photo by Paul Fixx
photo by Paul Fixx
HARDWICK – Isa Oehry is the second artist to exhibit in the NEKArts Gallery Series at the Hardwick Town House. Her show, “See the Farm Through Barn Windows,” opened last Thursday, July 31, with Oehry’s primitive folk art paintings lining the rear of the theatre and lobby walls. The show can be seen before Craftsbury Chamber Players Thursday concerts at 6:45 p.m. August 7 and 14, or by chance.
Oehry’s subjects are primarily farm animals, with some birds. Some of the animals are depicted with generally human accessories and in anthropomorphically humorous poses. Line-ups of birds feature prominently too.
Oehry said she had collected old barn windows for the south side of a greenhouse she built, but realized that they weren’t up to the task of surviving a Vermont winter and would likely rot. She ended up using corrugated panels for the greenhouse roof. Repurposing the windows, she first painted chickens and fresh eggs that ended up on the wall of a Royalton sugarhouse.
Negative space in Oehry’s paintings, created by unpainted sections of the windows, allows the building’s colorful walls to show through. Maya McCoy, an NEKArts trustee at the opening, said “Isa’s art shines on these colorful walls and her saved barn windows fit the historic space.” The effect makes the building a part of each composition and each composition unique on the wall it’s displayed on.
Oehry was born and raised in the Principality of Liechtenstein, a small mountainous country sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland. Her strong interests in the mystery of the human mind and man’s untapped potential prompted her to pursue an advanced degree in psychology with a specialization in clinical mental health.
She now lives on a farm in Vermont where she continues to write, host guests at the Old Clary Farm, keep bees and said she is the caretaker of an ancient cedar forest with magical mosses and mystical fungi. She harbors a deep love and respect for the beauty of nature.
Oehry said she enjoys rescuing old barn windows from their destined destruction at the dump and upcycling them into humorous folk art. She also loves to juggle various chainsaws and carving knives to produce wood sculptures. The main focus of her art is to elicit joy and smiles, she said. Her favorite place to show her art is in hospitals, where it can help to cheer up patients.
Oehry is an author too. “Healing Lyme beyond Antibiotics,” as a chronicle of her successful recovery from Lyme disease by natural means, and “Under A Blue Moon,” is a humorous and insightful journey into a world of mystery and the hidden powers of the mind.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
