On the second-last day of her July exhibit at the Olde Courthouse Art Centre, surrounded by creations dating as far back as her youth in the Netherlands, Andrea Rogers reflects.

“I’m 81 years old. This is probably my swan song, but you never know. I’m still active, still healthy.”

Last month, the Olde Courthouse hosted a retrospective of Rogers’ artwork entitled Art Is a Tree with Many Branches.

True to its name, the show featured work across a variety of media, from quilting to pastels, needlepoint to sewing, landscaping, photography, and even some calligraphy.

Rogers, who has lived in Merritt since 1955, has long been a music teacher by training and profession. She was the first registered music teacher in Merritt upon her arrival.

However, even when she was attending music school after the Second World War, Rogers was drawn to the visual arts.

“At lunch, I sat at the Rijksmuseum (in Amsterdam) and I copied Rembrandt.”

With a fashion designer mother and artist father, Rogers says she was always ready to try something else and enjoy what she was doing.

“In my spare time, I’m never bored.”

Some of the art on display at the Olde Courthouse included a pastel drawing of a Dutch fisherman from 1939 and an elaborate quilted ski jacket made in 2004. Several collages in the style of Inuit art adorned one wall, inspired by a magazine article Rogers once read.

Her effort and meticulousness were easy to see in her work, especially large needlepoints and a doily, which took months of work to complete.

Fortunately, the hard work and commitment is hardly a chore when she is creating.

“Once I’m in it, I forget time,” says Rogers.

She jokes that her constant creating helped her “stay out of trouble, one way or another.”

The exhibit was Rogers’ second at the Olde Courthouse. In 2006, the gallery hosted a similar retrospective focused on her quilting. Some of her quilts are on display at Merritt City Hall and Baillie House.

Rogers thanks Kim LeClair of Valley Visual Artists for her help organizing the show.