Betsy Rollings

Tucson, AZ

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After leaving Princeton I worked with my family on what is now a 50 year project restoring 19th century adobe buildings in downtown Tucson.  From 1999 until 2019, I ran The Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant in one of our adobes across the street from the Symphony Hall, the Theater and the Convention Center Arena.  I had the good fortune to be able to give back to the community while working on interesting projects with talented and committed people.  

 

I’m very grateful for the privilege of studying at Princeton.  I have struggled, trying to integrate painting into my ‘real life’ over the years.  However, learning how to make photographs and paintings at 185 informs much of how I approach situations other than artmaking. 

 

Emmet taught us about the importance of attending to relationships across the entire surface of a work of art, every aspect is interrelated.  Jeremy and Emmet personified commitment and depth of knowledge, taking risk.  Sommer, Sontag and Benjamin influence me:  the importance of being “a thief greater than your loot”, the consequences of attempting to “appropriate reality”, what effect does mechanically reproducing (producing) art have on it?  I look to cave painters and Pre-Columbian stone carvers, 16th century “gods”, and early 20th century Cubists for inspiration.  They’ve left behind significant clues to our common humanity. 

 

“Of course, this is one of the really important things about art, that you can make more than you can understand at the moment the thing is being made.”  -  Emmet Gowin

 

……….”you can make more than you can understand” at the moment, in that light, during those years…..this is why we return, searching for meaning, isn’t it?  This is why we return to a work of art, or to a person or to a reunion.

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