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Charlotte W. Rodewald presents ENVIRONMENTAL HORROR! at Quigley Gallery

By Clarke News  |  October 28, 2020
Rise of the Nitrogen Eater, 30 x 22 inkjet on paper

Clarke University alumna Charlotte Wissel Rodewald will present her BFA Senior Graphic Design Exhibition, ENVIRONMENTAL HORROR!, at Quigley Gallery in the Wahlert Atrium at Clarke University Sunday, November 1, through Tuesday, November 24. A reception will be held on opening day, Sunday, November 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. Masks are required on the Clarke campus and it has been requested that all who wish to attend RSVP on the Clarke Facebook Event Page.

Rodewald will display horror movie posters and other forms of media that were a part of her senior research and project; depicting environmental issues as retro monsters. Rodewald’s show ENVIRONMENTAL HORROR! is a response to the fear and anxiety she identified in herself and her peers in relation to the state of our environment. The artwork presented in this gallery was her way of interpreting these global crises in a way that would personify the horror she felt as well as provide a more comprehensible visual for those who are unable to imagine these issues due to their overwhelming size.

This series of movie posters, depicting blobs of grease coming alive and crops reimagined as vampires, are meant to scare the viewer, as all horror movies intend to do. However, Rodewald stresses that along with the fear she hopes to create, she also intends her gallery to empower her viewers to kill these monsters. She said, “Horror movies try to scare you, but they don’t stop there. I noticed that most of these films will show you how to kill these monsters. They don’t want the werewolf or zombie to stay alive or undead by the end of the film. They give us silver bullets and wooden stakes so when we walk out of the theater, we imagine how we would survive, and what tactics we would take to kill these monsters.” Rodewald chose to interpret climate issues as retro monsters because she believed her audience understood them to be killable and have an inherent connection to the human manipulation that created them.

Charlotte Rodewald is a 2020 graduate of Clarke University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design as well as a minor in English with honors. She graduated Suma Cum Laude and has received many awards for her academic achievement as well as her artwork and illustrations. She has received many silver and gold awards, from Regional to National levels of the American Advertising Federation (AAF). She won two Best of Show ADDY Awards from the Dubuque Regional AAF chapter as well as her most prestigious award, a Silver National ADDY for her poster Ed’s Chuck Wagon. Her writing has been published and presented in conferences around the Dubuque Area.