BLOOMINGTON - In collaborating on a photo-art project, commercial artist Mikki Lower and photojournalist B Mosher created an exhibit that is neither journalism nor commercial art. | Photo Gallery | Video: Creating a work of body art

Lower paints skin. She's known in the area as the face painter Zoo Lady. But she also paints the body - paints a Hawaiian T-shirt onto a man who looks ready for the beach or jeans onto a woman who looks like a model from a calendar of classic cars.

Mosher takes digital images - usually at hockey games and fires and wherever The Pantagraph's editors send her. But she studied art photography, not journalism, at Illinois State University. She's wanted to be a painter or, short of that, "to paint with my lens."

The women are preparing for an art exhibit, the first for both, that will show 15 pieces, one of which features Lower's daughter, Brittney, as the painter. The show, "Body Illusions," runs May 15 to June 4 at Eaton Gallery, 411 N. Center St. in downtown Bloomington.

Lower painted some models in traditional body paint fashion, such as the Hawaiian shirt. But the women also executed some original creations such as "We Need a Hero," a superhero who is a hybrid of Batman, Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man and Superman.

Their main departure from standard body art is use of settings, as opposed to a body-canvas standing on its own. A trio from the "Wizard of Oz" was photographed on Constitution Trail.

One thing they consciously avoid is cuteness.

Mosher has pushed Lower on the point, making the words "don't be cute" something of a mantra during planning sessions. As the Zoo Lady, Lower paints children adorably. Now she's aiming for conflicts and metaphors in some body-art photo shoots.

While a woman leaning against a classic car creates nostalgia, some images have an alarming strangeness - none more than "Barbie."

In "Barbie," the model's shined-up face gave her the appearance of a doll, and Lower painted eyes onto the back of the eyelids of the model, who kept her eyes closed for about two hours of photographs.

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'Body Illusions'

A photography exhibit of body-painting subjects by B Mosher and Mikki Lower, with Brittney Lower contributing.

When: May 15-June 4; noon to 8 p.m. Wednesdays; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; by chance; and by appointment at (309) 828-1575.

Where: First floor, Eaton Gallery, 411 N. Center St., Bloomington

Reception: 5 to 9 p.m. May 15

The artists

• B Mosher has been a full-time photojournalist for The Pantagraph since 2005. She also worked part-time and interned at the paper earlier in the decade, and she received a fine arts degree in art photography from Illinois State University.

• Mikki Lower taught junior high school in Clinton for 30 years, specializing in creative arts and home economics. She retired in June. She already had established herself as a face painter.