“I was living in Iowa, starting a whole new chapter of life. I started this one shortly after moving there, and it was springtime, the year of the solar eclipse. It was a really powerful time of self discovery, and this painting sort of encapsulates that era. Becoming, I guess.”

Bonino’s mixed-media work is currently on display in the Huron Mountain Gallery at Peter White Public library under the exhibit title “Awakening,” where it will remain through the end of March.

“I titled (the exhibit) Awakening … it was the only word that I could think of that could encapsulate everything,” said Bonino. “There’s a common theme of exploring abstract feelings and ideas and things that can’t really be spoken in words.”

Bonino’s work is lush in color, overlaid with complex geometric patterns and garnished with dried flowers, with string, with glued-on feathers. The human body is everywhere, but never in expected ways. Here is a body with see through skin, with bones glowing through; here is a body seen from below, impossibly tall, head small and far away. Here is a body with an ape’s skull. Here is another.

Two of Bonino’s other paintings are on display at the Peter White Public Library: “Welcome Home” (2023) and “Shadow of a Giant Heart” (2019). (Journal photo by Annie Lippert)

“I started drawing (ape skulls) a while ago,” said Bonino. “I think they invoke this primal, wild nature that we all have. (The skulls) capture that feeling of wildness, and grounding back into our bones. The foundations.”

The link between humans and nature is a prevalent theme in Bonino’s work.

“I’m inspired by the act of creating, and by the act of sharing these more abstract ideas that can’t be communicated any other way,” said Bonino. “When you look at a piece of art that hits you in a way that you can’t describe, like Picasso — it’s just like abstract lines and colors, but putting them together in such a way just creates a whole other thing, a whole other experience.”

Bonino has been making art since she was a child.

“It’s all experimental and it’s all play,” said Bonino. The second that it becomes a commodity, you know, or something that you’re doing to make money, I feel like that kind of takes the soul out of it. So I try to just keep experimenting and trying new things, and taking little bits and pieces of what I like, and applying it to the next painting. It’s always just growing and learning.”

On Feb. 12, the Peter White Public Library held a reception for Bonino’s exhibit, which was very well-attended.

“It makes me feel really sweet, knowing that other people are appreciating (my art). It means something different to them than it does to me, but that feels like solidarity. It just feels good to share.”

Most of the work on display is for sale, and there is an additional box of prints and smaller, unframed pieces for sale as well. In a small book left out for visitors to talk to Bonino, someone has written,

“How incredible to see nature and humankind as one whole, as they truly exist.”

“It’s just really important to share art,” said Bonino. “Even if it’s just a little scribble; just to create something that either inspires somebody else or sparks some amount of joy, or invokes a feeling of some kind. I think that’s really powerful. I hope that this exhibit can inspire somebody. Invoke a feeling of some kind.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.