Refining the art of being present, artist Dale Livezey’s palette speaks of Montana through gradient skies and the sentinels of landscape. His paintings offer a mediation on the intangible values of place, a breath of sanctuary, and that transient balance when the world teeters between...
Artist Joe Kronenberg doesn’t spend a lot of time reflecting on his past, but his studio is a repository for its hallmarks. There’s the Ralph “Tuffy” Berg Award for outstanding emerging artist that he received during the 2009 C.M. Russell Museum Auction; a framed reproduction...
Patricia Griffin starts by telling me about the wolves. “There was a pack of them on my back hill this past winter,” the esteemed painter, photographer, and conservationist relays over the phone. She’s taking my call from her studio in Jackson, Wyoming — the reception...
It all started with toads. “I grew up in Texas, and actually, the best thing about Houston was the toads,” artist Claire Emery recalls with a laugh. “There were so many toads, and I was an avid toad collector. They would come out of their holes...
If you talk to a dozen ceramic artists throughout Montana, chances are good they’ll cite three reasons for the state’s unique ceramics community: the landscape, the people, and “The Bray.” In a state as vast in area as it is sparse in population, the existence...
This summer, my daughter discovered our horses. Not quite 2 yet, she toddles toward the pasture adjacent to our house, eagerly proclaiming, “Neigh!” the moment she catches sight of them. She asks to sit on their backs, and, once mounted, she energetically gestures directions as...
It’s hard to know which of your senses to focus on first when you walk into J.W. Heist Steakhouse. There’s the smell of meat cooking over fire, a whiff of garlic and butter. Between the crystal chandelier and the dark wood tones on the ceiling...
Artist Katie Cooney thought she might open a shop selling handcrafted local artwork one day, but she didn’t think it would be anytime soon. She was busy as a photographer, painter, and illustrator, applying her vibrant colors, spirit of adventure, and whimsical visual storytelling to...
To the west, above Sheep Mountain, silver-lined clouds disappear into the alpenglow of the setting sun. Bands of pink settle on the ridgetop across the valley as the summer light slowly fades through the lens of an old jackleg fence on the rise. I watch...
Doug Cox is a world-renowned saddlemaker. Operating out of Gardnerville, Nevada — an unincorporated town in rural Douglas County, population 6,200 — he’s been in the custom saddle trade for half a century. At 73, he moves with an unrushed grace that only tradesmen, still...