Growing up in Fall City, a small town north of Seattle, Mar Goman was often fascinated by items she found — old buttons, keys, dice, cigar boxes and jars.
As a kid, the Ridgefield artist would spend hours putting those tiny treasures together in new and unusual ways, sewing them into things, gluing them and embroidering around them.
But it wasn’t until she was about 30 that she understood what she was really making was art.
“I grew up at my mother’s knee learning how to make things,” said Goman, now 66. “That’s just what you do in the country. I didn’t really know much about art then, I just knew how to make things.”
After a brief stint as a pre-med student in college, Goman decided to become a professional artist. And she’s shown her work at galleries all over the region and the country since then.
This month, she’s brought that work to Vancouver, through an unusual show hosted by North Bank Gallery at 1005 Main St. in Vancouver.
“My work is a little eccentric,” Goman said. “It’s not what you might expect to see in a gallery. My work is made from old books, papers, screwdrivers, buttons, fabric. It’s usually collage-based.”
One piece in the exhibit is an installation called “LUCY,” which she made after reading a story about a woman who was committed to an insane asylum in the late 1880s.
“Her parents sent her to a mental institute because she went out dressed as a man,” Goman said. “She married a woman, who obviously must have known, and stayed disguised as a man. She told her parents it was so she could make a better living.”
The art re-creates what Goman envisions as the woman’s confined space. An old bed, with a spread she embroidered that appears to be marking off time, is the centerpiece. A straightjacket and old surgeon’s tools hang on the wall beside it. And in front, a large collection of bottles she calls the “pharmacy of the soul,” with labels aimed at treating ailments beyond the physical.
“I often work from the dark side,” Goman said. “I’ve had depression for most of my life. I’m medicated for it, but it’s just someplace I tend to go.”
Her work also often investigates her inner journey as a lesbian, she said.
“I want people to know that some of the things they feel are felt by other people,” Goman said. “I want to touch the place in people where my work also comes from.”
The show also includes a collection of postal art she sent to her friend Jack Danger over the past 15 years and several smaller pieces of book art, fiber art and embroidered items.
“I think individual objects are beautiful, and when you put them together you get to a whole other level of beautiful,” Goman said.
After opening for the May 2 First Friday event, Goman said she’s had nothing but positive feedback on her work.
“This is the show for which I’ve had the most powerful, positive feedback,” Goman said. “Some people cried. Some asked to hug me.”
The show continues through May 31 at North Bank. The gallery is open 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free.
Visit northbankartistsgallery.com for information.
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