From an early age, Montana-based illustrator and painter John Potter has treated the world — the land, the animals — as family. “The trees feel like relatives, the mountains like grandfathers,” says Potter. “That’s how I look at the natural world.” Growing up, his mother...
Jim Bortz has been many things. He’s worked at a steel mill and on construction sites, repaired cable lines, led expeditions as a fishing guide, tended bar, and apprenticed with a taxidermist. He’s a lifelong sportsman and artist, self-taught in both fields. But these days,...
Maps hold a promise of roads untaken, the allure of the exotic, and adventures yet to come. For James Niehues, a legend in the ski world for his bird’s-eye maps, his works are much more than renditions of place. They combine panoramic views of the...
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing,” observed the 19th-century Danish-French painter Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro. That quote, shared recently with Western artist Beth Loftin by a close friend, impacted her greatly, validating her devotion to depicting...
Lane Timothy rekindled his love of painting when, after years of mainstream commercial success, he realized he needed a change. What he needed was Montana. In this return home to find himself, he would leave slick magazine covers and photo shoots to dig into his...
Being out on the range in the rural West forces a change in how you relate to the world; your safety depends on it. But even when you’re by yourself, hours from the closest town, you’re anything but alone — the landscape keeps you company....
“The ocean can be yours; why should you stop Beguiled by dreams of evanescent dew? The secrets of the sun are yours, but you Content yourself with motes trapped in beams.” — Farid ud-Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds Large paintings lean against every available surface in the studio...
In Robert Moore’s paintings, colors and shapes work in concert to make even the most familiar facets of the world look fresh. Aspen trees, garden hollyhocks, cattle standing on an expanse of sunlit grass — none of these are novel sights, especially to those who...
For Bozeman, Montana-based mixed-media artist Miles Glynn, inspiration is instantaneous. It’s a melding of color, shape, sound, and feeling. “There are moments where everything comes together visually,” says Glynn. “The lighting, the senses, maybe the music I’m listening to, it creates a moment or a...
In 2013, the newly-elected governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, commissioned artist Parks Reece for a painting to be unveiled at his inauguration ceremony at the state capital building in Helena. “I did a weird one,” Reece says. “I mean, I was surprised. [Bullock] gave me...