Columbus artist Donna Rosenberg’s latest exhibition of her artwork will appear at Hotel Indigo downtown through May 12.
Photo provided
The musical muse becomes a frequent and welcomed guest in artist Donna Rosenberg’s home studio in Columbus.
Much of the 13-piece impressionist-style work featured in her latest free exhibition, running through May 12 at Hotel Indigo downtown, was done while listening to the tunes of soul-stirring songstress Aretha Franklin.
So this is to report that Rosenberg’s acrylic giftedness soon could be earning her even a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T in the area art world. Not that she needs it.
Thousands in Bartholomew County came to know her creativity soon after she moved here a decade ago from Atlanta, Georgia — when she began painting works to be auctioned for Our Hospice of South Central Indiana’s Annual Labor Day Weekend fundraising concert. One such effort even was personally signed by former concert headliner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Peter Cetera.
Though the 58-year-old Rosenberg is married to a national marketer, she rarely wields such talent for herself. Heck, she signs her work only with a basic and generic “Donna” at the bottom.
No outsized ego. No fabulous fanfare.
“I guess I’m just simple,” she said with a laugh.
Her repeat buyers, whom she calls her “faithfuls,” label her simply amazing. Columbus resident Suzi Bruin, who owns several of Rosenberg’s creations and also has hired her for interior design, is among those admirers.
As much as anything, Bruin loves the fact that Rosenberg, a passionate Christian who has been involved in a variety of outreach ministries, always includes at least three circles, often not readily perceptible, in every painting to represent the Trinity.
“That’s something that I really appreciate,” Bruin said. “That is such a representation of her very heart. And that moves me. It really moves me.”
This current exhibit might readily move people right into just-sprung spring, given its screaming pinks and other bright hues, plus a mix of birds that she humorously said she never can specifically identify (except perhaps for cardinals, which she interprets as spiritual symbols).
“I especially love birds,” she said. “And that’s partly because these Indiana winters can seem pretty long.”
When it comes to the animal kingdom, she thinks of her late father, who, in her Baltimore childhood, loved going with her to the legendary Pimlico Race Course, the home of the vaunted Preakness Stakes in Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown. Consequently, Rosenberg painted the wispy, dreamlike “Horse Memories” in honor of her Dad in January on what would have been his 85th birthday.
“He was just an angel straight from heaven,” she said. “He should have been sainted.”
Her seemingly heavenly colors — she sometimes refers to her “electric blue owls” — are there for a specific reason, and the brightness in this show particularly seems right at home amid the blaze of shades in Hotel Indigo’s progressively colorful lobby.
“I like to paint with colors that make you feel emotion,” she said, seemingly echoing her latest musical inspiration. “When I paint, I want it to feel like spiritual refreshment.”
It seems even more like heavenly harmony that the work of unabashed dog lover Rosenberg hangs no more than maybe 20 feet away from where hotel ambassador pooch Tripp sleeps at the front desk. Besides this element of her art, she does plenty of dog and cat commissions.
Moreover, local realtor Karen Abel regularly commissions the artist to do new depictions of public sculpture Eos at the edge of Mill Race Park. Abel then gifts small, 4-inch-by-12-inch Rosenberg Eos originals to many of her home buyers. She has six of Rosenberg’s general works at home and three at her Century 21 Breeden Realtors office.
“I think she’s definitely a great example of creative art in Columbus,” Abel said. “And I know that she firmly believes in giving back to the community. And I certainly believe in her mission.”
Part of her mission is encapsulated in her business name of My Artful JOY — an acronym that stands for Jesus, Others and You.
Besides the hotel, probably the best place to see close-up the wide range of Rosenberg’s paintings is at Gram’s Bakery at 409 Washington St. in downtown Columbus, where much of her work is for sale. Every current show piece, priced from $65 to $756, also is for sale.
Yet she is about far more than that kind of bottom line. In fact, this line from her bio paints a clear picture of her goal: “Her hope is that her art is a representation of that JOY-layered, bold fun … .”
About Donna Rosenberg
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Moved here from: Atlanta, Georgia.
Family: Husband Stephen Rosenberg; daughter Maddie Paul and son Nick Rosenberg.
Training/study: Graduated in 1985 from the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Current show: Through May 12 at The Gallery at Hotel Indigo, 400 Brown St. in downtown Columbus. Opening reception 5 to 7 p.m. March 27.
Website: myartfuljoy.com.
