Cam Rose

Rose’s earliest art consisted of doodles and girly-pop female figures, and while working as a nanny and camp counselor, the young artist found herself using found materials to create. She loves the convenience of watercolor but once Rose dipped a toe into oil painting, she never looked back because the possibilities are endless.

While studying art in college, Rose became fascinated by the Italian Renaissance. In Florence, she fell in love with Raphael, Sarto, and Pontormo and was captivated by their soft feminine figures and saturated palates. During her time learning etching and painting in Italy, Cam was fortunate enough to see the entire 14th and 15th Italian Art History course in real life. She saw Pontormo’s The Deposition from the Cross and it rocked her world at the time and is still a favorite because of its sweet timing right after the High Renaissance and what it did for the art world. After earning her BFA, Rose trained with master oil painter Jeffery T. Larson for nearly five more years, honing her craft to become a classically trained oil painter herself. The artist says that still the toughest part, as it is for many people, is fighting the distractions of modern life and finding the time to focus on her work. A clean space to paint, good consistent light, the discipline to start at the same time each day, and having materials at the ready help time stop for Cam Rose as she paints her fabulous still life and portrait artwork that’s inspired by her real-life surroundings. This is classically beautiful artwork that is becoming coveted by modern collectors around the world.

Rose always starts a new work of art by drawing with charcoal. This helps her build a good foundation for the painting. She then adds the color — deep, rich, and warm color — that Rose says is the icing on the gorgeous, evocative cake she’s creating! To make her art come to life on canvas, she uses oil and sometimes a palate knife, just like the masters did, and as her mentor taught her for so many years.

While Rembrandt, Rubens, and Raphael are the foundation of her existence, Rose met the man who would go on to be her mentor, teacher, and favorite living artist while working at a museum in 2016. This is when she first encountered Larson’s work. Larson is a master and true connoisseur of light and color. Together with his son, Larson established the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art. Rose was one of the first five students to graduate and then in 2022, she moved to Honolulu, HI, and discovered Park West Gallery. Working as an art consultant confirmed her love for not only helping people collect great art but also educating and teaching them about the process of creating it.

Cam Rose has enjoyed a solo exhibit in Omaha, Nebraska in 2013 and several group exhibitions in the U.S. and Italy and has won many awards and fellowships in high school and at university where she made the Dean’s List for five consecutive years. In addition to oil painting and art education, Cam Rose is passionate about Indigenous studies, being a water protector, the writing of Joan Didion and Lenard Cohen, hot yoga, and unwinding at the beach. With solo and group exhibits under her belt, awards and fellowships to her name, and having worked on both sides of many museums’ velvet ropes, Rose employs a unique perspective that examines all sides of the art world to produce paintings that are so much more than just a feast for the senses.