About this story: The JAM [Journalism Arts Multimedia] Workshop was offered during the Spring 2014 term at the University of Oregon’s School Of Journalism and Communication. Teams of students created profiles of local artists — a guitar builder, a ballerina, a belly dancer, a sculptor, a painter, a graffiti artist, a jazz saxophonist, the band Mood Area 52, and more. Each profile entails written, photo, audio, and video elements.
By: Devin Ream, Silas Valentino, Alexsis Winterhalter
While traveling in Giverny, France, Beverly Soasey came across the gravesite of Claude Monet and left with some bones. “They’re not his bones, I don’t think,” she said in regard to the famed painter, “but they were coming up out of the earth just enough to see them. And you can’t help but pick on that dirt a little and let it fall out on your hand — and then you have a jawbone.”
Bev Soasey may be fascinated by bones, but they are just some of the many objects she mixes and integrates into her art. Moonlighting as her home, her studio is filled with trinkets and knickknacks waiting to be transformed. She will be in for quite an adventure if she ever chooses to move away; blank space is nowhere to be found in her home. Each wall, bookshelf, and table is occupied. On a small table is an old Corona typewriter but with a carved wooden structure sitting in place of a sheet of paper. Nearby is a basket that resembles a bird’s nest, stacked on top of an oilcan with a wooden propeller sticking out of its top. “Obviously, as you’re looking around, you can see I collect all these things,” Soasey said during a tour of her crowded yet organized workspace. The former graphic designer and current artistic director at the Jacobs Gallery finds inspiration in old photographs, rusted kitchen doodads, seashells, shooting targets, metal scraps, and pretty much anything that floats into her path. “Often the pieces are not that valuable in themselves,” she said, “but you look at an old photo, and you see the photographer’s shadow, and you wonder — who is that person taking the picture?” This sense of wonder is the inspiration for much of her work.
Like many whose professions revolve around expressing themselves, Soasey has trouble describing her odd yet engaging work. “It’s always hard for me. I try to explain it, and people think, oh, how nice, you do shadow boxes. I don’t do shadow boxes, but it’s hard to explain. People are either going to really like this, and some people just don’t get it. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Beverly Soasey has a passion without an end. “I’m just curious about a lot of things,” she said. “The whole point is, I never throw anything away. But you have to be patient enough to play and see what might start speaking to you.” She’ll play for hours, days, mixing and rearranging seemingly random pieces. “I move things around until they start telling me a story,” she says. “I keep playing, and then it’s like, that’s it. I know. I just stop. I know when it’s done.”
Founded in 1912, the UO School of Journalism and Communication continues to produce leaders in journalism and media. Through classwork that emphasize the power of storytelling, our students profile notable faces, provide coverage of emerging programs and upcoming events, and report on local and statewide issues.