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850 Main St.
Boise, Idaho 83702
342-3773
www.liskgallery.com
Mark Lisk's new book is available now (list price $27.95).
Raw, unadorned and sometimes inhospitable, Idaho landscapes provide a source of inspiration for artists Mark and Jerri Lisk, co-owners of the Lisk Gallery in Downtown Boise.
"It's so honest and natural," Mark said. "This is the way things are without human interference."
His photos loom large and imposing from the gallery walls. Looking into them, the viewer is dwarfed by the majesty of the Sawtooths or Hells Canyon.
"Folks like to travel vicariously through Mark's photos," Jerri explained.
That's because most folks don't go where Mark goes with his camera. It takes an intrepid traveler to venture that far beyond the reaches of cellphone service and AAA to take a photo.
Mark's most recent book, "Owyhee Canyonlands," contains more evidence of his adventurous spirit.
He took the photos for the book over a three-year period, after studying maps of drainages and other areas that looked particularly interesting.
"I got really obsessed about the Owyhees," he said, an understatement from a man who contemplates whether he needs coffee because he shoots photos, or if he shoots photos because he drinks coffee.
Published by Caxton Press of Caldwell, the book captures the vastness and austerity of a land that existed long before humans left their footprints in the dust. It also highlights those few who call the canyonlands home.
"Owyhee Canyonlands" is on sale at the gallery and in local bookstores.
Jerri compared Mark's search for the perfect photo to an animal storing food for the winter.
"He knows when the light window is this long," she said, holding her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. "We schedule trips to feed that animal."
Mark won't go camping without his camera and is known to drop conversations in mid-sentence if the light changes and he thinks he can get a good shot.
"I can't get into relaxation mode if I'm not producing anything," he said.
Their friends have gotten used to it.
Mark, originally from Nampa, took his first photography class at Northwest Nazarene University. He graduated from Brooks Institute of Photographic Arts in Santa Barbara, Calif., and he and Jerri make their home in Boise.
The Lisks opened their Downtown Boise gallery in 2003 to showcase their work and offer the public a different perspective on nature.
"Both of us love to spend time outdoors, away from the city," Jerri said. "It feeds your soul. Sometimes, if I don't know what to paint, I imagine where I'd want to be."
Jerri transitioned from her faux painting business to fine art in 2001. She used the last three months of the lease on her retail space Downtown to "give it a sling-shot chance," she said.
"Knowing that I wouldn't want to get up and down ladders forever ... I just had the drive to do something different," she said.
On the first night, which was a First Thursday, she sold seven paintings and hasn't looked back.
Using acrylic paint on aluminum, Jerri's work emerges from a black background. Black helps her see the contrasts in color better than white.
Many of her paintings feature trees - predominantly aspens and pines - in combinations of colors and shapes that aren't found in the forest.
"Sometimes, I don't push the reality of the color but the exaggeration," she said.
It is difficult to go deeper than a bluebird Idaho sky, but Jerri does it.
She brings her sketchbook along on camping trips to note the composition of the landscape. It helps her remember, for example, what the bark of a tree looked like in relation to the background.
But she doesn't try to replicate reality.
"My theory is I could never do it justice," she said. "The best I can do is leave my impression."
It's an impression that distills the landscape to its essence - the beauty and the isolation.
On camping trips while Mark is out shooting, Jerri works on small, 5-by-4-inch paintings in the camper. They are part of her "50 Series," 50 paintings that empty her sketchbook of last year's images. The 2008 "50 Series," her sixth, hangs in two parallel rows in the gallery.
"It came from the need to do smaller paintings on camping trips," she said. "I love the small structure."
In addition to her own gallery in Boise, Jerri is represented by Patricia Rovzar galleries in Seattle and Kirkland, Wash. She'd like representation in the Southwest, as well.
This summer, after throwing herself so hard into work, Jerri decided to take some time for a little diversion. For fun, she trained for Leadville (Colo.) Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, a 100-mile bike ride up and down a mountain in August.
"It's been really cool to put my focus someplace else," she said. "It makes me want to paint more."
Bethann Stweart writes for Treasure Magazine and the Idaho Statesman. To offer story ideas or comments, contact her at bstewart@idahostatesman.com or 377-6393.
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