Izzy Beauschesne: Archive in The Wild

Izzy Beauchesne, known professionally as De Izzy, is a Salt Lake City–based mixed media artist and SLCC student whose work explores memory, family, sustainability, and the natural cycle of life. Through immersive sculptural installations, as seen in her ongoing series Archive in the Wild, she reclaims discarded materials and transforms them into living archives and intimate worlds that explore family dynamics, memory, and humanity's relationship with the natural world.

Growing up, she spent countless hours creating fairy houses with her mother from fallen palm fronds, leaves, and other natural materials. These childhood creations sparked a fascination with storytelling through small-scale worlds, which later evolved into building miniature sets for stop-motion animation.

After moving to Utah, Beauchesne became involved with the Utah Arts Alliance through Dreamscapes, where she began volunteering as a young teenager. She later became one of Dreamscapes'’' primary artists and eventually served as Volunteer Director, making her one of the youngest artists to help shape the immersive exhibition. It was through Dreamscapes that she discovered the possibilities of immersive installation art and developed a deeper understanding of sustainability as both a creative practice and a philosophy.

Working primarily with reclaimed, secondhand, and discarded materials, she believes that every object carries a history. By giving these materials a second life, she creates works that honor both the environment and the memories embedded within the objects themselves.

Her perspective on mortality was profoundly shaped by her experience working as a Certified Nursing Assistant during her teenage years. Caring for individuals at the end of their lives allowed Beauchesne to witness both grief and extraordinary moments of love, resilience, and human connection. These experiences reshaped her understanding of death, leading her to view it not as something to fear, but as a meaningful and natural part of life's continuum. Rather than representing loss, the skeletons, greenery, reclaimed technology, vintage film, and fragments of history that frequently appear throughout Beauchesne’s installations celebrate remembrance, transformation, and the enduring bonds between generations.

While Beauchesne intentionally leaves her work open to interpretation, every installation is rooted in deeply personal experiences. Through immersive environments, she invites viewers to reflect on the memories they carry, the people who have shaped them, and the beauty found throughout every stage of life.