Home

Margaret Hair

Margaret Hair's column appears Fridays in the 4 Points arts and entertainment section in the Steamboat Today. Contact her at 871-4204 or e-mail mhair@steamboatpilot.com.

Steamboat Springs — "It's all a little obsessive," artist Jane Moffitt said about her work as she pulled finished pieces out of cardboard boxes Wednesday morning.

In conversational terms, Moffitt's description would be a gross understatement. "Obsessive" is a word we use so often that it's lost its true meaning: to do something excessively, often to a point well beyond reason.

But it's the right term for some of Moffitt's long-term projects, most notably her collection of 9,000 clear pill capsules, each stuffed with two related words. As part of her shared show this month at K. Saari Gallery, Moffitt will place 50 of these capsules into 144 compartments in a clear glass table. She figures the project won't be complete until each compartment has 100 capsules. And, so far, she's divided her work into plastic sandwich bags holding 100 pills apiece.

Moffitt also has a dress adorned with countless hand-sewn cross-stitches featured in the show.

"When I said things are a little obsessive-compulsive, these are two pieces that represent that aspect of my personality," Moffitt said. That aspect bodes well for working with longtime friend Susan Hover Oehme, who admits to being a bit of a perfectionist herself.

"I think we both have very similar personalities, and we're both kind of obsessive - maybe for me not as much as Jane," Oehme said, explaining that the duo's "F Words" drawing project is a reflection of that need to make things perfect.

Like any large project, Moffitt's larger works - ongoing pieces like the pill table, or a past installation of household products in small clear containers - ask for more concentration than an everyday task would require. They also take a combination of detachment (to not go completely insane while stuffing words into capsules) and awareness (to not throw all those pills in the trash within a week) to keep going through the years.

"F Words" was a chance to break from that kind of work, Oehme and Moffitt said, and play off of each other on a lighthearted theme. After all, being obsessive about everything you try doesn't do much for longevity.

"It's something I think we're both really proud of, but it's something you share with the other person. It's a nice representation of a friendship over time," Oehme said of the project. "F Words," a drawing collaboration between Oehme and Moffitt, is featured through the end of the month at K. Saari Gallery, along with solo collections by both artists.