Wow, seems like almost a month ago now since I was eagerly writing my last "Where ART Thou?" column for SVO -- on that genuinely amazing and incredibly inspiring Friesen Gallery "Speak for the Trees" exhibition (which, btw, has now been extended through Feb. 27, from its original Feb. 5 ending date) -- which, I s'pose, isn't all that surprising since it actually HAS been "almost a month ago now" since my last "WAT?" column here at sunvalleyonline!!

And once again I'm eagerly and happily focusing on the SOUTH Valley art scene -- specifically, the current Gay Bawa Odmark "Reinventing Indian Traditions" exhibit at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts' Hailey campus, there at 314 S. 2nd Avenue. (208) 578-9491) that is open Wednesday through Friday, noon-5pm.

A native of Lahore, India (now Pakistan), Odmark moved with her family when she was young to Calcutta, India, during the escalatating violence that surrounded India's partition at the time. Later they settled in London, and she spent much of her adult life gravitating between the United Kingdom, India and the United States.

Her early forays into art concentrated on painting, photographs and printmaking, but in recent years Odmark's later works have often involved Katha stitchery, an Indian-embroidery technique used to join old dhotis, saris and quilts, with red and gold thread frequently being used throughout.

Much of Odmark's various vibrant and eclectic art works' imagery is derived from her often less-than-idyllic India experiences (hence the severed limbs and other symbols of partition violence there, both past and current, that are sometimes depicted in her works).

She was in Goa in 2004 during that year's devastating tsunami, which proved to be the inspiration a new body of work, as is the lotus which remains for her a constant reminder of hope and faith (Reportedly, her father was often very fond of saying: "Be like the lotus. It surmounts the murky water of its existence and is glowing and full of light.")

Which is a rather long -- and long-winded -- way of saying, I guess, that I really enjoyed her Hailey art exhibiti on when I saw it recently. Wasn't entirely sure sometimes exactly WHAT I was looking at, or what I was ideally supposed to be TAKING AWAY from the viewing experience (but then again I've had that problem for DECADES now with A LOT of the art I see!!! (LOL), but in any event it did make for a very entertaining and enriching exprience, I think.

Birds and monkeys are often prominent and recurring themes in Odmark's art works there -- the birds (in "A Romance," "The Observer," "Love's Moon," "Love Garden," etc) looking quite happy and serene, while the often-caged monkeys (in the "Threads of Identity" series, particularly) ... ummm, errrr ... not so much -- although they are a stark and powerful reminder of the rampant and often very lucrative practice of illegally capturing and shipping off to other parts of the world various endangered species of one sort or another.

Her 2007 "Mantra" work (an etching that features chine-colle, ornate and colorful stichery and various watercolors) I made a note of, perhaps because it features balloons made out of leaves tha didn't remind me in the slightest of desperate-looking caged monkeys or partition-derived violence.

Actually to be honest, most of what I saw on display there seemed to me to be quite hopeful and upbeat -- surprisingly so, in fact -- or at least the COLORS of her various art works were, anyway. Maybe ALL of them have some dark, brooding, deeply-ropoted historical significance about them, but thankfully since my knowledge of India's history is at least as woefully ignorant, for the most part, as my knowledge of British history is, I wasn't the least bit depressed or otherwise put off by anything I saw there at the SVCA's Hailey house.

That very large acrylic paint-on-canvas work, "Brahman" (depicting various Indian celebrations and rituals) was another work I used my trusty orange "Sharpie Accent" highlighter marker for -- and you know it's gotta be really special if I do THAT, people!!! -- as I did with Odmark's "Turning Straw Into Gold" (a mixed-media work featuring a man in a red turban); "Rituals" (a lovely etching over watercolored chine-colle featuring a woman with henna-painted hands); "Messages from the Divine" (another eye-catching etching depicting a woman in a long evening gown who is covering her mouth), "Faith" (featuring a green frog -- who thankfully isn't behind bars); "Ganges Series: Girl In Green" (a beautiful photo transfer the SVCA is quick to point ISN'T for sale -- but pigment prints of it ARE); "Ganesh" (a 2003 two-plate etching featuring that elephant god whose significance in India I'm always at a loss over since a staggeringly-high number of people in India are killed each year by stampeding elephants -- type "Lethal elephant rampages in India" into your search engine if you don't believe me!! --  and I mean you'd think at SOME point maybe that unceasing reverence for anything that's even remotely elephant-like in nature might've eventually taken a back seat there in India ... but I guess not); "Lotus in Blue" (another beautiful photo transfer -- this one on something called Arches paper, which I'm guessing is probably NOT the kind of paper they sell at Business As Usual); and, of course, those numerous birds-inspired works I mentioned already whose soft, cool colors were rather reassuring to me (even if the birds themselves, who were looking at me out of the corner of their respectives eyes with a great deal of obvious derision -- "OMG, is that guy with the yellow legal pad and orange highlighter pen EVER going to quit staring at us!?!? -- were not).

That 1988 red gray and pink charcoal drawing of hers (aptly titled "Drawing") was another standot for me as well.

Probably this was a case of "Ingnorance Is Bliss" for me because if I HAD been much more aware of the history of India, I might've been looking at these various art works of Gay Odmark's with a verrry jaundiced and sad outlook, but as it was almost all of the featured works there made me smile (although God knows some of those incredibly judgmental birds of hers are in dire need of a serious Attitude Adjustment!!)

Gay Bawa Odmark's "Reinventing Indian Traditions" exhibit is slated to run until April 2 at the Hailey SVCA facility. Definitely worth a look.

The ongoing goal of this recurring "Where ART Thou?" column is to make Art more accessible to people here in this Valley of ours who, for whatever reason (s), tend to SHY AWAY from it, and Gay Odmark seems to genuinely and proudly embrace that ongong goal ... which make me very happy that I was able to feature her work here today.

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Questions or comments regarding this SVO "Where ART Thou?" column can be sent to John at: WriteStuffIdaho@gmail.com And to read any of John's previous "WAT?" columns -- which include profiles on local art galleries such as the Kneeland, the Will Caldwell, the Green Antelope and the David M. Norton, and local artists such as Brent Haleen, Narda Pitkethly, Gabe Embler and Ashley Dreyfuss -- simply type "John Pluntze" into the SVO search engine here.