biography
Rochelle Toner (Rockie) was born in Des Moines Iowa in 1940. Toner did her undergraduate work at the University of Northern Iowa in Art and Art Education and graduated with a BA in 1962. From 1962 until 1966 Toner taught art in the Dubuque Iowa Community School District. In 1966 Toner attended the University of Illinois in Art and Art Education, receiving a MA in 1967. The following academic year she returned to Dubuque where she taught and set up a printmaking studio at Clarke College. In 1968 she reenrolled at the University of Illinois in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Painting and Printmaking and received an MFA in 1970. From 1970-1972 Toner was an Instructor at the University of Illinois in Drawing and Printmaking.
In 1972 Toner began teaching Drawing and Printmaking at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture/Temple University in Philadelphia. She was on the Tyler faculty for 30 years. From 1976 to 1979 Toner taught in Temple’s Study Abroad Program in Rome Italy. For thirteen years, from 1989 to 2002, Toner served as the Dean of Tyler and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2002.
statement
Toner’s studio work has been inspired by and related to her fascination with the dynamics of nature. She explores organic forms through a process of drawing and discovery, looking for images that have the power of mystery and illusion. She is interested in searching for the points at which the referent may be felt in the work without the intrusion of the literal. Toner’s work has been widely exhibited and collected. It is represented in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the Woodmere Museum of Art. In 2010 she was honored by the Southern Graphics Council International as Printmaker Emeritus. In 2018 Toner had a one person exhibition of her work at The Philadelphia Print Center that included an overview of etchings, drawings and collages, the exhibition was titled “Tying a Knot in a Cherry Stem”. In the catalog for the exhibition the curator Judith Tannenbaum said, “An artist of remarkable vision and dedication, Toner creates images infused with sensuality and humor based on her observations of natural form”.
In addition to her solo work Toner produced three portfolios of images and poetry with the poet and her life partner Almitra David who died in 2003. Since 1990 Toner has divided her time between Philadelphia and Rock Hall Maryland, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.