Information from Sally Gnott 10/07/2018 

Alice Marie Rouske

Jun. 6, 1939 - Sep. 5, 2009

Alice M. Rouske, 70 of Cottonwood, AZ, died September 5, 2009 (aka Alison Rouske - Fine Art Artist, Author) was born in Terra Haute, IN: grew up in South Bend, IN: daughter of the late Grace (Asbury) & Harry RIckelman, beloved wife of Laurence Rouske, (Fanny Morris - Chicago, IL): devoted mother of James J. Karaganis, Jr. (Deerfield, IL) & Jerome J. Karaganis (Schaumburg, IL) (of the late James J. Karaganis), Jonathan (Lisa) Rouske, Susan (Eric) Bederman.

  Proud grandmother of Jak, Carter, Jeremy, Riley Karaganis, Benjamin and Jeremy Rouske and Evan Bederman and is survived by many nieces & nephews.

  Private family services have been held.

  Photos of paintings & her biography can be seen at: www.AlisonRouske.com.

  An online memorial guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com.

SOUL-SCAPES - Alice Marie Rouske

South Bend Tribune - July 18, 1997.

In his recent television series and companion book about American art called "American Visions," the critic Robert Hughes suggests a two-fold genesis for the prominence of landscapes in American art.

One was the democratic disdain for elites and the other was the Puritan distaste for decorative art. Combined, those prejudices squeezed out the use of portraits, nudes and religious scenes, which had long been the mainstays of European art.

In their place arose the landscape, whose boundless horizons expressed the new American vision, while at the same time suggesting a spirituality that was both compelling and denominationally neutral.

Alison and Laurence Rouske can relate.

For the past several years, they've toured the American West in their fifth-wheel travel trailer, painting and photographing the beauty they've seen.

Now the Rouskes, formerly of Sedona, Ariz., are looking for studio space and housing in the South Bend area, where Mrs. Rouske grew up in the 1940s and '50s.

Mrs. Rouske's large canvases feature expressionistic interpretations of mountain vistas, waterfalls and canyons, painted mostly from memory and melded into composite scenes of power and peace.

Mr. Rouske's photographs, while necessarily more realistic, capture nature's same grandeur, power and serenity, all in one.

Beyond the details of their images, however, both artists share a fundamentally American artistic vision--the quest for creative and spiritual sustenance in nature.

And while neither artist embraces a formally religious spirituality, there is no question about the role that spirituality plays in their work.

"Spiritual art is truly a doorway to connecting with the presence," Mrs. Rouske says, deliberately not defining her terms.

But then, definitions aren't what the Rouskes are about. Their goal is to find connections between creativity, inner peace and natural beauty,

That's the idea behind the multimedia show called "In Search of Beauty" that the Rouskes have been presenting around the country for the past five years. Using slides, music and narration, the 100-slide show is designed to reacquaint people with the beauty of the natural world and the creative impulses that all of us have.

"The idea is that the beauty is really within you," Mrs. Rouske says, "that you carry it within you."

Usually, they say, people react to their show with contemplative silence or loud applause. Either way, the Rouskes believe they are touching people deeply.

"I don't want to say that people are starved for art," Mrs. Rouske says, "but it isn't very much a part of their lives."

Art has been a large part of her life since she grew up in South Bend, when she was known as Alice Rickelman. Her mother taught at Oliver School and painted at home. Her father was a production worker at Bendix who loved to draw in the studio he built in the family's basement.

One of Mrs. Rouske's favorite art memories involves a teacher who played classical records while her students painted.

"And it just put me on fire, this connection of the music with the colors."

The formal name for that connection is synesthesia, which is both a movement in art (Morgan Russell and Arthur Dove were among its exponents) and a well-explored psychological concept.

For the Rouskes, synesthesia is a doorway to creativity and joy, as the promotional flyers for their show make clear.

"Learn to deeply see and feel colors," the flyers read. "Experience nature in a new and profound way. Feel your own creativity dance with joy."

Mrs. Rouske captures that dance in "Aria," a small painting of a waterfall whose auroral colors and central column of light suggest the high, clear tones of a soprano.

"She's painting earth energy from her mind," Mr. Rouske says, "what she perceives it to be."

The Rouskes met each other in Evanston, Ill., at a time when neither was pursuing art full-time. Mrs. Rouske, now 58, was a secretary and Mr. Rouske, 57, was involved in an industrial real estate career that he dismisses as "the past."

"We decided when we got together that we would always follow our dreams and listen to each other's dreams," Mrs. Rouske says while sitting under the awning of their parked Fleetwood trailer in a New Carlisle trailer camp. "Fortunately, they've meshed well together."

Married since 1985, each for the second time, the Rouskes have immersed themselves in the earth energy that is so apparent in the mountains, canyons and immense skies of the high, dry country of the West.

They live simply, traveling from show to show and vista to vista, making arrangements for additional showings of "In Seach of Beauty" along the way.

"It's not about making a huge living," Mr. Rouske says. "It's about making a difference in people's lives."

Now they've decided to return to their Midwestern roots and look for a studio where Mr. Rouske can produce larger photographic prints than he can in the tiny darkroom aboard their trailer.

Will the Midwest's lack of majestic scenery cramp their artistry?

"I've got enough (ideas) to paint the rest of my life, really," Mrs. Rouske says. "And there really is beauty here, too."

For booking information or general information about the Rouskes' show, "In Search of Beauty," phone (219) 654-7919.

03/27/2022 DEC

Westcottfuneralhome.com