, and singing karaoke. “What’s Up” by 4 Non-Blondes is her go-to song for a crowd-pleaser. It’s also important to her to keep up on the news and periodicals.
To support, follow Rosemarie on Instagram and come to her Open Studio! “I am participating in the 2025 Stanislaus Artists Open Studio Tour and am grateful to be included…it is up to me to present my artwork and my studio as best I can. I am an artist engaged with the world and hoping to benefit it. I hope to reflect the world in my art whether it be to highlight injustice or more likely to illustrate the moods of the people around me.”
