Santosha hosting Maio's 'Exotic Travels' exhibit

What can you extract from a photograph? For most, it is simply an image quickly captured by a camera’s lens and an eye’s fancy. Yet for an artist’s eye, what is drawn out of a photographic image is more, especially for a painting. Using color, tone, and brush strokes, the artist caringly attempts to recapture that millisecond of nature, feeling, and awe that rarely can be expressed in a photo.

In 2017, Santosha store owner and dress designer, Susan Wentz, traveled throughout South East Asia to acquire and design the best in fashion and comfort for her clients and her stores in Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene. Always on the look-out for the beautiful, Susan couldn’t help but document the exotic unique world around her on her cellphone. After sharing some of these images online, she inspired artist Mary Maio to paint a selection of her photographed landscapes and cityscapes.

In the beginning, Maio delved deeply into each photograph searching for a unique story with the intent to transmit its narrative with a strong sense of realism. Next, Maio set out to paint what her thoughts, hand, and heart would express by engendering each brushstroke with a spirit of “life movement.” The showcase piece, “Docking for the Bamboo City,” depicts the hot, midday sun beating down on the docked flat boats gently rocking on the water ready to carry passengers to the restaurants precipitously poised over the bay on bamboo poles and zip ties.

As part of the Pend Oreille Arts Council’s annual ArtWalk, the opening reception of Mary Maio’s exhibition of “Exotic Travels in Southeast Asia” is Friday, June 16 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Mary Maio Gallery located within the Santosha store, 212 N. First Ave., Sandpoint. The exhibit will be up until Sept. 7.