ID Day 3 - Eclectic Art, Eccentric Trails, and Enthusiastic Libraries
Today I started out by getting some coffee at a fancy brick craft roastery called Slow By Slow. As the name may have hinted, they took their time with things, but that extra effort led to some very tasty beverages. I’d never seen a place make one of those snazzy drip coffees iced, but I did appreciate it. The baristas were really friendly and they explained why the process is different, but unfortunately because I hadn’t actually had the coffee yet, I didn’t really absorb much of anything.
Awoken, I made my way to my first stop of the day, the very dynamically acronymed Boise Art Museum (BAM!). The museum is located in the lovely Julia Davis Park right by the Boise River in the heart of downtown. It’s also where the zoo, the state museum, and the Idaho Black History Museum are located so it’s a pretty easy place to spend a whole day wandering. I was impressed by the BAM right away, because, in a neat bit of architecture, they accented their very clean very square building with a wild jumble of neon lights designed by the artist George Wray. It’s a nice way to set a tone that not everything will be as it seems.
I was very impressed by the BAM because it’s not particularly large, but they have a shockingly great collection of modern and contemporary art. Unfortunately they don’t allow any photography, so I’ve done my best to scrounge up as many highlights as I can from the depths of my crappy notes and google images, but I have to admit I’m not totally doing the museum justice.
My favorite exhibit hands down was a showcase of the artist Jo Hamilton called Knots in Time. Although Hamilton studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art, her medium of choice in this showcase was crotchet. Her ability to create both photo-realistic and impressionistic portraits of people and places with yarn was astounding. If she didn’t leave threads hanging, you’d swear you were looking at a painting. Rather than ruining the illusion, I feel like those hanging threads really added a dreamlike quality to each piece as if they were sort of melting or unraveling before your eyes. The reason she chose crotchet is because of associations with being taught the craft by her grandmother, and a sense that the materiality allows you to tap in to those connections and memories. Her portraits encompassed a variety of subjects ranging from friends and families to mug-shots to made up characters wearing fantastical masks. My favorite pieces along the top row included a portrait of the artist Joe Cotter seamlessly blending into a recreation of one of his murals and her different crotchet street scenes of Portland, OR that capture a ridiculous amount of detail and three-dimensional space in small 2D patterns.
In case you were wondering just how spot on her work is, I really enjoyed this photo from her website of her friend Bryon next to his woolier self:
The next special exhibit was on a local artist named Cheryl K. Shurtleff, whose dark and surreal charcoal drawings evoke children’s book, Freudian associations, and modernist masters frequently within the same piece. One series she did was entitled She Was the One in Control and featured faith reconstructions of Edward Hopper paintings except the women were given less sexualized figures and were staring defiantly at the viewer. Even though I love Hopper (in spite of his creepiness), I really liked how this series showed off both her technical skill and her penchant for biting social commentary. Most of her works were bit creepy and all of them had a dreamlike quality to them so naturally I really enjoyed them.
Up next came the Museum’s impressive permanent collection. Not all the photos I was able to find are perfectly the piece that was in the museum but more representative of that artist’s work in general, but here were my highlights: a gravity defying rock sculpture by Woods Davy called Cantamar; some incredibly textured ceramics by Dutch artist Babs Haenen; a complex blend of metal, glass, and paint by Laddie John Dill; a blend of lithography, woodcut, and screen-printing by Roy Lichtenstein cheekily entitled Two Paintings: Sleeping Muse; an incredible scroll by Wu Guangzhong of a Suzhou Landscape; a dreamy pop-art lithograph by David Hockney called Big Celia (I wonder how she felt about that); a dizzying abstraction called Cicada by Jasper Johns; a shockingly well balanced cardboard sculpture by Ann Weber called Tiny Dancer; a whimsical outdoor piece featuring a very powerful donkey called A World Beyond by Brad Rude; a jagged mass of wood and color called Boulder Holder by Charles Arnoldi; a tender portrait of an elderly Apache woman by Maynard Dixon; some hauntingly spooky landscapes by James Lavadour; a fun collage of disparate images by Robert Rauschenberg; a hauntingly lovely photograph of a distorted landscape by John Pfahl called Triangle, Bermuda; and some impressively large, smooth, abstract ceramics by Jun Kaneko.
The next special exhibit featured works by Heather Carson, who created sculptures using carefully arranged and colored fluorescent light. As still images, they just sort of look like class abstract expressionist paintings, but to actually walk around a room bathed in the different color lights that each piece emits is a much more whimsical and immersive experience that more truly reflects the scope of her artistic vision.
The next exhibit dealt with themes of memory, identity, and geography by showcasing the works of different artists who all in some way incorporated maps into their art. It was really cool to see all the different ways artists’ unique voices still shone through even with a common them and material. My favorites here were: Delicately folded paper models of British Butterflies made from British atlases by Tracey Bush; a very carefully scalpeled out map creating a lovely shadow display by Georgia Russell; a three-dimensional mass of imagined continents by stacking cut-out maps called It’s A Crazy, Messed Up World by Julie Cockburn; a large circle of loosely connected roadways and shapes by Chris Kenny very fittingly called Large Map Circle; some truly shocking be-nippled globe breasts by Jena Scott called Tender Territory; and a print of cardboard figures marching in an endless procession around an atlas by William Kentridge.
Last but not least was a collection of works by local self taught artist James Castle who created all of his own materials and tools to create his unique and interesting drawings and painting of both highly realistic barns and landscapes and also wildly abstract ghostly figures. I like that he contained both skillsets, and that he didn’t let any sort of lack of training or materials stand in the way of his artistic vision. It’s nice the museum gives that kind of perseverance and creativity a special shout out.
After finishing up with the BAM, I looked across the street at the Boise Public Library and laughed for minutes on end at there most exuberant signage:
There’s simply no doubt what kind of building this is
Up next, I went to go have my muffler looked at by the Boise Muffler Shop, because my car, while functional, had still sounded like death all up the west coast ever since the muffler came loose in LA. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any openings that day, but I made an appointment for later in the week.
To celebrate being a smart automobile owner, I went to Goodwood Barbecue Company to take advantage of their ridiculously great lunch deal of a 6 oz center cut top sirloin steak with fresh seasonal vegetable and smashed potatoes. The steak wasn’t gigantic, but it was just about perfectly cooked and seasoned, and the white gravy on the potatoes (my first of many true Idaho potatoes) elevated everything to new delicious heights.
My next stop for the day was a strange one a little south and west of Boise called the Cleo’s Ferry Museum and Nature Trail. The property encompasses a beautiful large chunk of land along the Snake that used to house a ferry service, until it was bought by Dr. Pappy Swayne and his Cleo. The good doctor raised his family and ran his practice on the site, and also began collecting all sorts of oddities. Upon his death, Cleo took over the estate and started arranging various art and objects they had collected along nature trails for visitors to enjoy. It’s a truly wild hodgepodge of religion, art, pop culture, snark, and sweetness that paints a better picture of one woman’s big hearted oddball personality than any portrait could really do justice. Amongst all the oddness though, the one thing that sticks out is just how naturally beautiful the land is:
Guiding you alongside all the trails is Cleo’s collection of ornate antique birdhouses, mounted on poles and usually accompanied by words of encouragement, wisdom, or faith. Some of these placards really cracked me up (left) while others I didn’t love (right), but the fact that someone went through all the trouble to make all of them and attach to them to birdhouses in the middle of the woods always put a smile on my face. People sure are funny creatures.
Along the first stretch of trails, there were several pretty impressive bronze sculptures (and one giant fake rainbow brilliantly placed atop a hill) loosely related to different biblical passages related to strength and caring. It’s a generally sweet message, and the art was really fantastic, so I didn’t mind the preachiness or think it was too over the top. Just one more facet of the lady who put the whole place together.
If you are going to the ferry for a religious pilgrimage, they have a little one room church for you to worship in if you choose. I didn’t do much praying, but I was very impressed by the DIY architecture and I’m always a sucker for a little art glass even when it pops up in unexpected places.
My favorite bit of religious ephemera though was a wonderfully grotesque statue of the seven deadly sins manifested in seven disembodied heads. I think Lust and Gluttony are the funniest of the bunch , but that might just be my own personal bias.
Around the bend was a stone grotto with a little shrine to the Madonna in it. It was too dark inside to get a picture of the shrine, but again the creativity and doggedness to just build something like this out of stones and mortar really blew me away (I should point out that Cleo was an older woman when she started all this, so I don’t think she built everything by hand, but she came up with all the ideas and commissioned it which is all still very impressive)
On a more whimsical secular note, the next trail led to a fairytale garden complete with trolls under bridges, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, dragons, fairies, gnomes, and anything that could inspire a little childhood nostalgia and wonder.
My favorite bit of curation along these fairytale trails were some cheeky signs along low-hanging branches labeled “Duck”, “Duck”, and “Goose”.
From the fairy tale meadows, I made a short hike up to the top trail’s big hill to get a really powerful view of all the rolling green and yellow vistas all around me. It’s amazing coming from the East Coast just how secluded big swaths of the country are from one another.
On a more somber but still lovely note, the next place the trails led me to was a small cemetery for Cleo’s husband, the good doctor. Surrounded by some of the prettiest scenery, sculptures, and water features the place has to offer, it’s a pretty serene and tranquil place to spend eternity and I’m sure he would have loved it.
After the brief nod to death, the next stretch of trails offered a pretty wonderful tribute to life with dozens and dozens of bronze children playing, laughing, dancing, reading, and generally goofing off in the museum’s “playground”. The sculpture are from a wide variety of artists but somehow placed all together like this they feel like this is how they were meant to be seen. It really is a joyful and fun little scene to stumble upon.
From here I strolled along the Snake River itself, which had a bit of swampy charm to it. Looking out into the horizon, I can see why people would have needed a ferry way back when this was probably a big crossing area to get to the West Coast. I just love looking at how big the sky looks out with any cities for miles, and I feel like minus a few strange sculptures the horizon probably looks just about the same as it did all those years ago.
The next garden was as far as I can tell a celebration of all the things people like to put on their lawns for no real reason at all.
Up next was a garden filled with sculpture of exotic animals, and maybe one extra-exotic visitor from another galaxy for a little bit added silliness.
Next was a little log cabin with an impressive totem pole, and a sign that says “Bigfoot was Here”. I like that common bathroom graffiti has even been adopted by sasquatches.
Coming back to the beginning of the trail, there was the old Ferry building complete with a pretty charming sculpture of an old time coach with cowboy protection and some goofy horses.
Lest you think, all the animals on the grounds were statues, right around here I encountered multiple peacocks (including two all white ones, which I’d never seen before). This is the second DIY curiosity museum in Idaho to just have peacocks roaming around which is a very odd thing to be a local tradition.
Near where the peacocks were hanging out, there was a pretty amazingly carved wooden cross that looks really beautiful from a distance but has some truly bizarre imagery on it the closer you get. Naturally this was a big highlight.
Given all the unusual architecture along the trails, it’s no surprise that Cleo’s house (and chapel of course) is also a pretty fascinating mix of stone and wood totally unlike just about any other house you’re likely to see.
And last but not least, somehow the absolute strangest thing I encountered across all the trails (and maybe in the whole country) was a two-seated outhouse. WHO THE HELL IS THIS FOR? I just hope I’m never that comfortable with another human being. It really blew my mind.
After recovering from witnessing that outhouse, I made my way back to Boise for the night’s Comedy at a place called Long Drop Cider Company. Mundek, the man who ran the open mic at Mad Swede and who basically keeps Boise underground comedy alive, booked me to a slightly longer opening set so I was pretty excited. In my excitement, I got there a bit early which wasn’t too bad because it meant I got to try the locally made Hard Cider. I got a flight of their classic Northwest Apple cider, a Semi-Dry Cider, Vanilla Honey Cider, and their Cider. Everything was great, but the Vanilla Honey Cider really stood out. The flavors were well balanced, the ABV was over 6%, and it was sweet without being too sugary (which is the biggest drawback to ciders for me usually). I felt like it would have been a great place to hang out and drink even if they weren’t putting up a great comedy show.
Because it was a show not an open mic, everyone was pretty uniformly great. If I had to pick a favorite comic of the night, I’d go with Olek Szewczyk because he did one of the strangest and funniest sets I’ve seen by just doing his first 8 minutes or so in a very convincing German accent that he does not have in real life. He told a hilariously dark parody of a Grimm Fairy Tale about a little Girl who wanted to be a Raspberry, and his stone-faced commitment to the bizarre delivery and material was incredible to watch. Because it was a whole story I can’t really do it justice, but one line that I liked a lot on its own was “I saw a Mormon cop and you're wondering how did I know he was Mormon? He was in a bicycle”
Highlights from everyone’s set because they were all worth shouting out:
Ian Owens (the host)- Standing on an overpass is a good way to get a pep talk
Austin von Johnson- “Almond Milk: from the teats of the very best almonds"
Cayden McKnight- My manager at my job is way younger than me. What do you say to a 16 year old who has power over you?
Beth Norton- I guy said to me "wow you've got really big labia". Hurtful but at least he knows the anatomy
Sherry Japhet (Headliner) - I was raised by a single dad so I just thought that every girl raised the seat back up after they were done.
My own set went very well except for one darker joke which fell pretty flat (it’s amazing how that is the kind of thing I remember crystal clearly even almost a year later) but I was able to quickly address the joke not being great and then segue into my closer which went really well so overall I think I made a good impression.
After the show, I spent a while just hanging out and chatting with all the comics, who were really welcoming and fun to hang out and talk shop with. It was great to sit in and be a part of such a cool group if only for an evening.
Unfortunately, not too long after the show ended my tummy started a-rumbling so I went to get some late night snacks at a local Basque pub called Bar Gernika. I know very little about Spanish history so I didn’t have any familiarity with the indigenous Basque culture, but I did learn that for whatever reason Boise is a small hub of that culture in the US. I’ve always found that the best (or at least the most fun) way to learn about a culture is by eating lots of their food so that’s exactly what I did. Bar Gernika is no frills, but it’s got a homey vibe and excellent food. I got some deliciously crispy cheese and chicken croquetas which were more familiar but fantastic nonetheless. On the more novel side I got a Solomo sandwich, which is lean pork loin with sweet pimento on a baguette. I’d never had pimento outside of cheese or olives, but it was a really cool flavor to compliment the delicious lean pork with a hint of sweetness and spice. To wash it all down, I got a tasty Old Boise Lager from Woodland Empire Craft Ale because it seemed like the place to have one. All and all, it was really a perfect late night snack.
Favorite Random Sightings: Pre-Funk (for when you’re just not quite ready yet for funk); Fish Aquariums and Stuff (the “and Stuff” is fascinating); Idaho Ham Company (the word “ham” is just phonetically amusing to me more often than not)
Regional Observations: All the License plates say "Scenic Idaho, Famous Potatoes" which I really love
Albums Listened To: Take Me To Your Leader by King Geedorah (a underrated gem of MF Doom production); Taking the Dative by the Mountain Goats (Just Orange Ball of Peace); Tales from the Punchbowl by Primus (an odd one); Talking Back to the Night by Steve Winwood (My dad really likes this album but goddamn is it cheesy)
People’s Favorite Jokes: None today, sorry I really slacked on this part of the blog for a long slog but here’s one from the web:
This lady found out her dog could hardly hear so she took it to the veterinarian. He found that the problem was hair in its ears. He cleaned both ears and the dog could hear fine. The vet then proceeded to tell the lady that if she wanted to keep this from recurring she should go to the store and get some "Nair" hair remover and rub it in the dog's ears once a month.
The lady goes to the drug store and gets some "Nair" hair remover.
At the register the druggist tells her, "If you're going to use this under your arms don't use deodorant for a few days."
The lady says: "I'm not using it under my arms."
The druggist says: "If you're using it on your legs don't shave for a couple of days."
The lady says: "I'm not using it on my legs either; if you must know, I'm using it on my schnauzer."
The druggist says: "Stay off your bicycle for at least a week."
Songs of the Day:
A nice break down of the impressive rhyme density
I’m amazed at what the 90s let on network tv
so much cheese