Rexburg artist shares her talents with students, creates women’s guild to build art community in east Idaho
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REXBURG — Rexburg artist Liese Schöner Worthen is a creator. She doesn’t stay within one specific medium, choosing instead to create art across the spectrums of style, media type, technique and purpose.
Schöner Worthen is a native of New Jersey. She was trained at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City and was later mentored by award-winning artist, printmaker and professor Curlee Raven Holton at Lafayette College in Easton, Penn. She now resides in Rexburg and is eager to build the arts community in her new city.
Schöner Worthen doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t interested in creating art. She says her parents tell her that, even as a small child, she always kept busy with her creations.
“My parents will tell me that I was always making something or drawing something,” she says.
But it wasn’t until fourth grade that she truly believed herself to be an artist.
“I won my first art award when I was in fourth grade, and I thought, ‘Oh, I really am an artist,’” she says. “And of course, that conversation continues in my head. ‘I don’t know if I’m really an artist — Oh, yeah, I’m really an artist.’”
Schöner Worthen says she thinks most artists grapple with similar thoughts.
“We always are questioning, are we really good? Are we really an artist? A lot of artists I’ve talked to have the same thoughts.”
As an artist with a breadth of interest and skill, throughout her life Schöner Worthen has worked across mediums, always planning for what’s next.
“I’m fascinated by lots of things,” she says. “Right now I’m painting, so I’ll paint for a while. I’ll usually give myself an assignment. So I’ll finish that, and usually I’ll have something in mind to do next. So, next, I’m going to do some small prints, some linocuts, and then who knows what’s next?”
A few years ago, Schöner Worthen and her family moved to Rexburg, where she now teaches art at Madison Middle School. Her husband, Kevin D. Worthen works for Brigham Young University-Idaho. They are the parents of Cole, 24, who is a nursing student at BYU-Idaho, and Ava, 19, who is an artist like her mother.
Schöner Worthen says they felt drawn to Rexburg, but are still working out why.
“We have no idea why we are here in Rexburg, but something led us here,” she says. “We’re kind of east-coast people trying to fit in in the west . . . (Kevin) loves what he does at BYU-Idaho. He’s in student success and retention, and that’s always been his thing. He just really wants to help students succeed.”
Schöner Worthen enjoys teaching at the middle school and values the opportunity to work with children.
“I love having influence on these young people,” she says. “They are very talented students. It’s nice to have an impact on the younger minds, because I believe that art is so important for young people. It’s about tapping into that part of their brain that a lot of children don’t do anymore. They do things that don’t require a lot of imagination—someone already created it. It’s very hard for them to imagine things, to come up with ideas. They want me to give them all the information.”
“Innovation is so important,” she says. “And if we don’t have students tapping into that part of their brains where they can create and they can innovate, we’re going to be in trouble, so that has been really important to me.”
Upon moving to Rexburg, Schöner Worthen says she found herself on the outside of the local art community, not being affiliated with BYU-Idaho’s art faculty.
Her desire to be part of a community of artists led her to spearhead the creation of The Art Guild of Rexburg, which is an organization of women artists in the Rexburg area who work together to promote art, learn about art and look for and create opportunities for local artists.
Alongside fellow artist and Art Guild member Aubrie Mema, Schöner Worthen will exhibit some of her work at the Art Stroll this Friday, April 7, from 5-8 p.m. at the Romance Theater, 2 E. Main Street, Rexburg.