Boise 150 Celebrates Remarkable Women 1863-2013

Wingtip Press was one of several recipients to receive a generous grant from the Boise Department of Arts and History to celebrate the City of Boise's Sesquicentennial.  The Remarkable Women portfolio was created by twelve female artists residing in Boise who were asked to select a woman who lived in Boise from 1863-2013 and create a small edition of prints based on their selection.  The portfolio of prints celebrating a dozen Remarkable Women is currently being exhibited at the Boise Sesqui Shop in downtown Boise.

Many thanks to the City of Boise, TAG Historical Research, historian Amy Pence-Brown, the twelve Remarkable Women remembered and the twelve remarkable women printmakers who have made this portfolio possible.

Maria Carmen Gambliel celebrates Maria Andrea Berain

Con Cariño

Statement by Maria Carmen

Maria Andrea Berain

When invited to participate in this suite on Remarkable Boise Women, I immediately thought I would like to celebrate Maria Andrea Berain's lifelong dedication to the cultural arts and practices of her Mexican-American heritage. In 1996, shortly after moving to Boise, I met Maria Andrea Berain. I recall attending a festival where she demonstrated how to make piñatas, paper flowers, and cascarones. The simplicity of the materials she uses in her work - tissue paper, balloons, pipe cleaners, and home-made flour paste - expresses a way of life, a community esthetic and her cultural identity. Her practice sustains her culture everywhere she lives, teaches, and celebrates family and community life and holidays. Maria Andrea's joyful approach to life is obvious in the flowers, stars, dolls, or balls she creates out of colorful tissue paper. Her creations, although ephemeral, bring an enduring joy, which inspired me to use one of her star-shaped piñatas, con cariño, to include her in the long list of Remarkable Boise Women.

Jennifer Wood celebrates Edith Miller Klein

Statement by Jennifer

Edith Klein was born in 1915 in Wallace, Idaho. She had a very accomplished life and realized so many outstanding things for Idaho, women, children and policy. In 1947, Edith passed the Idaho bar and was the 17th woman to practice law in Idaho. She went on to serve on the Idaho legislature and then the senate. Edith married Sandy Klein, a journalist in 1949. Together they lived in Washington DC and New York where both of them were involved with political and governmental outfits. They returned to Idaho and Sandy took the position of editor of the Idaho Statesman and Edith joined a (mostly male) law firm. It was while working there she decided to run for the House of Representatives. Edith Klein was responsible for passing major laws relating to children and women‘s rights, including equal pay, minimum wage, community property laws, divorce, domestic violence, education laws and passage of the Uniform Probate Code in 1971.

I found a personal interest in Edith Klein for many reasons. Some outside of all of her amazing political achievements. I am a swimmer, and Edith was a “hell diver” at the University of Idaho. I also have spent time in the Art Troutner house on Warm Springs Avenue he built for the Klein’s that has a pool in the middle of it. Apparently she swam every day. She paved the way for women in business and still does. This is one of the most important thing she passed on to me. I designed her print with the spirit of old campaign posters and buttons. She’s got my vote!

Megan Sterling celebrates Hortense Adams

Mining Home

Statement by Megan

In Mining Home, I was interested in the unconventional manner in which Hortense Adams developed and sustained her own life, the impact that in turn had on the community and how that relates to the ideas of home and rootedness I explore in my own work.  The window is a means to gaze in or out of a home structure: to peer into one’s life or as a vessel to glance at what is outside that domestic space that has been cultivated.  In the case of these historical figures such as Hortense, all we have are rudimentary facts about their life such as her partnership in real estate and mine operations, platting the Locust Grove Addition in 1894 and involvement in the Black Hornet mine. There is no sense as to their happiness or sense of place they may have developed, who they really were as people, or how their involvement contributed to generations of others being able to nurture their own sense of home. 

The forms beyond the window are symbolic of this mining, but rather than ore coming from the crack, it is a tangle of string or rope, dangling and resting on the ground, tied or connected to nothing.

Sara Smart celebrates Margaret Cobb Ailshie

MCA

Statement by Sara

Margaret Cobb Ailshie was born into prosperity, her father was a newspaper publisher in Chicago and he moved the family to Boise when Margaret was only six. Ailshie began publishing the Idaho Statesman in 1928 after her father’s death and grew the publication substantially, merging it with the Boise Capitol in 1942. She remained the sole publisher for 31 years.  Along with the paper she created an empire, establishing a large department store and spearheading numerous community projects. Julia Davis Park and Bronco Stadium got their start through her efforts and she was involved in numerous community efforts. I have chosen to focus my print on her because I was inspired by her spirit and influence during a male dominated time. She was very influential and became a pillar in Boise society ausing her money and power to change Boise for the better and create a city we a proud to live in.

Cassandra Schiffler celebrates Surel Mitchell

Ode To Surel

Statement by Cassandra

I first met Surel Mitchell when I was an art student at the College of Idaho, and I helped her hang her paintings in the college’s art gallery. It was for a show of work by a small group of artists called Project Locqa. I remember that Surel had these stunning, large scale, abstract, colorful paintings. I was then (and am still now) an abstract painter, and her work really spoke to me. I felt so very inspired by her energy and her work. And, … she made me think that maybe I too could make it as an abstract painter.

I later got to know her through the arts community in Boise, and eventually I worked with Surel for a few months, trying to help her organize, date, and document some of her image files and slides. Surel was a joy to be around, she filled her home and her surroundings with such a positive energy and creativity. We enjoyed sharp cheese and hot tea, and great conversations in that place. When she recently passed away in 2011, I know the loss was felt in many hearts. Her home has since been converted into a non-profit Artist Residency Program, which will be one of her lasting legacies and a great asset to the Boise community.

For this edition of commemorative prints I repurposed one of Surel’s common motifs, patterned circles, and made them my own. It is my personal ode to Surel, and I believe she would have been pleased.

Elise Robins celebrates Gene Nora "Jenora" Jessen

Wild Blue Yonder

Statement by Elise

A woman of the Civil Air patrol, a flight instructor, a commercial pilot and a member of the Mercury 13 astronaut-training program, Gene Nora  Jessen has played a role in the progress of women into pilot’s seats and astronauts’ helmets. A one time president of the Ninety-nines an international organization of Women pilots whose first president was Amelia Earhart, she flew as a demonstration pilot for Beechcraft and set up a dealership of the planes here in Boise. She flew in a formation flight through 48 states in 90 days as one of the three musketeers. She has also helped in the founding of two aviation museums. The authors of two books about flight, and an inspiration to women who dream of up up and away. Gene Nora paved the way for women like Sally Ride, Barbra Morgan, Vicki Van Meter and many more. Her tenacity for the sky inspires us to dream big, dream as big as the sky and to moon and back. 

Amy Nack celebrates Mabel Claire Nelson

Mabel Claire

Statement by Amy

Mabel Clair

Amy Nack

I discovered Mabel Claire Nelson in my search for a young girl who lived in Boise at the turn of the 20^th Century.  Born in 1899, Mabel kept journals of life the as a young women growing up in the Boise area.  The Idaho State Historical Library has nine of her handwritten journals in their collection. The first journal entry, written in red ink on April 5, 1912, begins with twelve year old Mabel recording her early morning chores of cooking, bed making, cleaning, sweeping and ironing, before a mid morning walk up a nearby hill to gather an armful of daisies for a beloved neighbor.

The nine journals, spanning the years between 1912 and 1916 tell the story of an industrious, bright, generous and reflective young woman who died shortly before her 18^th birthday.  It has been my pleasure to become a friend of Mabel Nelson.

Julie McCreedy celebrates Rose Beal

 

Glücklich

Statement by Julie

An active member of the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial volunteer Docent Committee, Rose Beal is a Holocaust survivor who generously tells her remarkable story to Memorial visitors and student groups as often as she is asked. 

Rose grew up in Frankfurt, Germany. She was one of 200 of 17,000 Jews to survive a grueling deportation to Poland just before the outbreak of the war. Rose survived harassment, raids and the infamous 1938 Krystallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass."  Rose, her mother and younger brothers narrowly escaped death several times. She describes her experiences in Nazi Germany with crystalline detail and attributes her survival to luck. She also relates her experience in a broader context of Holocaust remembrance, the moral responsibility to speak out against injustice and the American immigrant experience.  

A frequent keynote speaker and honored guest for education institutions and civic organizations, Rose is also the focus of a recent $5,000 OfficeMax Boise Community Fund grant award to the Idaho Human Rights Education Center to develop a video and oral history profiling her story. The project, slated for launch in fall 2008, will include a documentary film and educational lesson for classroom use in Idaho’s junior high and high schools. 

Judith Lombardi Celebrates Ruth Melichar

The Bird Lady, Judith Lombardi 

Statement by Judith

When my oldest daughter was in Girl Scouts the troop visited Ruth Melichar. I was able to join her as she was introduced to the wonder of a delightful woman who took her passion for birds into her home. Many years ago Mrs. Melichar had been given a baby bird to save. Mrs. Melichar was successful and her efforts on that one bird's behalf blossomed into a deep commitment to saving and rehabilitating birds of all sizes. When we visited Mrs Melichar's house,  it was full of cages containing owls, sparrows,  finches,  doves,  pigeons. She would go from cage to cage,  patiently feeding all the hungry baby birds. It seemed as though as soon as she had finished with the last little bird it was time to begin again. We would return to Mrs. Melichar's magical bird house repeatedly to help her care for her feathered friends. My daughter,  a lover of all animals but especially birds,  was enchanted. Mrs. Melichar was quite elderly when we met and I was fortunate to get a photo of her one day while we visited. It was an honor to be able to create a portrait of a special woman who contributed to Boise's history but also to the saving of many of Boise's birds.

Lumas Jasim celebrates Mary Hallock Foote

Mary Hallock Foote

Statement by Luma

Mary Hallock Foote (1847–1938)

Luma Jasim

Mary Hallock Foote was an American author and illustrator. She is best known for her illustrated short stories and novels portraying life in the mining communities of the turn-of-the-century American West.

Mary Hallock Foote arrived in Boise in 1884. A native of New York, Foote came to Idaho accompanying her engineer husband Arthur Foote, who designed the New York Canal (irrigation works in the Boise valley). They spent twelve years in the Boise area before moving on to Grass Valley, California.

Mary Hallock Foote was the author of 12 novels and numerous magazine articles that she illustrated herself. Her skillful artwork showed the rest of the country just how beautiful Idaho could be. Her work of combining words and drawings is what attracted me to create a print, which shows the talents she had.

Katarzyna Cepek celebrating Sally Reed

Sally Reed

Statement by Katarzyna

Sally Reed was an ordinary woman whose perseverance had a significant impact on women’s rights in the US.

Sally and her husband, Cecil, divorced in 1958 and in 1967 their teenage son committed suicide. Both Sally and Cecil filed petitions to administer their son’s small estate worth less than $1000. The local judge automatically approved Cecil’s application because of an antiquated Idaho law, which stated that "the male must be preferred over the female" in cases where both parties are equally qualified.

Sally challenged the discriminatory law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court with the help of her lawyer, Allen Derr, after 16 lawyers had turned her down. On November 22, 1971, Chief Justice Warren Burger in a unanimous decision declared a state law unconstitutional because it discriminated against women in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The ruling, the first of its kind, set a precedent and helped overturn similar laws across the country.

Sally made a modest living caring for sick and disabled veterans in her own home. She never sought the spotlight and was probably unaware of the significance of her victory. She died in Boise in 2002 at the age of 93 and is buried at Cloverdale Memorial Park next to her son. 

Mary Donato celebrates Juanity "Jay" Hormaechea

Jay

Statement by Mary 

Jay

Juanita “Jay” Uberuaga Hormaechea

b. 1908, Boise, Idaho

d. 1997, Richmond, CA

Mary Donato

“Show us! Show us how to dance, then!” This was the challenge Basque sheepherders presented to Jay Hormaechea when, in 1936, she criticized their not-quite-traditional dancing styles at the Sheepherders’ Ball. She loved to dance, but she didn’t like the way the men were imposing Western American elements on the traditional Basque dances. She was concerned that Basque customs, especially the dances, would be lost in the New World. Although she didn’t take up their challenge right away, in 1948 she began teaching Basque-American children the jotas and porrusaldas she knew and loved so well. These classes laid the groundwork for establishing Boise’s Oinkari Basque Dancers in 1960. Children today learn Basque dancing at the Basque Center at 601 Grove Street, just as they did in 1949.

Jay had three goals in mind: to preserve the traditions of the Old Country by passing on the dances to the younger generation, to bring Basques closer together, and to maintain a Basque identity while fully participating in American life. Her success in achieving these goals is evident in the vibrant and visible Basque culture that we enjoy today, not just in Boise, but nationwide.

I was attracted to Jay because of her indomitable spirit and strong will. She overcame economic and social obstacles and made enormous contributions to her community. She was a hard worker but she also loved to relax and have a good time. She was fiercely proud of being “American-Basque”, with emphasis on being an “American” first, but at the same time she recognized the importance of sustaining the Basque heritage. My print is based on a 2006 photograph of the Oinkari Basque Dancers, who kindly granted permission for its use. 

Remarkable Women Foreward by Amy Pence Brown

We can all agree that a 150^th birthday is a pretty big deal.  The year 2013 marks the sesquicentennial of our home, a portion of the American West carved out of the Washington Territory by Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Act of Congress creating the Idaho Territory on March 4, 1863. This year also marks the city of Boise’s 150^th birthday. To commemorate this milestone, Boise’s Department of Arts and History engaged local groups, from banks to dancers, colleges to artist collectives to assist residents and visitors in learning about and honoring Boise’s past. Printmaking studio Wingtip Press embraced the challenge by inviting twelve female printmakers to create a print portfolio highlighting historical Boise women. Wingtip Press engaged female-owned TAG Historical Research & Consulting to assist artists with their research. Run by sisters Barbara Perry-Bauer and Elizabeth Jacox, TAG celebrates its twentieth birthday this year.  Wingtip founder, Amy Nack, invited me (Amy Pence-Brown) to craft this foreword. An Idaho native, I’m an art and architectural historian, curator, artist and freelance writer. Twenty-four women make up the meat of this portfolio: twelve contemporary artists, twelve historic Boise figures. Each artist identified a woman in Boise’s history to remember with an edition of fine art prints. The duos, a vintage figure in our City’s past and a contemporary maker, proved to be intriguing matches.

Elise Robbins, art student at Boise State and Gene Nora Jessen, woman pioneer in aviation, might appear to have little in common. Gene Nora, flight instructor, commercial pilot and astronaut training participant, flew as a demonstration pilot for the Beechcraft factory. She came to Boise in the 1960s to open a dealership and served on the Boise Airport Commission. Elise’s screenprint, Wild Blue Yonder, is a tribute to chasing your dreams. The Soda Springs native will soon continue on to graduate school. Artist Judith Lombardi selected Boise’s infamous “bird lady.” Judith met Ruth Melichar when her daughter discovered an injured bird in their yard. After asking around town, everyone pointed to Ruth as the bird rehabilitator. Ruth’s residence was filled with small cages, where she compassionately cared for a variety of birds. After Ruth’s death, Boise’s Animals in Distress Association dedicated the Ruth Melichar Bird Center.

Cassandra Schiffler and Surel Mitchell have an artistic connection. A printmaking lab assistant at Boise State, framer at Brumsfield Gallery and prolific printmaker, Cassandra met Surel at the College of Idaho during an exhibition featuring Surel’s large abstract paintings. The two developed personal and stylistic connections. It was a blow to the local art community when Surel passed away in 2011. In Ode to Surel, Cassandra pays tribute to the abstract shapes that connect the two women as artists. Another pair with much in common is Maria Carmen Gambliel and Maria Andrea Berain. The two women, immigrants from Latin America, bring their artistic traditions to Boise. Born in Texas, Maria Andrea learned to bake and decorate cakes for birthdays, quinceneras, and weddings. She moved to Idaho in the 1950’s and quickly became a sought-after piñatera and ripostera, a piñata and cake maker, teaching these traditions to generations of Idaho’s Mexican-American women. Maria Carmen emigrated from Brazil, moved to Idaho in 1995 and is grounded in community life and traditional cultures as Director of Folk and Traditional Arts for the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Her tribute to Maria Andrea is aptly titled Con Cariño, meaning “with love and affection,” acknowledging their shared passion for tradition.

Two printmakers in this portfolio featured women with differing ethnicities. Mary Donato chose to highlight a Basque woman, acknowledging the important Basque influence on Boise’s past. Juanita (Jay) Hormaechea was born in 1908 to parents who ran a Basque boarding house where Jay learned traditional Basque dancing. Pressure on immigrants to assimilate caused the loss of important traditions until Jay began teaching young people long forgotten dance moves in the 1940s. Jay can be credited for the revival of Basque dancing in Boise.  Mary’s print appropriately yells out “Show us how to dance, then!” Mary moved to Boise as a geologist for the US Geological Survey and is a self-taught artist, specializing in alternative photography printing processes. Non-traditional student and emerging artist, Julie McCreedy chose to highlight Holocaust survivor Rose Beal. Rose was in Berlin during the infamous “Night of the Broken Glass” in 1938, when violence against Jews erupted across the Reich. At seventeen, Rose moved to America and arrived in Boise in 2004. She believes it is her moral responsibility to speak against injustice through the Idaho Human Rights Group. Rose attributes her survival to pure luck.  In her print, Glücklich, a German term for “happy,” Julie features Rose with a good-luck symbol, the horseshoe.

Writing and storytelling play an important role for three women featured in the portfolio. Amy Nack, whose formal art training came later in life chose young Boise diarist Mabel Claire Nelson to honor in her intaglio print. Young Mable grew up in South Boise and began journaling at age thirteen, documenting teenage life in Boise between 1912-1917 and died shortly before her eighteenth birthday. Luma Jasim selected writer and illustrator Mary Hallock Foot, who arrived in Boise from New York in 1884. Mary’s greatest literary accomplishment may have been the twelve novels she wrote portraying the American West from a woman’s point of view. Like Mary, Luma is familiar with exploring new territories. She came to Boise as an Iraqi refugee in 2008. After working as an interpreter Luma enrolled at BSU to learn more about the American art world. Sara Smart identified Margaret Cobb Ailshie as her historic muse. The first female publisher of the Idaho Statesman, Margaret held the post from 1928-1959. Sara, raised in the Treasure Valley, is a Boise State art student and her print, titled MCA, appropriately contains a jumble of subtly etched storylines in the background.

Three prints feature female pioneers of law and justice. Edith Miller Klein, chosen by artist Jennifer Wood, was the seventeenth woman to become a practicing Boise lawyer. One of the first women elected to congress, Edith devoted her time advancing women’s rights. Like Jennifer, an art professor at BSU, Edith was a competitive swimmer. In an era when women were not typically investors in mines or real estate entrepreneurs, Hortense Adams was both. Born in New York, she moved to Idaho and is remembered for plotting Boise’s Locust Grove addition. For artist Megan Sterling, a native of Idaho Falls and recent visiting artist and interim faculty at Boise State, Hortense’s real estate dealing resonated, as Megan’s current artworks reflect the notion of home and putting down roots. What remains of Sally Reed’s presence in Boise may be marked simply on a memorial rock on Vista Avenue where her home once stood. Sally, an ordinary Boise mother, was separated from her husband, Cecil, when their son, Richard, died in 1967. Based upon an outdated and discriminatory Idaho code, the court appointed Cecil administrator because he was male.  Sally bravely appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court and, ultimately, to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court historically declared the state law unconstitutional and in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Artist Katarzyna Cepek was drawn to Sally’s stance against a corrupt system. Katarzyna’s family immigrated to Idaho from communist Poland at age twelve, finding herself torn between two worlds and cultural divides.

Remarkable Women is an important contribution to our City. It is a portfolio of stories, in written and visual forms, highlighting the lives of a remarkable group of ladies, some of us passed, some of us living, some of us with great things still up our sleeves. That’s a pretty special gift indeed.

Happy birthday from all of us, Boise.

Amy Pence Brown