Adele Rowland, OP–Photographer

Adele Rowland, who passed away recently, was a Dominican Sister of San Rafel, CA.  She was also an extraordinary photographer, having studied under the likes of Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernhard, and Jerry Uelsmann.  Despite this tutelage, she preferred color photography and was a pioneer in color photomontage.  The art of photomontage in the era of PhotoShop is much easier; simply put two images in separate layers, move them at will, select a blend mode, etc.  But Sister Adele worked with film.  Each image must be precisely composed to fill the frame.  Also, each must be underexposed so the combination does not become too dark.

Here are a couple of Sister Adele’s montages:

You can read about Sister Adele’s vision here.  She was the first recipient of the Fra Angelico Award in 1998.  Other Dominican artists are featured in the Dominican Institute for the Arts.