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Counterpoint Images

Long before digital cameras and Photoshop, Sister Adele Rowland dedicated her creativity with the camera and in the darkroom to the Glory of God. Sister Adele named these photo montages, in which she painstakingly placed images (slides) against one another, Counterpoint Images.

In her own words,

Since nature in all its variety, power and beauty is for me a reflection of Divinity, perhaps not surprisingly my artwork evokes for viewers a fresh appreciation of the surrounding world, and not infrequently an alert to the presence of the Designer behind the scene.

Transforming the straight view of nature by a creative fracturing of the original picture is how I begin. The second picture is chosen for its compatibility--or, for its challenge,-- in color, composition or meaning. The final montaged images are exciting and completely original Counterpoint Images.

Please enjoy this small gallery of her work. The exhibits will be changed regularly.

...FOR DAPPLED THINGS This image echoes Gerard Manley Hopkins' expression in Pied Beauty, "Blory be to God for dappled things," while for others, it is a symbol of Peter's barque.	POWER AND GLORY The radiant color and movement of the sky sing of the power and glory of God, while the rhythmic majesty of a cherished American bridge signals to us the value of our building bridges - of another kind - in our own lives as well as among nations.
IN A CHINESE GARDEN A transformed cameo of a charmed garden, it is cherished by the Chinese as a contemplative haven, a quiet sancturary for the spirit.	A SILENT CONVERSATION Along the Yangtze River, with no common tongue, nonetheless, a genuine exchange took place, between the artist and this elderly Chinese woman - with her lifetime of experience and character revealed in her face.
...INTO GREEN PASTURES Almost a direct visual of the words of the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd, He will lead me into green pastures."	AZTEC CHRISTO Often a few children from the nearby public school would visit Sister's studio. One afternoon two very young children dropped in and, while still on the doorstep, the younger one shouted, "Oh look, there's Jesus," as she ran towards the obscure image.
HENRY At a show in Nanjing, the translator told Sister of the viewers' comments. ""That Henry is saying so much . . . he is symbolizing for them, old age walking towards eternity," and after a moment added, "through the door of Christianity."	PUEBLO SPIRIT Great stillness. Silent mystery. A sense of the Divine.