In August of 2023, I had a show at Kirk’s Grocery in Billlings, Montana (USA). Kirks’ is an indy art/performance space showing Montana artists and the Billing community love since 2018. In their words: “We are an art gallery and all ages performance space dedicated to showing contemporary art from local, regional, national, and international artists that fall outside of the typical Western Art that is associated with Montana galleries.” I love proprietors Shane and Mary, and their incredible crew of volunteers, personalities and satellites, not the least of whom is artist Jon Lodge who recently encouraged me to “give up the relentless pursuit of tedious virtuosity and make some noise!”
“Out of Hand: Misremembered Memoirs and Untouched Sounds” was a collection of paintings and mixed media work revolved around my 15-year obsession with the Theremin and fantasies that arose from my experiences as a street performer on this strangely fascinating electronic instrument. (One of the first electronic instruments ever invented, the Theremin is played without being touched.) A fifth generation Montanan, grandmother and self-described community art activist, I divide my creative time between “painting, practicing, and pretending.” The exhibit included music- and Theremin-inspired paintings and collage/assemblage work drawn from mt imaginary world as fraternal twin Thereminists. The performance component of the show featured me as twin personae, Polly and Dolly Vinyl interpreting classic Theremin repertoire through their wildly fictional and darkly comedic family history.
An introverted person who attended a two-room Montana rural school and spent her formative years wandering the hills near Bozeman on horseback, I’m the last person anyone would expect to become immersed in performance art. That all changed when in 2016 I found a cast-off karaoke machine in my storage shed. I had been learning to play the Theremin and I wanted to make Art Walk a little more colorful. I dressed up as a washed up Lawrence Welk Show champagne lady look-alike and played songs like “Hey Jude” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” in front of Cactus Records in Bozeman. The street performance costumes gradually took on distinct personalities drawn loosely from my ranch family heritage and my penchants for comedy and kitsch. Polly Vinyl, an incurable narcissist, and her longsuffering fraternal twin Dolly, navigate the pitfalls of former child stardom through short stop-motion animations, YouTube videos, storytelling and live Theremin performance.
Though I received a BFA in painting from MSU in 1988, I consider myself an outsider artist, generally preferring to organize art shows in places where “people who weren’t looking for art” are exposed to it. With musical influences rooted in folk and jazz, I became interested in the Theremin through my husband, David, a retired electrical engineer. Since 2018 I have studied the technique and history of the instrument, most recently with London-based Russian Theremin virtuosa, Lydia Kavina, who catalyzed my interest in classical music.
The “Out of Hand” exhibit ran Aug. 4–Sept. 23 2023 with Art Theremin performance Aug 3.