​Wanderlust for life

MJ Masilko is a Grand Forks native based in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a child she spent her summers with her grandparents in the small town of Sarles, North Dakota, “where there weren't many people anymore, walking around listening to the wind blowing through the cottonwoods and seeing the empty houses and garages, all overgrown. Those images became a part of who I am” Masilko said.

She added, “Being a kid to whom social interaction didn't come naturally, I had a lot of alone time, and I think I started identifying with those things that were all alone too.” This led to a fascination with all things abandoned and ventures in rural and urban exploration.

With camera and map in hand she sets out upon the countryside, and returns with plenty of fodder to fuel the intricate drawings and paintings of the sites she has explored. The High Plains Reader had a chance to catch up with MJ Masilko and chat about her art and wanderings, before she makes her appearance at The Grand Cities Art Fest in Grand Forks this weekend.She will be in booth T-23.

HPR: Was there one place that started it all--and is there anything that you look for in particular while you are exploring?

MJM: Oh for sure, that was the old St. Anne's Guest Home in Grand Forks! It had been an old folks' home, and a hospital before that. It was abandoned around 1982. I grew up just a few blocks away on Riverside Drive. I started exploring the inside of it when I was 13, when I finally convinced a friend to go in with me. It was beautiful inside!

Everything about it I loved - the peeling paint, the musty smell, the arches and woodwork, the way the light made shapes on the floors and walls. Every time I explored it I found something new. I think I'm always searching for it when exploring. I always notice when I see arches or window shades or certain colors or textures or smells. It brings me back for just a moment to those innocent times hanging out with friends at the old St. Anne's with my little Kodak Instamatic camera with the flash cube on top, that only sometimes worked..

HPR : Is there one venture in particular that stands out as a personal favorite?

MJM: My most recent adventure, in April of last year, took me to three Kirkbride-style mental institutions - one in Traverse City, Michigan, one in Weston, West Virginia, one in Athens Ohio, and an abandoned penitentiary in Moundsville, WV. All of that in five days! I was with three friends and we had the best time driving, exploring, and taking hundreds of photographs!

HPR: You work in a variety of media--oil, watercolor, colored pencils, and photography. Is there one medium that you return to more than others?

MJM: For some reason oils are my favorite, even though every time I start an oil painting I'm pretty sure I don't know what I'm doing, but once I get the hang of it, I love the way they blend and the richness and depth of the colors.

As for watercolors, I love the detail I can get and the textures I can build, and the way the light shines through it all. I will always do photography but I use it more as a basis for inspiration for paintings rather than a medium in itself.

HPR: There are multiple allusions to ghosts in your work--do you believe in ghosts or is it mostly symbolic?

MJM: It is symbolic, like the way it is used in "ghost town." A word to convey a feeling of emptiness and the history of a place and the people who left it behind.

I have no idea if ghosts as we imagine them exist, but I do feel that the things people have done and felt in a place leave something behind. An impression. A vibe. Maybe it's just my imagination, but it's probably the main thing I'm trying to convey in my paintings. That impression I have of a place - I want everyone to know how that felt.

IF YOU GO:

Grand Cities Art Fest

Saturday, June 11, 10am - 6pm

Sunday, June 12, 10am - 4pm .

Downtown Grand Forks and East Grand Forks