ALL: Master Collection List
Nationality
American
Preview
Medium
Fabric collage
Height
17"
Width
17"
Collection/Provenance
Cecilia Rolando Textile Collection
Status
Stored
Location
UND Art Collections Repository
Artist Bio
Cecilia Rolando is a Northern Minnesota artist who was born in and lives in Ely. She was educated in Ely through Junior College and then went on to get a BA in Art through the University of Minnesota Duluth. She followed this with a Graphic Art Certificate from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. These education experiences were the foundational support for her need to create art. The dedication and discipline came from herself, and the artist’s need to express.
Rolando is now retired after working for 27 years as Executive Director of Northern Lakes Arts Association, helping promote each area of art with events, shows, and performances, while supporting the work of area and visiting artists. During this time, she considered herself a serious artist, and continued her own efforts making art, participating in art shows, and enjoying all aspects of her own creativity. She came to that job, which turned into a career, at 38, but before that went through endless short-term jobs in all areas, finding herself somewhat misplaced, since she needed to support herself while making art. Now she relishes the freedom of creating without the interruption of running off to the gate of a concert or theater performance, and enjoys the added satisfaction which comes from teaching others to make art in a wide range of art forms and mediums. She spends a great deal of time preparing for teaching to ensure students have individual ways to become inspired in classes and beyond.
Over the years, Rolando has participated in group art shows and solo shows, such as at Ely’s Boundary Water’s Market and a solo show in Grand Marais’ Art Colony’s Studio One as one of their Arrowhead Summer Artist Series. She was also selected to be in the Arrowhead Biennial Show in Duluth, where a piece of her art was added to the Senator Amy Klobuchar Minnesota Artist Collection. She has been featured in several regional solo shows, including one in which over 40 of her fabric collage hangings spent three months on University of Minnesota’s campus. She is a member of Ely’s Watercolor Club and has presented her watercolors each summer in their group show for over 20 years. She is in Ely’s ArtWalk each February, which has displayed artists’ work in windows during the WinterFestival. She is represented at the Ely Folk School consignment store and Ely’s Meadows Gallery. She also had solo shows for the Northern Lakes Arts Association and at Art and Soul Gallery. Over the years, she has shown in Ely, Duluth, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, Cook, as well as in Washington D.C. Currently, she teaches at both the Ely Folk School and Cook’s NWFA’s Gallery, and she is a resident artist at the local Burntside Lodge.
Additional Information
Cecilia Rolando’s interest in art began when she was young and has since become her life’s fulfilment. She has made a vast collection of artworks through the last 60+ years, in various mediums and approaches, with a variety of subjects. The focus of her recent art is driven by materials as well as color and composition. She dives in with these materials at hand and coaxes the subject to evolve whether with paint, paper, beads, or fabric. She enjoys seeing what comes from this intuitive style. She moves easily between various materials and subject matter, enjoying abstraction, simple landscapes, and painting faces and flowers.
Rolando’s interest in utilizing whatever mediums she finds of interest also led to making fabric collage pieces. She began making these when given an old sewing machine in the early 1970’s. She collected fabrics to make woven rag rugs and saw the possibility of creating cloth images with the machine. This later led to an interest in the quilts made by an active quilters’ guild in her town, but she knew, with her nature, she wouldn’t be able to make formal traditional quilts. However her love to sew led to her textile work, such as the piece featured here.
Rolando creates most every day, enjoying the flow of making jewelry, greeting cards, watercolor and acrylic paintings, and photography, while also sharing these interests with others through teaching. She enjoys writing poetry, and has participated in the League of Minnesota Poet’s spring conference, which was held in Ely.
This artwork is part of a collection of 19 works purchased by the Chester Fritz Library for UND Art Collections in 2026.
Condition
Excellent
Rights
Images are provided for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced for commercial use. Images may be protected by artist copyright. A credit line is required to be used for any public non-commercial educational purpose. The credit line must include, “Image courtesy of the University of North Dakota.”