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Biography
Addie Boswell is a muralist and writer. Her specialty is collaborative public art that tells a story. Based on the places she’s lived and the people she’s met, her art is populated with children, families, shared work, nature, and the ordinary events that make a place a community. She often collaborates with artists, committees, and local citizens in both design and fabrication. Her public work can be found in community centers around the Northwest, including The Patricia Reser Arts Center (Beaverton, OR), the Anne Frank Memorial (Boise, ID), Portland Fire & Rescue, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Oregon State Treasury (Salem, OR) Doernbecher Children’s Hospital (Portland, OR), and many libraries and schools. Her picture books include The Snow Dancer, The Rain Stomper, Five on the Bed, and the “In Motion” series which starts with Go, Bikes, Go! When not working on a wall or in her home studio, she is probably building scrappy furniture, reading when she should be sleeping, and waiting for the rain to return.
Artist Statement
My faith is in people.
There is always extraordinariness in ordinary life, and there is always a story to tell. The stories I find myself returning to are about family, shared work, growth, the seasons, and a sense of community or place. I especially like to portray real people in modern ways, with simplified features, in silhouettes and blind contour designs. Children are a constant source of inspiration. Originally an oil painter and printmaker, I am drawn to the disciplined process of color and layer but the spirit of recycled and street art. As a native Iowan, I also have a strong practical bent that wants creativity to be useful. These are the reasons I gravitate to public art and picture books, both of which make art accessible — imperative really — to everyday life. Both forms allow me to meet people of all ages and backgrounds and chase ideas through place and time. And I get to read like a fiend and call it “research.” |
PRESS - Women United Art Magazine
How antisemitic graffiti in Boise was erased by art
EMILY WHITE [email protected]
BOISE — As Boiseans bike and walk the greenbelt during the warm summer months, it will be impossible to ignore the faces and symbols painted throughout the new mural inside the Eighth Street Tunnel.
The mural, E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One), was dedicated on Monday at Boise’s Anne Frank Memorial. The memorial is the only one of its kind in the United States and one of the few places that displays the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Public Art Program Manager Stephanie Johnson said.
The painted project started after anti semitic graffiti was found in the tunnel in December 2021. That graffiti sent a signal of othering and exclusion: the opposite of belonging, Executive Director at Wassmuth Center for Human Rights Christina Bruce-Bennion said.
The graffiti, artist Addie Boswell said, was the destructive work of a moment — something her mural directly combats.
“Breaking glass is easy. Tearing things down is easy,” Boswell said. “This kind of work will never be broken by the work of moments. That gives me a lot of hope.”
Boswell painted the mural in a week using acrylic paint and with the help of around 60 local volunteers.
“Public art is so vitally important because of the democratic process,” Boswell said. “There were so many voices in this project all the way through. That’s really public art at its best.”
During her research process, Boswell was inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which now includes 50,000 panels dedicated to over 110,000 individuals. Like the quilt, this project’s goal was to try and help people see other perspectives — a tall order for any artist, Boswell said.
With that order in mind, the mural is unique to what Boswell has done in the past — while she has usually stayed away from using symbols in her art, this mural is covered in symbols and symbolism. A giant chestnut tree, a symbol of freedom, surrounds the tunnel ceiling as a reminder of one of the only things Anne Frank could see out her window for years, Boswell said. Every individual also has a ring of light around them — a representation that people all have something in common.
The American flag starts out as stars and stripes, and slowly turns into the Juneteenth flag. The symbol of recovery and disability pride flag can also be seen on the tunnel’s cement walls.
“It’s about acceptance and inclusivity,” Boswell said. “In this case, the symbols seemed necessary because these are examples of things that people take pride in.”
Mayor Lauren McLean called Boswell’s art “experiential” because it is meant to change the understanding and experience of Boise. Creating stories and making art reminds people of who they are and this mural is meant to remind people about what Boise stands for, McLean said during the dedication.
“Everyone is welcome here,” McLean said.
BOISE — As Boiseans bike and walk the greenbelt during the warm summer months, it will be impossible to ignore the faces and symbols painted throughout the new mural inside the Eighth Street Tunnel.
The mural, E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One), was dedicated on Monday at Boise’s Anne Frank Memorial. The memorial is the only one of its kind in the United States and one of the few places that displays the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Public Art Program Manager Stephanie Johnson said.
The painted project started after anti semitic graffiti was found in the tunnel in December 2021. That graffiti sent a signal of othering and exclusion: the opposite of belonging, Executive Director at Wassmuth Center for Human Rights Christina Bruce-Bennion said.
The graffiti, artist Addie Boswell said, was the destructive work of a moment — something her mural directly combats.
“Breaking glass is easy. Tearing things down is easy,” Boswell said. “This kind of work will never be broken by the work of moments. That gives me a lot of hope.”
Boswell painted the mural in a week using acrylic paint and with the help of around 60 local volunteers.
“Public art is so vitally important because of the democratic process,” Boswell said. “There were so many voices in this project all the way through. That’s really public art at its best.”
During her research process, Boswell was inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which now includes 50,000 panels dedicated to over 110,000 individuals. Like the quilt, this project’s goal was to try and help people see other perspectives — a tall order for any artist, Boswell said.
With that order in mind, the mural is unique to what Boswell has done in the past — while she has usually stayed away from using symbols in her art, this mural is covered in symbols and symbolism. A giant chestnut tree, a symbol of freedom, surrounds the tunnel ceiling as a reminder of one of the only things Anne Frank could see out her window for years, Boswell said. Every individual also has a ring of light around them — a representation that people all have something in common.
The American flag starts out as stars and stripes, and slowly turns into the Juneteenth flag. The symbol of recovery and disability pride flag can also be seen on the tunnel’s cement walls.
“It’s about acceptance and inclusivity,” Boswell said. “In this case, the symbols seemed necessary because these are examples of things that people take pride in.”
Mayor Lauren McLean called Boswell’s art “experiential” because it is meant to change the understanding and experience of Boise. Creating stories and making art reminds people of who they are and this mural is meant to remind people about what Boise stands for, McLean said during the dedication.
“Everyone is welcome here,” McLean said.
- 8th Street Tunnel Mural becoming a 'shining light' for Boise, newscast by KTVB 7
- Tour of the Odessa Brown Clinic, where my mural "The World's Welcome" is installed
- The Eyes of All, Timelapse video for the Rosewood Community Mural, produced by Dave
- See the secret message in the elevator doors in the Brookwood Library Murals.
- How Long Does it Take to Make a Book? promotional video for Five on the Bed
- Boswell to Release Two New Books, Adams County Free Press