Bunny Boughamer began drawing as soon as she was old enough to hold a crayon. Growing up in small-town Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Boughamer says being right on the river, running around the woods and being close to nature are some of her favorite memories from childhood.
Today, Boughamer is in her senior year at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, where nature is a common theme throughout her work. Here, Boughamer talks about her life as an artist and her plans for the future.
Amanda Flinn: What led to your decision to pursue an art degree?
Bunny Boughamer: It was never a question for me, what I would go into. As a child, I was always drawing. I was homeschooled, and then I attended Webster University for a year before transferring to SEMO on scholarship. I love living in Ste. Genevieve, and it was important for me to be able to commute. I was married last May, and I’ll graduate this December.
Congratulations! What is your medium of choice?
Acrylic paints. But for the longest time, I hated painting. It would never work for me, and I only wanted to draw. After my grandfather died in 2016, my mom got a poster board to make a photo collage, and afterward didn’t know what to do with it. She gave it to me to mess around with, and the first painting I ever did was on the back of that. It was just a painting of a forest from a random picture I found on Google Images. I’m not sure what prompted me. I feel sad about that since it happened because of my grandfather’s funeral, and he would never see what I would do. But since then, painting has become my focus. For me, it comes the most natural, is the most versatile and has the most potential.
What have you been working on lately?
This past fall, I had an exhibition of works at Catapult Creative House about the relationship between God and man. It was a set of portraits, arranged all around, with the subject looking at the viewer. When you stand in the middle, all the eyes are on you, but they can’t see you. I did this to show that as the artist, it is one-sided. I may know this painting, but this painting doesn’t know me. But when God creates human beings, there’s a relationship, a give and take. It’s like a window. We can get to know God, which is the basis of all religions. But when humans create, it’s a mirror. You can look at your creation, but your creation cannot look back at you.
That’s interesting. Does your faith inspire a lot of your work?
I believe it’s the pursuit of beauty that leads the viewer to believe in truth, whether religious or not. You see something beautiful, and it leads you to know what is good, which in turn leads you to truth. It’s the three transcendentals: beauty, goodness and truth, that all lead into each other. I hope my own pursuit of beauty will lead the viewers to believe in truth, even truth about themselves. And a lot of that, for me, is found in nature and the land around me, like landscapes. It’s never just the natural scene, though. There’s always an interaction. It’s about being surrounded by nature and the way we interact with it.
I read a press release about your work that said you strongly believe the beautiful things in life are often those right in front of you. Can you expand on that idea?
I think it comes from growing up in a small town. A lot of my friends would talk about how they couldn’t wait to graduate, to move to Japan, to California, just away from here. But I’ve always loved our town. It’s nice being able to walk everywhere, and it’s fun when you know the places to go. People are always looking for a new job or a new school. But looking around you and seeing things for what they are, how they are, allows you to enjoy the journey.
Cool. What are you currently enjoying?
I really like my ceramics class right now. And when I’m not painting, I like sewing with my hands. I make little dolls and such. Just to be toys, not art. I crochet, some knitting. And I’m currently working on an art series that’s a lot more abstract. With those, I’m trying to encapsulate joy, the ability to look at a piece and feel happy. I’m hoping that this work of art captures an emotion rather than points to an idea.
Awesome. Any plans for the future?
A family. I’m accumulating a lot of work and [feel like] if I don’t focus on my art now, I may not have an opportunity for a long time. But, I don’t want to do art for money. I want to make art so people have access to it. I’d like to get it to friends and my family. It’s not something I want to keep behind any sort of walls. Art is made to be seen.
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