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December 6, 2019By Susan Bailey | CFP Correspondent
Robea Nordman is a mixed-media artist currently residing in Maynard. At the beginning of her career, she had local connections.
“I worked as a photojournalist. I freelanced for several publications – The Catholic Free Press being one of them,” said Ms. Nordman.
She recalled her most memorable assignment. “I was photographing a group of young men on the road to priesthood at the Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies. It was very inspiring to witness their dedication and I was welcomed to share in a variety of moments — like attending Mass with them, exploring the grounds, observing them in the classroom, listening to music performances and sharing in dinner. It remains a favorite assignment.”
After studying photography at Endicott College in Beverly and working as a photojournalist, she found her creativity evolving.
“Because of my love of art and learning, I’ve experimented with a variety of media,” she said. She began with creating digital photo collages and mixed-media transfers. “This experimentation formed the love of making art off the camera. I’ve come to appreciate the freedom of using my hands and getting messy with the process of creating.”
While Ms. Nordman works in many forms, including acrylic painting and pen and ink, her current specialty is creating collages using magazines and her latest project involves the saints.
“While I use several materials, the most important are simple – a glue stick, scissors and lots of magazines,” she said. “A large portion of my process is simply sifting through magazines and catalogs looking for color – creating my paper palette. If the work is a portrait, I base my color choices on the mood I want to connect with the subject.”
Ms. Nordman has created compelling collages of iconic Hollywood celebrities.
“My Lucille Ball collage was created using a very bright, playful palette, with off-beat, quirky images and a busy background,” she said, adding, “A collage I created of James Dean was black, white, and grey – simple and mysterious.”
The goal of her collage work involves more than appropriating the physical likeness of the person.
“I capture an interior likeness, a feeling,” she said. “Each piece of paper eventually creates a completed picture. And I think that’s a great reflection of how we are all constructed – so many little things that make us unique, and who we are.”Recently Ms. Nordman has taken on a new project involving the saints that is expanding her understanding of both her art and her faith, and how the two work together.
“Lately I have found these two aspects of my life – being a Catholic and being an artist – starting to merge,” she said. “In a more abstract way, I understand the term ‘Catholic artist’ to be linked to the idea that art is beauty, and beauty in turn comes from God. Working on pieces entirely inspired by the saints has made me feel very much like a Catholic artist. I am enjoying feeling like my art has an even bigger purpose now.”
Ms. Nordman describes the project as “a series of diptych collages of the saints, coupled with a sister collage of nature elements, which will complement and represent them at the same time.”
Her first completed piece is of St. Therese of Lisieux, paired with a collage of a rose.
“For St. Therese, the Little Flower, it was an easy pairing,” she said.
Her next piece will be St. Joan of Arc.
“Her sister collage will be of a Tiger Lily, which are strong and fierce, yet bright and lovely flowers. They are a blend of masculine and feminine elements – which, to me, capture brave Joan.”
Immersing herself in the lives of the saints has deepened her faith.
“I love reading about the saints,” she said, adding, “I particularly love reading about the ones who struggled, who are really just imperfect beings who heard the call of God – and then answered. People who fumbled, who faltered, but who, in the end, rose above. This is inspiring everything for me right now.”
Besides creating art, Ms. Nordman enjoys sharing her expertise with children.
“Teaching art at the elementary school level is filled with inspiring moments,” she said. “Children are excited by everything. It’s fun to watch them as they discover the wonders of art for the first time – mixing paint and creating new colors, creating something out of clay and admiring it after it has been fired, working on a drawing from start to completion and feeling excited about their achievements. I also love seeing children figure out what type of artists they are. Are they abstract artists? Are they sculptors, weavers, printmakers? It’s an honor to take that journey with them.”
Ms. Nordman has exhibited her art in many places.
“I display most of my work in coffee shops,” she said. “I love the relaxed atmosphere and find that my work does well in these environments. But I love to show my work anywhere, really. My most recent non-coffee shop show was part of the Horticultural Heroes exhibit at Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, and the Only From Maynard exhibit at ArtSpace in Maynard.”
Although in the beginning stages of her saints project, Ms. Nordman has plans to display them in the future.
“Once I feel like I have a good body of work, I will begin to look for a place to exhibit them as a whole – though I haven’t thought too much about where yet.”
– You can find out more about Ms Nordman’s art at her website, www.robea-
fineart.com. You can also follow her on Facebook (BebeHeartsArt) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bebepatz) where she posts her finished pieces.
