Local artist Mary Rebecca Schloegel commissioned to paint personal memory
It’s not everyday that an artist is asked to paint a setting that they personally have a strong tie to. News 25’s Ansley Brent met with local artist Mary Rebecca Schloegel to discuss one of her latest painting, Twin Oaks.
Painting has always been a way of life for local artist Mary Rebecca Schloegel. Being a life-long resident of Gulfport, she’s been surrounded by art and creativity her entire life. “I started painting here at the Twin Oaks property with my grandmother at age three who’s also a painter. I loved getting to be here as a child and start painting here and it really sparked my interest for the rest of my life.”
That spark led to choosing where to go to school and what to study, which was earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and in painting and drawing at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Schloegel’s style is a more gestural approach, which is about capturing how alive the subject is. Ironically, she is now able to keep alive her childhood memories of Twin Oaks before Hurricane Katrina hit. “I’ll never forget my dad coming back to the place that we evacuated and letting my grandmother know that her house unfortunately did not make it. We immediately came back to the property and the Washington Post was here and they took a picture of me outside the oak trees and I thought it was really cool because when I finished my twin oaks painting, I’d been working on it a couple months and in the summer, I put my last touches on the painting on August 29th.”
Schloegel said she is beyond thankful that the Cox family commissioned her to paint a memory that hit so close to home and she enjoyed being on property while making the painting come to life. “It’s really fun to look back on my old past here where it started all at my grandmothers and even better to have done the twin oak trees and have all those nostalgic memories flood back to me.”
She is honored that the painting is the property token and the owners are once again referring to their home as Twin Oaks.
