Artist Profile: Rosalie Nadeau

The moment when most artists acknowledge that is in fact, what they are, who they are: an artist, must be a memorable confirmation. Not so for painter Rosalie Nadeau. “I knew I was an artist before I could do anything else. I’ve just always known,” she recalls. Her earliest memory or making her mark came when she drew her swing set around the age of two. “I drew it in perspective, overlapping the ends, I had the seat in perspective. It didn’t seem remarkable to me, but I guess at the time, my parents immediately recognized I had a unique ability,” she explains. The first pastel set she was given in the third grade, still holds a place in her vast toolbox of art paraphernalia she has accumulated over the past seven decades.

Nadeau grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and after high school decided on the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts. A professor of her asked if she would like to serve as the family’s nanny as they headed to Truro for the summer. Nadeau returned to the Cape through college and ultimately settled here after graduation. Despite her talents and passion for art, Nadeau found herself drawn to the fishing community in Provincetown in her early twenties. An offer as a cook and a pilot on the scallop boat Nora out of Wellfleet started Nadeau’s journey of understanding and living the rough life of a fisherman in North Atlantic waters. Today many of the images that have become indelible memories for her have found their way onto her canvasses. 

Like so many Cape Codders, Nadeau cobbled together an existence fishing, waitressing and an odd lot of other tasks just so she could stay on Cape Cod; and ultimately she found…