ART ON THE MOVE

Investing in art and displaying art on the walls of one’s house were unfamiliar topics in Ilene Paulsen’s home while growing up in a farm town in Minnesota. The notion of becoming a professional artist was even more far-fetched.

Nevertheless, the day this youngster grabbed a pencil and paper and headed for the barn to draw the mother cat with a new litter, Ilene veered toward a predestined life’s dream of becoming a real artist, although she did not realize it until many years later.

Her mother’s comment, “Did you do that?” registered in her 10-year-old brain that this paper told an understandable tale, and that she had astoundingly accomplished something that not everyone could do.

Certainly Ilene enjoyed and looked forward to art classes in high school, but landing a money-making job as a sign painter, while exploring and challenging her creative side, was profound and thrilling, especially to a teenager.

Her teenage marriage proved to be unsuccessful, but left her blessed with two sons. Her new obligations as a single mom led to the necessity of a full-time job as bank teller. Simultaneously, she continued her self-taught sign painting job, using a brush and “machinery paint” that she says ensured outdoor durability. She also added another part-time job of painting “folk-art wooden crafts” to keep her afloat. There was no time for exploring the fine arts.

Then came the romance of her life that brought her to Alaska where art opportunities began to unfold.

Ilene became pen pals with Bruce, her future husband, who worked in Ketchikan at the local pulp company. Originally he came to Alaska “for a summer job and never left,” says Ilene. Interestingly, both being from Minnesota, they had mutual friends, however they had never met.

Ilene says she asked Bruce out for “a (soda) pop on Valentine’s Day” knowing he would be returning to Alaska the next day. They continued to correspond and had their second date a year later, again on Valentine’s Day, in Minnesota.

Their long-distance relationship precipitated into a wonderful marriage and a new life together on Prince of Wales Island, where they lived for seven years and had three additional children.

When the Paulsens left Southeast, they moved to Soldotna for a short stay. It was there in 2002 that Ilene received tutelage from a prize-winning local watercolor artist, Cindy Brabec-King. That experience catapulted her into a whole new world of art.

Wonderment at her own ability returned and boosted her confidence as she began working from life, and not from pictures. Painting large, indulging in details (such as brass and glass) propelled her shamelessly into the tangible world of making art for a living.

“The Summer of 2004 provided the opportunity for my first solo art show at the Ptarmigan Art Gallery in Homer,” says Ilene about her career debut.

After moving to the Mat-Su Valley, it was in January 2005 that she got a big break. Mat-Su Regional Medical Center selected “three original pieces of my artwork, for their healing qualities, to be displayed on the newly constructed hospital interior walls,” proclaims Ilene.

“In 2008, I was commissioned by the Twindly Bridge Charter School to paint two (large) murals in their gym depicting lakes, rivers, mountains, fish and wildlife characteristic of the Alaskan landscape.”

Next, Safari Club International Alaska Chapter 32 selected Ilene to be the featured artist for its annual banquet and fund-raiser held in 2009 at the Denai’i Convention Center in Anchorage. Her group of bison titled “Returning Home” was the signature piece for the event.

She seemed to be on a roll with opportunities abounding and keeping her brushes and paints dancing on canvas and watercolor paper on a daily bases.

In spring 2009, the Kenai River Pavilion commissioned seven of her pieces and purchased the Alaska-themed prints for its new hospital wing.

Abundantly thrilled with her art commissions, she speaks of the biggest rewards of painting as her family’s support of her endeavors.

She proudly announces, “They are my encouragers. Bruce goes the extra mile to help (me) set up and take down art shows” while the kids provide extra painting time by cooking meals, such as fresh-caught trout, grilled cheese sandwiches and home-baked cookies.

So what does Ilene Paulsen do while not painting commissions and preparing for upcoming competitions or shows?

Besides “teaching art for home-school kids ages third grade to high school one day a week, (with) up to 12 students,” she is actively orchestrating other artists’ careers by serving as the president of the Valley Fine Arts Association.

This artists’ group, of which she is co-founder, meets twice monthly to paint together, has “members only” shows around the Valley, as well as a juried art show competition coming in June.

As president of VFAA, Ilene is committed to establishing venues for local artists to display and sell art, and continues to organize a members’ exhibition at the state fair.

This is Ilene’s second-year appointment to the Mat-Su College Fine Arts Advisory Council.

Having a strong faith, Ilene says that she “paints because it is a gift that God has given her. (She) believes that it gives him joy” when these gifts and talents are utilized.

Her new show, “A Little Bit of Country,” opens on the Valley Second Saturday at Pandemonium from 6 to 8 p.m., with such new works as “Tom and Susan” a tom turkey with black-eyed susans and “Gone to Seed”, which was named “because the dandelions and rusty old plow are both ‘done,’” she says.

“I had the title picked out before the painting. I had the plow picture from Minnesota, but waited until the next summer’s end to get references of dandelions going to seed.”

Ilene says, “Working from real life (the paintings) have more energy,” and so does her art career as she continues on a journey worth keeping an eye on. As her art is being purchased for investment and enjoyment, her husband jokes that he will be glad when she becomes famous, so that he can spend more time fishing and hunting.

Suzanne Bach teaches art at Mat-Su College.