Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project

The Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project records and preserves the voices of women visual artists in Iowa reflecting on their lives and their artwork. In 1998, creator and director Jane Robinette began interviewing Iowa women artists about their experiences and art practices. The interviews cover family and personal history, education, development as an artist, artwork, creative process, influences, and more. The Daily Palette is pleased to present excerpts of the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project's 2008 updates that Robinette collected from the Project artists who were interviewed nine or ten years ago. Visit the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project's website.

MARCIA JOFFE-BOUSKA
Fallen, brass, glass, twigs, copper, acrylic paint on copper, 24" x 24" x 5.5", 2007

Marcia Joffe-Bouska was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1951. She is the oldest of six children, and she grew up in Prairie View, Skokie, and Glenview, Illinois. She received her B.A. in Art and Art Education from Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, in 1973. Her M.A. in Painting and Drawing is from Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, in 1977. She is married and has two children, and has lived in Council Bluffs since 1977. Her current work is mixed media sculpture, both relief and in the round, using traditional and non-traditional media.  She continues to draw and paint in addition.  She works from a studio in her home.  She also is a teaching artist and is listed on the Artist in Schools and Communities rosters of Nebraska and Iowa.

What kind of artwork are you doing now?  How has your artwork changed in the last 10 years?
The work I do now is sculptural.  Ten years ago I was working predominantly in painting and drawing media and was just beginning some explorations into small found object sculpture.  I describe my current work as mixed media sculpture.  I incorporate found objects and traditional and non-traditional art media in both relief work and sculpture in the round.  I feel less restrained by media in my current work—I can use whichever media and technique best communicate my concept.  Much of my work still involves color and in this my background as a painter is still very evident.

Continue excerpt at the Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project