The art of Joe Trakimas There was a time when American children played pretend games outdoors, involving things like sticks as weapons. But not Joe Trakimas. “I never played cowboys and Indians,” says the Montana-based artist, whose fascination with Native American culture is deep-rooted, earnest, and...
[caption id="attachment_12626" align="alignleft" width="182"] "Awakening Spirit" | Oil | 40 x 20 inches[/caption] In terms of career transitions, oil painter John C. Gawne has experienced perhaps one of the more drastic ones: from 20 years as an accountant and stockbroker in Chicago to a full-time, award-winning...
Every three years, artists from around the state are chosen to participate in the Montana Triennial, a curated art show representing Montana through painting, sculpture, ceramics, video, and photography. The Triennial first was organized and presented as a juried exhibition by the Missoula Art Museum...
Catherine Courtenaye’s paintings reveal the world through their smooth, sensual surfaces and the unexpected depth of her compositions. With years spent contemplating the unsaid voices of 19th century handwriting and the whispered histories of folk art, Courtenaye speaks to place, to nature, and to how...
We descended from the school bus onto the rugged dirt road along the border of the Kelly Ranch west of Bozeman, Montana. On this, the third night of Mountain Time Arts’ WaterWorks performances, the crowd was the largest yet. No one who showed up for...
With a minimum of brushstrokes, Montana artist Shirle Wempner twirls the light. Her paintings jump with color, intuitively hitting the right notes, at the right tempo. Her compositions, not crowded, not bare, stir the viewer to feel the movement. “I’ve always been drawn to the Impressionists,”...
Matt Flint interprets tangible places on our behalf; using layers, glyphs, scratched surfaces, and repeated patterns, he demonstrates new ways of understanding the natural world. Powerfully emotional, he tethers the transient human experience to the land; by following the natural process of growth, decay, and...
Twice a year for the last 12 years, a group of about two dozen painters converges somewhere in Montana to brush light against canvas, sweep the colors of fields onto paper, and carve water-channeled streams in oils. These weekend “Paint Outs” are about more than...
With dabs of oil paint edged around her rectangular glass palette, Loretta Domaszewski stands before a three-by-four-foot canvas, one of four pieces she’s working on. Each one in this series speaks to the essential elements: fire, water, air, and earth. Using a vibrant, salmon-colored underpainting,...
The fly-fishing art of Jeffrey Craven...