Behind every photo, painting, sculpture or self-made video there is a story to be told and four Moscow artists are sharing their stories with Idaho.
Courtesy: “Diamond House Ceiling”
Marilyn Lysohir, Stacy Isenbarger, Eric Demattos and Casey Doyle were honored for their exemplary artwork in the Boise Art Museum’s (BAM) 2013 Idaho Triennial Exhibition.
Catherine Rakow, a curatorial assistant at the BAM, said a guest juror from the Portland Art Museum chose 65 art pieces from 40 Idaho artists selected from the original 222 applicants to be featured in this prestigious Idahoexhibition.
“It’s a big deal for (these artists) to be shown in a credited museum,” Rakow said. “Everybody’s work is different and that’s one of the challenges of the Triennial, or any group show, is putting all these different mediums and different ideas together to where it becomes a cohesive exhibit.”
Marilyn Lysohir – “The Flower Girls”
Though many Moscow locals may recognize Marilyn Lysohir as the mastermind behind Cowgirl Chocolates, they may not know Lysohir’s first passion was art.
For years, Lysohir has been creating elaborate sculptures out of clay and ceramics. Lysohir created the artistic series called “The Flower Girls.” The collection includes figurative pieces with flowers tattooed sculptures and a second set of pieces featuring metal hoop skirts containing objects to represent different things happening inside the hoops. Out of the 11 hoop figures she created, two were submitted and featured in the Triennial.
“One had a Budda’s head that I made out of clay and that was under the hoop dress,” Lysohir said. “Another one I did was an antique iron door stop that my grandmother had that was of a female figure. I had that one underneath (the hoop) with a little iron stand and then these very delicate ceramic flowers that were surrounding this figure.”
Lysohir said the idea for the hoops came from a friend of hers who collects early 20th century lamps — where the head of figure rests on the cloth-covered hoop of the lamp.
“The theme was flower girls and when I was really little my aunt said, ‘When I get married, you can be a flower girl,’ and I was so excited, but when she got married she picked (a different) niece,” she said. “So in a way, it was kind of 55 years later you do a body of work that balances out that disappointment. It was kind of a homage to that idea of the little flowers girls to the idea of feminine strength and beauty.”
Lysohir said most of her work is inspired by memories of growing up as a child.
“Life just takes you on an adventure,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a fun adventure, sometimes it isn’t. But you learn from everything thing that happens and sometimes the non-fun things are the most important things that you have to learn. Art is a gift and way of sharing (life) with people.”
*To read more about Lysohir’s journey to becoming a successful business owner, see page 8.
Stacy Isenbarger – “Creature Comforts (Canary Marys)”
Growing up Catholic in a Southeastern Southern Baptist suburb, Stacy Isenbarger’s fascination and desire to trust the spiritual figures of Catholicism in connection to her environment started at a young age. Her love for sculpting is a reflection of that in her current artwork.
Isenbarger, an assistant professor at the University of Idaho, said the idea for her “Canary Marys” series came when she discovered a figurine in a thrift store that resembled the Virgin Mary. She noticed the figurine didn’t have a cloak but rather hair flowing down her back.
“I’ve always been really interested in icons and how they get used or misinterpreted or reinterpreted through the way we use them,” she said. “I had also talked to some folks who find spirituality through nature instead of a church structure. I found out that if I dipped these figurines in a yellow tool dip, I was giving her a cloak but at the same time I was turning her into a canary — so she could be nature and this (spiritual) figure.”
The Canary Marys in “Creature Comforts” reflect nature and spirit at odds and in communion, Isenbarger said. The rock on the ground is silhouetted by a wooden barrier mimicking the shape of the rock — a metaphor for the rock that was built around, but by building around it makes a barrier.
She said she still explores ways to discover her understanding of the environment through the objects she surrounds herself with.
“I work as a sculptor primarily because I find that I can communicate with people through their memories,” Isenbarger said. “When I’m trying to get people to think about their own environment, it helps me to kind of put triggers that remind them of the environments they’ve been in.”
Eric Demattos – “Diamond House Ceiling”
Referred to as the “photographer of light” by his peers, third-year UI graduate student Eric Demattos certainly lives up to his Thomas Kinkade-like nickname.
“Diamond House Ceiling,” his colorful submission featured in the Triennial, is an image transfer painting of a photograph Demattos took of a living room in an abandoned building, a lone chair left by a window.
“I’m really fascinated with abandoned places and I’m doing my thesis on it,” Demattos said. “A lot of people think of them as gloomy or scary, but I’m trying to pull out the beauty — the forgotten history there, like all these stories that have been lived out and then somehow people have moved on — finding these places and trying to re-reveal these stories that were forgotten.”
To create the finished product was a two week process, Demattos said. He snapped the picture, then he used acrylic paints on birch wood panel to create the background before he did a black and white image transfer — an 8-hour process in itself. The finished work was 36 by 80 inches — about the size of a door.
Demattos said he loves the graduate art program at UI and he has been able to explore more into his art and try new techniques that aren’t traditional. After he graduates, he wants to teach photography at a university part time and continue the series of abandon places.
J. Casey Doyle – “I Am My Own Cheerleader”
What do you get when you combine purple curling ribbon and a letterman’s sweater? Casey Doyle would call it an artistic opportunity of transformation.
Doyle, an assistant professor at UI, submitted his artistic video clip “I Am My Own Cheerleader,” which was selected for the Triennial along with his hand-knit purple letterman’s sweater and curling ribbon pom-poms.
In his self-filmed performance, Doyle molted purple strands of curling ribbon from the letterman’s sweater and turned the shed curling ribbon into pom-poms while in the UI Kibbie Dome.
“I’m going through a transformation to become my own cheerleader,” Doyle said. “It’s all about that urgency to strip away all that material to kind of reveal the sweater and then to try to make something from it. In the end, I make pom-poms and present myself to an audience of no one, just myself, because first and foremost the transformation is hopefully for ourselves.”
Doyle said the inspiration to perform this piece came from the decision that he needed to be more of an advocate for himself, for gay rights and equality through his art.
When he was in high school, Doyle said he always wanted to have a letterman’s sweater and this art project was the perfect opportunity for him to create it. Doyle used the color purple for the piece because it represents spirit on the LGBTQ pride flag — a connection to the transformation into a cheerleader.
As an assistant professor, Doyle said he uses his work as a vehicle for sharing with the students and to encourage student to invest in material exploration and social issues.
“Typically (artists) turn more to making something as a means of expressing ourselves,” he said. “I hope that’s what my students are learning from that. I definitely learn from them constantly.”
2013 Idaho Triennial
The Triennial exhibition is still on display at the BAM and is bringing in art lovers from across the state to witness the talent of Idaho artists.
“We love doing this exhibit,” Rakow said. “It’s fun for us. We are really, really excited about this year’s Triennial and a lot of the audience, I have to say, really is responding well.”
Emily Vaartstra can be reached at [email protected]