Some artists use oils or clays to create their unique masterpieces. Some artists are unique because of the material they use.
That’s the case with Gerri Sayler, a University of Idaho alumna, who has used materials including hot glue, rope and bamboo to craft her works.
“I’m a materials person,” Sayler said. “(Art is) finding things you want to say, but words can no longer express what you have to say. I have themes inside of me that I care about. The materials respond to that.”

Sayler won the 2007 Triennial Juror’s First Prize out of a pool of nearly 250 Idaho artists who entered the competition. Part of the prize included a solo exhibition at the Boise Art Museum.
“Ad Infinitum,” Sayler’s Boise exhibit, is a site-specific installation made up of almost 1,000 strands of individually rolled and crafted hot glue. Sayler often uses nature as inspiration for her work and created the strands to reflect that. “Ad infinitum” is a Latin phrase that means “to infinity.” Sayler called “Ad Infinitum” a mantra about work and about “being doggedly committed to carrying out an idea.”

Work was definitely a key factor in installing Sayler’s work at the BAM. The exhibit took two weeks, numerous volunteers, interns and staff, and eight months of preparatory work. Because the work was site-specific, Sayler had no way to test-drive her creation.
“My office ceiling is only 12 feet high,” she said, referencing the cathedral ceiling of the BAM’s Sculpture Court where her work now hangs. “It wasn’t until the fourth day in a two-week installation that I knew it was going to work.”

“Ad Infinitum” opened in June and will remain at the museum until Oct. 12.
“Gerri really wants the visitor to experience the piece — it’s very much interactive and requires one to wander through it, watch it move with their presence, see the light filter through it,” said Amy Pence-Brown, the associate curator of art for the BAM and the juror for the 2007 Triennial competition.

Sayler didn’t start her career as an artist. Her first degree was in journalism. She said she started working with ceramics in North Dakota and did “found-object” art for 15 years.
Two years ago she decided to give art serious attention and dabbled in art and anthropology coursework at Washington State University, looking for a way to blend the two. She eventually settled on the other side of the Palouse and earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art from UI in 2007. Sayler said she was “very pleased with what happened here” and the B.F.A. experience was powerful and transformative.

“Her work is process-based,” said Bill Bowler, a retired UI architecture professor who advised and supported Sayler on some of her works.
“In a particular piece that was shown in the Prichard (Art Gallery), it took a great deal of work that went into making the piece and it shows up that way and … that was the same sort of process she used for the Boise piece,” Bowler said.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.