Clare E. Rojas (born 1976), also known by stage name Peggy Honeywell, is an American multidisciplinary artist. She is part of the

Mission School A mission school or missionary school is a religious school originally developed and run by Christian missionaries. The mission school was commonly used in the colonial era for the purposes of Westernization of local people. These may be day s ...

. Rojas is "known for creating powerful folk-art-inspired tableaus that tackle traditional

gender role A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...

s." She works in a variety of media, including painting, installations, video, street art, and children's books. Rojas lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Early life and education

Clare Rojas was born in 1976 in Columbus, Ohio. She is of half-Peruvian descent. As a teenager, Rojas visited a nursing home, where she would make portraits in pastel and oil, while she listened to the interesting stories of her subjects. She received a BFA degree in Printmaking from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

(RISD); and a MFA degree from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

. At RISD, she studied

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

, which informed her use of color, layering and sizing. In her search for non toxic paint, she discovered gouache, which she used to paint like a printmaker.

Career

Rojas work is inspired by folk art. She loves quilts and loves to tell stories, which is reflected in her work. In her more recent work, Rojas has moved from figurative paintings into pure geometric abstraction. Inspired by Native American textiles, Quaker Art, and Byzantine mosaics, Rojas creates narratives depicting interactions between humans and animals, focusing on history’s journey to find peace. She brings multiple artistic influences together in her textiles by incorporating abstract geometry found in quilts and architecture. Rojas is known for adding elements of female sexuality into her artwork. She does this to give credit to women and recognize their natural strengths.

Peggy Honeywell

Rojas also plays guitar and banjo under the stage name Peggy Honeywell. She has released three albums: ''Honey For Dinner'' (2001), ''Faint Humms'' (2005), and ''Green Mountain'' (2006).

Personal life

Rojas married fellow artist

Barry McGee Barry McGee (born 1966) is an American artist. He is known for graffiti art, and a pioneer of the Mission School art movement. McGee is known by his monikers: Twist, Ray Fong, Bernon Vernon, and P.Kin. Life and education Barry McGee was born in ...

in 2005. She adopted his daughter, Asha (Sanskrit for hope), from his previous marriage to Margaret Kilgallen.

Selected solo exhibitions

*SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC 2019 *Egret,

Kavi Gupta Kavi Gupta is a contemporary art gallery owned by gallerist Kavi Gupta. Headquartered in the Near West Side, Chicago, West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, the gallery operates multiple exhibition spaces as well as Kavi Gupta Editions, a publishing ...

, Chicago, IL, 2018 *SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC 2016 *Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium 2016 * Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA, 2014 *San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2010, "Male Preserve" * Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Leon, Spain, 2007 * The Rose Art Museum, Waltham MA, 2006 *

Knoxville Museum of Art The Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), is an art museum in Knoxville, Tennessee. It specializes in historical and contemporary art pieces from the East Tennessee region. According to its mission statement, the museum "celebrates the art and artists ...

, Knoxville, TN, 2005 *

Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)''Los Angeles Times''. born July 9, 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects (1996–2010) and curating groundbreaking exhi ...

, New York, NY, 2004 * Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, 2002

Public art

* SFO, International Terminal, Gate G Level 3 - ''Blue Deer'' 2006-2007, Oil and Pigmented Ink with Gesso Ground on Wood Panels * 982 Market Street, San Francisco, the side of the Warfield Theater - Mural 2014, commissioned by The Luggage Store Gallery and funded by Walter and Elise Haas Fund/Creative Work Fund.

Awards

*Project Space Residency, 2003 *Tournesol Award, Headlands Center for the Arts, 2003 * Artadia Award, 2005 *Eureka Fellowship Award, 2005–2007 *Walter and Elise Haas Fund, 2013–2014 * Ox-Bow School of Art, Artist-in-Residence, 2016

Albums

Clare Rojas performs under the stage name Peggy Honeywell. She has released three albums: * ''Honey for Dinner'' (2001) * ''Faint Humms'' (2005) * ''Green Mountain'' (2006)