“As soon as I started holding crayons, I was making artwork,” says longtime artist and neighbor Jo Marks Aardsma. Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Jo studied at Drake University, where, in her words, she was “a total art nerd,” sneaking as much time as possible in the studios. She fell in love with fashion illustration — “my favorite class, ever” — but ultimately built a career in commercial art, gallery exhibitions, and her evolving studio practice.
Jo’s art is striking in its minimalism and discipline. She is best known for her canvases with threads painstakingly pulled out and her bold torn-paper works. “The canvas pieces and the paper pieces I consider my real work,” she explains. “Canvas is a grid … I just pulled out half the grid. With the paper, I make a line by adding nothing, instead tearing away and using light and shadow to see the line. They make me think in an entirely different way. They keep me sane. I have to make art.”
Her creative life took a “wild” turn when she became a licensed falconer in her fifties. What started as volunteer naturalist at a nature preserve grew into years of training and flying hawks and eventually becoming a master falconer. “I thought, ‘This is amazing,’” she recalls of her first hunt. Earning her license wasn’t easy: “You have to score an 80 to pass. I got a 95 and was pissed as hell. What did I miss?” — but it led to a rare closeness with her bird, Ella. “Most people don’t get close to birds of prey. Mine tuck her head into my neck.”
Life hasn’t been without challenge. A fall in 2018 left Jo with a traumatic brain injury. “I’m pretty much dizzy all the time,” she admits, but she still finds her way back to the studio. “Once my mind decided I cannot not make art … I just did it.”
Now settled in Beaumont-Wilshire with her husband Al and their rescue dog Luca, Jo treasures both her creative solitude and her welcoming neighbors. “People here are just extremely friendly,” she says. “We were very lucky to find this neighborhood.”
Jo’s work can be seen at Space Gallery in Denver, Colo., and by visiting MarksAardsma.com.
David Friedman, orthodontist, is a local artist specializing in papermaking, printmaking, and painting. He and his dog, Poppi Rosepupple, can be seen daily all throughout the park. His work is on display at the Alberta Street Gallery, daily 11-7.