Today we’d like to introduce you to Gayle Rich-Boxman.
Hi Gayle, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born in a small town, outside of Buffalo, NY, during the baby boom era, offered great opportunities for becoming an intrinsic part of a tiny country community …as small towns do. It has served me well my entire life. With two incredibly diverse parents, I learned so much from them both and am well-rounded as a result! My mom came from generations of artsy people and she studied art and danced her whole life; my dad was the consummate Golden Boy athlete and handsome and loving and a great businessman. Both had dynamic personalities and one of the best lessons they taught my sister and I was that “no one is a stranger”. As a result, I can talk to and connect with EVERYONE!
As a kid, I was lucky enough to ride horses, even though they weren’t mine. My best friend, Kim and I would ride our bikes to Watkins Farm where the gentle man that cared for the resident horses would saddle up a large palomino, named Danny for Kim (she was 4 years older than me) and I got to ride a Shetland pony, perfect in size for my tiny frame! We were allowed to take them out on Back Creek Road and just meander for hours. Glorious times!
I also learned early on to appreciate and commune with nature, a lifelong passion.
We moved a lot because of the company Dad worked for. All up and down the east coast. After graduating from high school in Pittsburgh, PA, I headed to college on a full acting scholarship to West Virginia University. I graduated with a BFA in acting/directing in 1978.
In 1979, I moved to Oregon by myself, at the tender age of 23 with no job, no place to live and never having visited before. A modern-day pioneer! One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
My life has involved the arts of all kinds, from acting, film work, a live TV show on the Fox affiliate, KPTV, to creating wearable art for such businesses as Nordstrom and the MAC Club. My art is ever-morphing. It has come and gone in different factions, woven through other careers, like 10 years in long term care (marketing) to real estate at Fishhawk Lake in Birkenfeld OR for twenty years.
We still live in Birkenfeld, (a TINY town in the hinterlands of Oregon), my husband and I (of 25+ years), on 105 AC with a large animal rescue/sanctuary that is an accredited non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization, On Golden Rescue. Our 0 current residents are standard horses, mules, mini horses, mini donkeys, goats, feral cats, four Golden Retrievers and 6 chickens (the last two aren’t officially part of the “rescue”). The residents stay with us forever until they transition. A labor of love! Our motto is “No More Bad Days”, and we take on many older, compromised animals, and bonded pairs where many rescues can’t do that.
After retiring from real estate, I have fully embraced my latest art venture, https://www.richworksart.com/, selling my mixed media art that is almost all nature-based and part of my proceeds go to our Rescue, OGR. https://ongoldenrescue.org/.
I also have a second home in Homosassa Springs, FL right on the Homosassa River where I collect shells and other natural elements to incorporate into my mixed media (beachy) art pieces, along with the natural elements that I have from living in the country in the coastal range of Oregon. A full life, for sure!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This is always an interesting perspective. As with most artists and creatives, we can be SO sensitive about our work that we lack the confidence at times when comparing our talents to others, when feeling shunned by people or if someone doesn’t immediately gravitate towards our art. We can take it so personally! After all, we are placing a very vulnerable piece of our souls out there to be judged. We often are our own worst enemies.
Acting probably was the hardest for me to take criticism without it wounding me. As a mixed media artist, it feels like I’m one step removed from myself enough to place a bit of a bubble of protection around my artistic soul.
Anyone’s opinion is just that…an opinion and yet we take it to heart much more than others may in their work. The dichotomy of being an artist! Taking that sensitivity and facing it with grace or simply throwing that energy back into the art is a way of deflecting the negativity (sometimes self-imposed) and USING it to our benefit!
In the last several years of doing mosaics, and abstract mixed media, the learning curve of using different mediums and materials is always a push. I enjoy that challenge, actually! It has made my art more “sophisticated” (to use an adjective that one of my art friends expressed after she’s seen my work over the years).
The latest challenge is grasping the vast and nanosecond changes of social media as part of marketing my work. I was never much of a Facebook fan and when I dove into learning about Instagram it was akin to learning a new language! It certainly helps to keep your brain young by constantly educating yourself and that part of it is exciting. With the knowledge I’ve gained, I can speak to our young marketing team when working with all of the platforms for our nonprofit large animal rescue, On Golden Rescue.
As to my full-time volunteering at our nonprofit forever sanctuary, the biggest challenge for me is the emotion involved when we lose one of our precious “residents”. It happens a lot as we take on older and medically compromised animals (horses, mules, mini-horses, mini donkeys, goats) and when they transition, I always want to be there to hold them and send them onto their next journey, but the emotional toll is sometimes overwhelming. Still worth it! We give them the opportunity to have “No More Bad Days” (our motto) and quality of life, no matter the time here. It feeds our spirits as well as theirs and between these two passions, my life is full of gratitude. My personal motto is “To Serve”.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Art has taken many forms in my lifetime. From a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts (BFA) in the 70’s, to doing film, television, print work, theatre, designing my own wearable art in the 80’s for such businesses as Nordstrom’s; to photography and writing; art is always surfacing in one form or another. As an artist, I’m ever morphing!
Mother Nature is often my muse. By paying homage to her, using her natural works of art, (wood, shells, slate, etc.), I’m able to incorporate much of these into my abstract mixed media pieces and wearable art. In gratitude for what She provides, I am also a huge advocate of recycling, repurposing. You will see that reflected in each one-of-a-kind, mixed media tile or shadowbox piece, utilizing fungi, dropped pods from my trees, acorns, shells, found cool rocks, (much of this from my hikes around my coastal range home), jewelry from my mom’s collection and donated jewelry, ceramics, glass, mirrors, old tools. Some of these pieces contain semi-precious stones that create their own positive energy, small or large. From vibrant to pastels, each piece is an original, made by me with love, the power of earth, spirit and being present in my creativity.
Because they are so unusual, and abstracts, I don’t fit into any average niche. My art is all over the place! No one tells me it has to be a certain way, or fit into a certain mold. It’s very freeing and makes my work stand out in the crowd because it’s quite unique. I have even taken old truck pieces and created a renewed piece of art so there are no limits to what I find as elements to incorporate into my mixed media abstracts.
There are any number of ways that you can use these in your own environment. They can be outdoors as garden art or inside propped up on a solid easel. They can sit flat on a table or nightstand as a large decorative coaster, some can be hung. One of the great pluses of these abstract mixed media pieces is that you can change their placement, turn them a different way and completely shift the dynamic of the way they look. Keeps you interested! All of my originals are one-of-a-kind. Kind of “living art” in a way. And I give voice to the voiceless by working with what were once living entities in nature. Their voice still speaks.
I live in rural Oregon in the coastal range on 105 beautiful acres with my husband, Larry, along with our four Golden Retrievers, chickens, and equines (large and mini), goats and feral cats who are part of our nonprofit 501(c)(3) internationally accredited large animal rescue, On Golden Rescue. Our residents stay with us forever at our sanctuary. Part of my art proceeds go to support On Golden Rescue.
Pricing:
- $55
- $99
- $150
- $300
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.richworksart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richworksart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gayle.richboxman/
- Other: https://ongoldenrescue.org/about-us/
