Helen Rogak speaks confidently and with patience. The things she says might seem simple and self-evident, but I found after spending an hour talking with her, I took away much that will stay with me.
Rogak grew up outside the town of Ironwood in Michigan. Equipped with a fine-art degree from the University of Michigan, she came to Victoria in 1967, but she returns to her hometown every couple of years for family reunions. On a recent visit, she took a walk in the golden light of evening and photographed some of the buildings she remembered from her youth.
鈥淚t was six o鈥檆lock on the fourth of July 鈥� the sun was just so gorgeous at the time,鈥� she told me. 鈥淣obody was around; they were all at the next-door town at the Independence Day parade.鈥� The quiet atmosphere in Ironwood suited Rogak.
鈥淚 really don鈥檛 like painting cars and pedestrians.鈥� When I mentioned to her the slightly haunted aspect of the empty streets in her paintings of Ironwood, she said the viewers can make what they want of it.
Ironwood was built by immigrants.
鈥淚t was a very rich town in the 1920s,鈥� Rogak explained. 鈥淭here were iron mines all over the place, and trees to be cut down.鈥�
The population was 30,000 when the buildings in her paintings were being built. She indicated her painting of the neo-classical Municipal Building.
鈥淭here are gorgeous murals in there, and a swimming pool. It鈥檚 so luxurious, like a little palace.鈥�
鈥淚t was a very nice town to grow up in,鈥� Rogak recalled fondly, 鈥渨ith good schools that taught music, art and speech 鈥� all the kinds of things which I took for granted as a child and which don鈥檛 exist for kids these days.鈥�
According to her, the town was slowly dying, with a population of 14,000. But, surprisingly, it has now turned into a tourist centre.
鈥淚t has the biggest ski hills between Chicago and the Rockies, and you can even find a decent restaurant there. Not country bumpkins at all.鈥�
Rogak鈥檚 long career as a painter has taken place in Victoria, where she is known for her rather impressionist landscapes shown at Fran Willis Gallery in earlier days, and in Calgary. I mentioned that perspective drawing must have been a challenge in this show, a series of large oil paintings of buildings. She laughed.
鈥淚 just squared it up from the photograph. How hard is that?鈥�
Though she is an artist who has often stood and painted en pleine air, now she works in the studio on paintings that are as much as two metres across.
Her evenly painted surfaces appear simple, but on closer inspection you see she has painted each area 鈥渙ver and over and over again,鈥� to get the tone and colour right.
鈥淚 tend to like to work from dark into light. First I cover up all the white with a colour. It could be any colour, but it won鈥檛 be 鈥榯he right one,鈥� the one that you end up with. And then I search for the light,鈥� she explained. 鈥淎nd I eventually get there. You know, it鈥檚 not just 鈥榩ick up a paintbrush put it on and you鈥檙e done.鈥� 鈥�
There is an echo of the work of Edward Hopper (1882-1967), painter of the American scene, in Rogak鈥檚 work. Yet she isn鈥檛 melancholy, as Hopper seemed to be.
And while Ironwood truly is an American town, there is no political comment implied. The Catholic Church and the Elks Lodge could easily be in Victoria.
Rogak concentrates on smaller moments: The darkness within a furniture shop is cut through by a shaft of daylight, picking out a sofa in the corner of the window display. Within these sunlit streets Rogak is on the lookout for beautiful incidences of light and shadow.
鈥淚 love doing shadows. This is a big part of the deal 鈥� to have a shadow in every painting, and to work in shadows,鈥� Rogak explained. She tends to begin her painting with darkness, and slowly work toward the light.
鈥淚f I had my way I would work more in darkness,鈥� she confessed. 鈥淛ust a little light in the right place, against the darkness.鈥澛� 聽
She also loves painting reflections on windows.
鈥淚t takes along time but that鈥檚 OK,鈥� the artist commented. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care. I鈥檝e got all the time in the world.鈥�
And another of her pleasures is the painting of words.
鈥淚 just love them. Maybe I鈥檒l paint more signs.鈥�
She pointed out a lengthy notice board she had painted, which advertised root beer, floats, shakes, malts and banana splits. In fact, Rogak loves the activity of painting, no matter what the subject.
Perhaps it is not the subject but the perfect relationship between tones and colours that leads her on.
鈥淚 just have to keep on poking away until they work,鈥� Rogak said. 鈥淯ntil they speak to each other 鈥� which is in front, and which is behind. Somehow I just do it.鈥� So she has no formula, no recipe, no rule?
鈥淚t鈥檚 a question of seeing it,鈥� she emphasized. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really see what鈥檚 going on 鈥� and then finally you see it. That鈥檚 the only way I can say it. You have to see it. That鈥檚 just the way we work.鈥�
Ironwood: Paintings by Helen Rogak, at Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant St., 250-385-7919, until Feb. 4.
