Rhoda Bertz

Rhoda Bertz (http://www.rhodabertz.com/) is a mainly abstract painter based in Germany. She works mainly in oils and mixed media. The creative process is very important to her. Many of her canvasses are initially exposed to nature before she adds to the marks of decay and change. Form and colour are reduced. This gives her the freedom to express her thoughts unconstrained. She is particularly interested in the Uninteresting, which inspires her to discover its hidden history and stories. This generates many ideas from one source of inspiration, leading to series of works.

Recently she has been looking at an entirely different way of drawing where she  to quote Paul Klee, “take a line for a walk”. Her ‘line’ though, is a stitched one, using machine embroidery to let the line do what it wants. Let the line run free.  It is only when a drawing is done that she sits back and  discovers  and unveils the  story that the line is telling her  and she gives it life,  using colour and ink drawing.

The results are playful and profound, the line becoming literally the thread that joins the characters together often with trees in a world of storytelling and fairytale.

On December 8th 2016, as part of the "Our Woods" Tree Planting Day event, Rhoda will be running a schools project entitled: "Taking a Line for a Walk".

"Taking a line for a walk", a saying coined by Paul Klee, sums up the process Rhoda Bertz uses in her Tree & People drawings. The drawn line is stitched by machine embroidery in an almost accidental way and the artist brings the shapes to life with watercolour and ink. Figures appear linked to tree, emerging from woods, visiting woods or walking by trees. They suggest stories of fairy tales & happy days out in nature.

"Trees and woods are at the base of everything, they support us on this planet. They give us clear air & water and support us through building material and fuel. They are at a basis of our existence, but they also give us joy, to look at, to wander in between. I enjoy observing their variety and graciousness and love walking."

Rhoda lives close to a nature reserve in Germany, which includes ancient woodland & a "Bannwald" a wood which is left to regenerate naturally. She often goes for walks there to find a rest from our busy modern life, but also to be inspired. German people have a special relationship to forests and woodlands; it is imbedded in their psyche.

There will be section on Rhoda’s website about this series of work: www.rhodabertz.com. There will also be a blog supporting the project that invites people to write and respond to the drawings and to open up discussions about woodlands, trees and people.