Jonathan Rogers is a local artist with a truly impressive and storied career. He’s been working in the art community of western New York and southern Ontario for decades.
His most recent mural through NF Murals is “Dance Shop” and is in the Hyde Park area of Niagara Falls. It features colorful figures dancing across the side of the building, brightening the corner where it’s located. Rogers said the mural represents the pursuit of happiness, as well as the learning and discipline involved in dancing. He also blended some of the figures’ forms and colors into one another to represent how dance brings people together.
“When you’re dancing with the right person in the right moment, you can’t tell where their body ends and yours begins,” Rogers said.
Born in Toronto in 1937, he’s been a U.S. resident since 1983 and his work and creativity have spanned both countries through different mediums.
He started working as a printer’s apprentice in 1954 and then went on to attend the Ontario College of Art & Design.
In 1973-74, he created “The Gift of Winter,” an animated Christmas TV Special for CBC featuring the voices of Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd.
In 1975, he created “Witch’s Night Out,” an animated Halloween TV special for NBC featuring the voices of Gilda Radner and Catherine O’Hara.
He was a producer for a time at Disney Studios Educational, and in 1985, he won a Billboard Magazine Award for Best Animated Music Video for “Atomic Dog” by George Clinton & the Funkadelics.
From 1986 to 1991, he was creative producer for Marvel Productions and worked on projects like Casper, GI Joe, Spiderman, My Little Pony, Gem & The Holograms, and The Glofriends.
Jonathan has had successful solo art shows at the Albright Knox, Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, Burchfield Penney Art Center, and the Dreamland Gallery.
In 2020, he was awarded the Fine Arts League of Buffalo Award for “Art Community Contributor.”
His previous mural completed through NF Murals in 2019 is called the “New Spirit of Niagara Falls” and is located on Main Street. Jonathan has a studio at the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center (NACC). He describes himself as a realist and a self-expressionist and he creates his artwork in a series pattern.
