Backstage with Ally Bouwhuis & Myka Bouwhuis
The cameras are off. The band has packed up and we’re headed backstage.
This week, two artists — both approaching their subjects through sound first, feeling second, everything else after that.
One has been listening to four guys from Liverpool on repeat. One has been sitting with a composer whose music once started a riot.
I guess you could say that they have different frequencies, but a lot of the same instinct.
Ally Bouwhuis
Painting The Beatles
Ally describes herself as a beginning artist,
but don't let that throw you…
Her eye for texture, layering, and contrast is already doing something distinctive.
She loves creating pieces you feel with your eyes rather than your fingers. Things that reward looking closely. Embedded inside her larger works are what she calls "hidden gems" — small images, words, or phrases that emphasize the bigger picture while adding minute detail you might miss the first time through. The second look is always different from the first.
The Beatles felt made for that approach.
Their music has always rewarded the patient listener. Hidden references, layered sounds, lyrics that land differently at 15 than they do at 35. Albums designed to be heard as complete works, not just as singles. Ally has been going deep — albums, documentaries, lyric deep-dives — trying to understand not just what The Beatles made but how the way they made things changed what everyone else thought was possible.
She hopes visitors walk away with a sense of scale. The sheer reach of the influence. And maybe a quiet personal reminder: that their own influence — however small it feels right now — ripples outward in ways they may never see.
Outside of painting, Ally is running or spending time with family. This is her first show, but it will definitely not be her last.
Myka Bouwhuis
Textile work on Igor Stravinsky
Myka is a textile artist drawn to emotion.
She creates pieces that make her feel deeply — fabric and texture used not as crafts but as feeling made physical. Running, hiking, camping, card games. She lives fully in the physical world and her art reflects that.
She was assigned Igor Stravinsky. Her response, in her own words:
"hahaha help."
But she's been listening. A lot.
Stravinsky is not easy listening. His most famous work, The Rite of Spring, premiered in Paris in 1913 and caused one of the most notorious riots in the history of classical music. The audience was so shocked — by the dissonance, by the primitive rhythms, by the sheer strangeness of what they were hearing — that people started shouting and fighting in the theater. The police were called. The performance finished anyway.
The piece is now considered one of the most important compositions of the 20th century.
That's the arc Myka is working with: something that looks like chaos on the surface, something that takes time to understand, something that contains a whole world if you're patient enough to stay with it.
How do you make that into a textile? We genuinely cannot wait to find out!
What This is All About
Ally and Myka are two of 15 local artists creating portraits for:
Influencers Over Time — Part 2: Artists + Entertainers
This five-part exhibition is inspired by TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century — exploring the people whose ideas, creativity, and courage shaped the world we live in today.
📅 May 1–3 📍 West Point, Utah 🎟 Free tickets — reserve your time slot here:
