Art Lives at Unity Church

Art provides another medium through which human beings experience gifts of the spirit.  Response to a work of art may be on intense, profound levels. As with poetry or literature, theatre, dance or music, the visual arts provide meditative and emotional opportunities and appreciation of life's process, our cultures and society. Unity's Art Team serves the congregation by hosting exhibits in our Parish Hall gallery, cataloging and sharing information about Unity's extensive art collection, and inviting the congregation into art appreciation through various events and learning opportunities. For more information about the work of Unity's Art Team, please email artteam@unityunitarian.org.

May Parish Hall Artist: ​Gregg Rochester

Wisconsin artist Gregg Rochester had artistic interests since childhood, growing up with an artist mother and grandfather. Silversmithing, pottery, music, and writing were interests until 1989, when he pursued painting. In the meantime, he developed himself as an English teacher and later, 
a clinical psychologist. 

His educational background included degrees from Dakota Wesleyan University and Indiana University. Additional art training included work at the University of Kansas, the Bellas Artes and Instituto Allende ( San Miguel de Allende, Mexico), and the Scottsdale Artist’s School. 

He has enjoyed representations in New York City; Scottsdale and Tucson, Arizona; Chicago; Colorado Springs; San Francisco; Minneapolis; St. Louis; Indianapolis; Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico. Rochester has been named as “featured artist” on a National Endowment for the arts website. Articles and descriptions of his work have been issued in several national art and design periodicals, including Art in America, Southwest Art, Phoenix Home and Gardens, Scottsdale Lifestyle, Better Homes and Gardens, and Wisconsin West Magazine. His paintings can be found in institutional, corporate, and private collections world-wide, including many recognized hospitals and other healthcare settings. One of his paintings was chosen for public display in the Senator George McGovern Library and Center for Leadership. In 2012, he was named Wisconsin Artist of the Year by TOSCA (Theater, Opera, Shakespeare, Culture, and Arts Magazine, a Minneapolis arts publication). His original art has recently found its way to the covers of several books written by award winning authors, Jacqueline Syrup Bergan and Marie Schwan, CSJ. These books, guides for prayer, are based on Ignatian spirituality; the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Rochester’s art graces the covers of the highly acclaimed Take and Receive Series as well as the recently released Loved and Loving; Contemplation to Attain God’s Love.
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Rochester’s contemplative work seeks to stir the natural spirituality and grace of the land and the animals closest to it. He seeks to express the comfort many feel as they gaze upon the countryside. One observer pointed out, “Gregg Rochester’s work eases the eye, calms the chaos, and leads one to return to what they know is right within themselves and the land."