What is your primary medium?
Watercolor. I really like watercolor. And earlier you and I talked about stained glass, acrylic and oil.
What got you interested in painting?
Way back in high school, they used to give you an aptitude test to see what you were good for. And for me they said, “You'd make a good artist or architect.” I didn't take their advice. 50 years later I lost my job, and I went, “Whoa, you got to do something, Gary!” So I went down to the local art store, Terry was still at Boise Blue in those days, down next to McU Sports. I figured I better get some lessons. There was a wonderful professor from Boise State, God rest his soul, but he had Paint/Draw on Cassia Street and then he moved over to Bank Drive. I met so many wonderful people in that class. So after the traumatic experience of losing a job, I put my focus on art and I started another business. Art not only pulled me out of my funk, it threw a rope down the hole, to paraphrase Das Energi, I climbed out and started a new business. I'm happy to say 10 or 12 of my family are running that business today. So art was a lifesaver for me, probably always has been. But certainly it was then.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Just looking around, driving around this town. There's so much history. Alexa Rose offers a wonderful opportunity to artists once or twice a year and I put in for a road trip. Just to go around and paint some of the old buildings, theaters, and bridges we grew up with before they change. I'm not opposed to change, but it's kind of nice seeing a little history before it changes and I think artists can grab that. They can put life to it, and somebody will go “Oh my god, I remember when I jumped off that bridge when I was a kid!”, or “I caught a fish under there”, or I was showing off for my girlfriend, and I about drowned. So, you know, good stuff. Just yesterday I went downtown, and I was down by Peace Valley, and I saw two little boys hanging on a rail and I went “Oh my god.” So I came home and I drew that. It was just something I wanted to capture. And so it's sitting on my art table.
Are there any Boise specific opportunities you feel you've had?
Boise and the whole Valley. Meridian with their Initial Point Gallery we've shown there at least three or four times. Beautiful gallery in city hall. I highly recommend it to everybody. City of Kuna, the City of Marsing, the City of Eagle give you so many opportunities with their small art and murals. Getting closer to home, the City of Boise, they offered the bus stops, they offer the traffic boxes. They just really, you can't go downtown without having your socks knocked off by seeing some of that public art. So yes, thank you Boise and the whole Treasure Valley here. We've even been down to Twin Falls, we did Art and Soul. Now, Art and Soul had a fairly high cost to get into it, but they gave out like $50,000. So there's some big prize money there.
How long have you been doing art?
When I got fired in 2000 is when I decided to just start doing it. So that's 21 years and so many opportunities. And like Scott Peck said, in The Road Less Traveled, if somebody says, “Gee, I wish I could do that.” I would say “You can do that! It just takes time.” Just sit down and do it. Everybody can paint. Everybody can draw it. We're all creative beings. So try it, you'll like it.
Why do you think art is important?
Art is important because a lot of the time it tells the truth. I mean, there's all kinds of art. But sometimes art tells us the truth. Right now down at the Boise Art Museum is the Mini-West Show. I grew up with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and all of those wonderful cowboys. But the Native Americans had a different take on these cowboy shows than I did and the art that's being shown at the Boise Art Museum right now shows you that. At the mini West show, there is a piece that's probably 24 foot wide, and probably five foot high, that is drawn by somebody in Japanese style art that shows that Minidoka camp, and the Boise Art Museum in all of their wisdom, put it up on the wall for everyone to see. And it's just a beautiful piece of Japanese art. And it's a piece of Idaho history that we all should embrace. If we embrace the good stuff, we should embrace the bad stuff. And that's what art does. I think besides being fun it tells the truth. While I'm at it, I would ask all of the viewers out there, when you see somebody's art, please don't say that it's cute. Artists have heard this so much. They're really tired of it. So if you could move up a step in your vocabulary and just say, That's interesting, that would be good. But please drop the cute, thank you.
What gets you up in the morning to create?
Well, I'm retired. I always got up early in the morning. I like coffee. I like to read the newspaper. I like to walk the dog. I like to play an hour worth of guitar. And I like to do an hour worth of yoga. Then after I get that out of the way, I have a free day, and you can only read so much. So I choose art, or art chooses me. I'm very fortunate in probably doing two or three pieces of art a week because I enjoy it and I like to see what's going to come out. One of my teachers, John Killmaster, always said plan out your painting, look at your composition, figure out what you want to do before you do it, and sometimes, I take that advice. And sometimes I don't. But good advice, John, thank you.
Do you think art is something you'll ever stop doing?
No. No, in fact, I'm reminded of Pissarro. Pissarro was a teacher to Cézanne and so many more of the Impressionists. He couldn't use his hands, so he tied brushes to his arms to paint until his final days. And I hope that I have a little Pissarro in me. Namaste. Thank you.