About the Artist
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Junko Ono Rothwell received her art degree from Okayama University in Japan. After graduating, she came to the United States and took art classes at Cornell University.

She has had numerous one person and group shows. Also, she has shown in selected National Exhibitions including the American Artists Professional League National Exhibition and the Pastel Society of America in New York and the Pastel Society of Japan in Tokyo.

She has received many awards including The Dianne B. Berhard Award in Pastel, American Artists Professional League, NY, and the Faber Castell Design Award and the Pastel Society of America Plaque.

Her works have been purchased by the State of Georgia and many corporations including the Southern Company, Continental Telephone, Kaiser Permanente, Prime Bank, Nations Bank, George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and the Northwest Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

She is a Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America. She is also a member of excellence of the Atlanta Artists Club and the Southeastern Pastel Society, and a Fellow of the American Artist Professional League, New York, and a member of the Pastel Society of Japan.

Rothwell’s work has appeared in Best of Pastel (Rockport Publishers, 1996), Portrait Inspirations, (Rockport Publishers, 1997), Best of Flower Painting 2 (North Light Books, 1999) T. Sullivan, The Best of Sketching and Drawing (Quarry Books, 1999) and Pure Color (Northlight Books, 2006). She was one of four artists who were featured in the recent article "Unforgettable Landscapes: Different Approaches to Light and Texture" in The Pastel Journal, May/June 2000.

She illustrated a children’s book in Japanese: M. McLaughlin, Minna no koe ga kikoeru (Bungeisha, 2002)

Her article, “A Lesson from the East” appeared in The Artist’s Magazine, June 2004, and “Junko Ono Rothwell,” by Caroline Purtell appeared in The Pastel Journal, August 2004.

REVIEWS AND LINKS

Amy Leibrock, Traveling Light, Sketching Bright, Watercolor Artist, October 2020

Amy Leibrock, The Nature of Sketching, Pastel Journal, August 2020

Jennifer King, "Art from Many Influences," CreateBetterPaintings.com

A review of the Fire House Gallery show from the Louisville Downtowner

Brazier Fine Art

Plein Air Painters of The Southeast profile

Junko Ono Rothwell, For the Love of Marshes article from the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast website

Plein Air Painters of Georgia

Junko Ono Rothwell, A Lesson from the East, The Artist's Magazine, June 2004

Caroline Purtell, Junko Ono Rothwell, The Pastel Journal, August 2004

"Junko Ono Rothwell

The artist creates dynamic yet sensitive figure portraits in pastel. This master of the technique renders figures of beauty and subtlety through the use of strong composition, a thorough knowledge of anatomy and the delicate use of color. Rothwell’s landscapes and urban-scapes depict both the beauty of nature and the grittiness of the city. Her use of strong compositional elements and rich color enhance her work in both oil and pastel."

- Spruill Center Gallery, New Americans exhibit, 1996

"Junko Ono Rothwell of Georgia is a plein air landscape painter who works outside with an easel and all her pastels. She carefully makes strokes with the blatantly bright and sometimes explosive landscape colors . . . There is no attempt to tone down the color, for that is the way she perceives the scene, and want to present it in all its radiance. Here working surface is Ersta sanded paper, and her underpainting is accomplished with pastel, turpentine and a brush. She paints a wide range of landscape scenes in many locations. The boldness of her vision helps her create vibrant, visual scenes of nature; she is also a fine figurative painter. . . ."

- Madlyn-Ann C. Woolwich, “Unforgettable Landscapes: Different Approaches to Light and Texture,”  The Pastel Journal, May/June 2000