Obituary of Ann Rogers Mealy

Ann Rogers Mealy (born in 1953) died peacefully at home in Clarkdale, Arizona on February 8, 2021. Ann was a gifted artist who worked as a painter, a sculptor, and a writer through her whole life in order to communicate “something that for some reason sings to me of the depths of the universe.” Her landscapes reflect the unique way she perceived her surroundings; she studied geology to better understand the structure of the land; she used both pastels and watercolor to achieve the richness of color and light that she saw. In 1991, she wrote: “I do a lot of landscapes and a lot of times when I’m doing them, I’m thinking about the concept of time.” “The feeling of space, room to move, freedom, growing, dealing with things honestly. You can’t lie to the land. You can’t lie when you try to paint it.” “The variety, the intensity, the incredible diversification that is in the landscape…You can do the same painting fifteen different times, and each time it will be a different painting, depending on the light, the weather, your mood.” Her cast bronze sculptures and her drawings are also animated by a feeling of motion caught in a single expressive gesture or moment. Whether of people, birds or bugs – and lizards, snakes and frogs ‐ each is inherently beautiful in its individuality. Ann’s early years were spent in the Midwest and in Maine. College years were in upper state New York, at Skidmore College, where she graduated with a major in painting in 1975. In 1978, she landed in Arizona, after travels and extended stays in the southern and western United States and Abaco, Bahamas. As a member of the Waddell Sculpture Fellowship, she worked and studied as an apprentice and a studio assistant until 1981. Ann and John Henry Waddell were coauthors of the book The Beauty of Individual Differences, published in 1985. Continuing to paint and sculpt, Ann was a valued member of the ‘Made in Clarkdale’ artistic community for many years, as well as exhibiting in galleries and shows throughout the Verde Valley. Along with several public art projects, she also gave art lessons to young children and practical help to veterans in the area. Ann will be greatly missed by her three sisters, Melinda Heindel (White Salmon, WA), Joan Hudyncia (Wysox, PA), and Martha Mealy (Portland, OR) and their families. The sadness of her loss is tempered by the joy that her artwork brings to each and everyone of us. In her own words: “And when we finally shed our earthly chains and our atoms fly to rejoin the universe, all we can hope to imagine is that we are saying “WHEEEE!”