Current Projects

As part of the Museum of Contemporary Arts Works in Progress program, I was invited to share my creative process with museum visitors and staff. Columbia College Chicago graduate students Gail Adduci, Amanda Harris, and Kate Jonesco assisted me in the development of elements to be used in new performance art pieces. This program provided an excellent opportunity for us to interact with an audience while creating work. Thank you to Kristen Kaniewski, MCA Education Coordinator, Susan Imus, Chair, Dance Movement Therapy & Counseling Department, Columbia College Chicago and David Pritchett, photographer.

The Bundling Project is a grieving/healing/honoring ceremony that provides an opportunity to reflect upon a loved one who has died. Prior to the ceremony the participants collect items of the person they wish to honor: photographs, personal effects, objects that are representative of something the person liked or did, and handwritten stories about them. During the ceremony the objects are wrapped into a bundle with a transparent cloth and white twine, blessed and hung on a special wall. For some ceremonies Rose does the bundling; for others, the participants wrap their own bundles.

This was first performed in 2005 at Art on Armitage Window Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, then in 2006 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, also in Chicago. This is an on-going project that will be held at other venues including hospice conferences, spiritual centers, colleges and universities.

She Left Things Behind is a work in progress. Conceptually similar to the bundles with wrapped personal items, these structures are sealed, then cut, exposing the items within. This becomes a kind of artist book, revealing the stories of women who have moved on, made a transition, taken a different path. The work was started at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and was influenced by the archeological digs in the surrounding area. These talismans are 21 inches long, and others will vary in size. The entire project will contain 25 structures.

She Left Things Behind was exhibited at the Ragdale Foundation 30th Anniversary Exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, 2007.