On a Thursday night in early May, there is hardly an empty seat at Bozeman, Montana’s Tune Up Bar. The bustling crowd is largely on the younger side — a snapshot of the growing city’s hipster population — and eagerly awaiting the night’s performers. The......
As a child, Benjamin Walter didn’t spend much time wondering whether he could be an artist when he grew up. He already knew he was one. “My family — we’re all artists or musicians. I have five siblings, and we all paint, make music, or......
Wyoming landscape painter Jennifer Hoffman watches the light shift across the Jackson Hole Valley each day, waiting for moments that spark her imagination. She moved to the area nearly three decades ago to pursue her interest in landscape painting, and ever since, the region has......
Painter Mike Piggott’s work, like poetry, demands a second look. And even a third. His compressed kinetic energy flattens out across the canvas, conveying calmness, like that before a storm. He kidnaps images, then reunites them like babies switched at birth. In his painting Silence,......
Anyone coming face to face with Charles Young, a recent portrait by Idaho-based artist Aaron Hazel, could not doubt that they’ve encountered a formidable man, painted in a bravura style that sets right the subject’s woefully unsung place in American history. Born a slave in......
Stacey Herries makes her art from a sunlit studio on the east side of downtown Bozeman, Montana. The space is large and airy, just steps from yoga studios, breweries, and restaurants. Simply put, it’s prime real estate. “Though I promise you, it wasn’t anything special......
You know, Josh is just different. He’s not painting things. He’s trying, in his own way, to create poetry,” says Bill Rey, owner of Claggett/Rey Gallery in Edwards, Colorado, who waxes poetic himself when describing the work and philosophy of Montana-based artist Josh Elliott. “In......
Intended or not, it’s often the simple moments that paint pictures on our hearts: a casual exchange between friends, the striking call of a loon across a lake, an old barn at dusk, flowers in a pot by the front door, swelling clouds before a......
Carving trenches from ageless grass is a lonely ordeal beneath the far gray. A careless horse will die in a ditch so digging them wide will spare us the grief. We toil in the earth in an aging machine, no less weathered by time than......
The utter largeness that is the legacy and artistic relevance of the late Jim Harrison seems impossible to contain. His novels, novellas, screenplays, and poetry collections have left a once-in-a-generation mark on the literary landscape. Perhaps equally celebrated (or condemned), his life was lived with......
In September, all the water in Montana is low. On the west side of the Continental Divide, there had been no rain since early June. Nikea and I left the creek and climbed the lifted palm of the drainage that held the lake. The basin......
DESIGN-BUILD | CLEAR CREEK DEVELOPING SPECIALTY CONTRACTING | MONTANA TIMBER TECH A Texas couple with family connections to, and a deep affinity for, Big Sky, Montana recently found property in the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, where they planned to build a secondary home for themselves......
What does the West mean to you? Is it a place, a lifestyle, a feeling, a philosophy? In the centuries since Euro-Americans first explored the country’s interior, the West has changed beyond the imaginations of those who first mapped it. In that relatively short time,......
On a visit last spring to the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, I was surprised by two insights. First, Russell’s visual storytelling is astounding. Second, some of those stories involved automobiles. The first insight shouldn’t have been a surprise. “Russell was a wonderful......
Mike Morelli leads a tour of wide-eyed adults through the inner workings of Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) prior to the opening of one of five performances the theater puts on as part of its Community Series. An expressive and exuberant speaker with dancing eyes behind......
If there were only one moment to capture a dining experience, let it be this one: My date and I had just finished the Smoked Mangalitsa Pork Tostada, which we had smelled the moment it hit open flame, the air so smoky and sweet. From......
Museums, galleries, and curated art events celebrating the artists of the Northern Rockies offer an intimate glimpse at life in the American West. Upcoming calendar highlights include: Ongoing Through August 17 Patchworking: Big Sky Domestic Cast-Offs Aunt Dofe’s Gallery | Willow Creek, MT auntdofegallery.com Rebecca......
Great Women Sculptors Written by Phaidon Editors, with an introduction by Lisa Le Feuvre A celebration of more than 300 female sculptors from around the world, this book surveys the past 500 years, recognizing trailblazing artists from the Renaissance to the present day. The alphabetically......
Alara Jewelry — founded in 2004 in Bozeman, Montana — is set to appear on the nationally broadcast television series Empowered with Meg Ryan. The mini-documentary spotlights Alara’s efforts in ethical sourcing, sustainability, and environmental responsibility within the fine jewelry industry. According to founder and......
This spring, longtime Great Falls, Montana resident and former C.M. Russell Museum Director of Art and Philanthropy Duane Braaten was appointed as the museum’s new executive director. Over the past two decades, he helped establish the museum as a nationally recognized leader in Western art......
After 30 years in Jackson, Wyoming, the annual Western Design Conference (WDC) is moving locations. Beginning in 2026, the celebrated show and sale will take place in Bozeman, Montana at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the Montana State University campus. Known for featuring quality craftsmanship......
Edna Mae Berkey has joined Montana Ballet Company as its general manager, taking on a newly created position that the organization hopes will enhance operations and support continued growth across its performance, training, and community engagement programs. Founded in 1984, Montana Ballet Company is a......
Common ground: It’s a phrase that elicits a sense of togetherness, people sharing in an idea or belief despite their diverse experiences and backgrounds. And that’s just what a documentary film crew found in Meagher County in central Montana. Small Town, Big Sky, a short......
Marty Bannon is perpetually in a hurry. He’s eager to get his words out, his work accomplished, and his point across. His nickname “Race” describes his personality as well as his background as a pilot, runner, and long-distance hiker. Now “retired,” Bannon has a new......
Thundering hooves, clouds of dust, whipping manes and tails, and breathtaking skill — Indian relay is one of the earliest extreme sports. Born from Great Plains tribal traditions, these relays test courage, athleticism, teamwork, and horsemanship. From the stands, Indigenous spectators speak a variety of......
From 1920 to 1943, hundreds of children experienced the sights and backwoods of Yellowstone National Park from a saddle. The excursions were organized by Valley Ranch, a popular dude ranch east of the park in Wyoming. Intended to provide access to many attractions around Yellowstone,......
The World-Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is the social event of the year for the small town of Miles City, Montana. For over seven decades, this one-of-a-kind sale weekend has showcased horse races, professional saddle-bronc riding, calcuttas, mutton bustin’ for the kids, live music......
Hardcore cutthroat bums roaming Western backroads with their fly rods, waders, and extra gas tanks know the marquee water, like teenagers with nose rings and spiky hair eagerly touting their favorite punk bands. Vagabonds chasing westslope cutts often head for Montana’s upper Flathead, Clark Fork,......
For more than four decades, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) has actively worked to support hunting and conservation efforts throughout Montana and beyond. Protecting habitat and improving access for wide-ranging species — humans included — RMEF is a homeostatic ecosystem in its own right,......
This Place the Gods Touched Earth (Montana Arts Council and Montana Historical Society Press, $19.95) brings together a strong and vibrant sample of work by all 11 of Montana’s past and current poets laureate, since the honor was established in 2005 by the Montana State......
Phil Lalich doesn’t mind saying that he got into the restaurant business for the first time at 67 years old. “I had a weak moment,” he says of his 2017 decision to buy LaHood Park Steakhouse near Cardwell, Montana. But after 25 years of ranching......
My first trip to Anaconda in 1973 was to compete at the Copper Empire Horse Show. The name was apt: The Anaconda Copper Company was a declining but still dominant force in Montana. The town, founded by Marcus Daly in 1883, was home to “The......
Music fests June 20 – 22 Old Salt Festival Helmville, MT | oldsaltfestival.com Enjoy the Old Salt Co-op’s renowned wood-fired cooking; Americana musicians, including Nikki Lane, Jake Worthington, and Brennan Leigh; Montana rancher demonstrations and discussions in the Land Talk Lounge; and artisanal wares from......
The Winds, as Wyoming’s largest mountain range is affectionately known, straddle the Continental Divide for their entire length, extending approximately 110 miles from Togwotee Pass to South Pass. They also contain the loftiest assemblage of peaks in the American Rockies outside of Colorado. According to......
Mid lake, I rest the oars across the hull to watch a father in his yard pushing the son on a swing — each dependent on the others’ motion, a metronome of affection. I allow myself to drift in front of another yard — each......
For a few fleeting months, the Northern Rockies are graced with brilliant summer sunshine. Clouds billow and sweep across an endless blue horizon that is, in many places, striated with the purples, blues, and greens of the mountains. It is during this season that many......
As a young boy, Samuel Singer spent a lot of time looking up at the night sky with his dad near their home in northern Nevada’s high desert. They had relocated from a more urban environment, and the young Singer was captivated by the night......
Amy Lay is a full-time artist. Her work appears in galleries across the country, from Manchester, Vermont to Whitefish, Montana. But she’s also a full-time homesteader — the fourth generation to run her family’s ranch in Oregon. “This property and this lifestyle, they’re responsibilities that......
Circling: following a lake’s perimeter and adhering closely to the shoreline while tracing the curve of bays and the tips of promontories. This way of kayaking a large body of water captivates me. Circling something truly marvelous and ending back where I started has answered......
ARCHITECTURE | KIRK MICHELS ARCHITECTS CONSTRUCTION | BLUE RIBBON BUILDERS INTERIOR DESIGN | ELEVATION ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS As an avid fly fisherman and skier, a homeowner found his home away from home in Big Sky, Montana. He spent a lot of his free time in......
Mountain biking promises freedom and escape, but most rides are confined to a dirt strip just wide enough for two tires. While I love the feeling of cruising fast remote singletrack, what really obsesses me is freeriding: descending an open face where the trail is......
ARCHITECTURE | Farmer Payne Architects CONSTRUCTION | New West Building Company DEVELOPMENT & INTERIOR DESIGN | The Jackson Home Company When the future owners of a home on Trader Road in Jackson, Wyoming step outside their door, they’ll see the natural beauty the land offers......
ARCHITECTURE | Locati Architects CONSTRUCTION | Schlauch Bottcher Construction INTERIOR DESIGN | DeLeo & Fletcher Design When asked about the inspiration for this elegant alpine retreat, architect Steve Locati doesn’t hesitate, summing it up in a single word: “Family.” The Montana property was designed by......
ARCHITECTURE | Ward | Blake Architects CONSTRUCTION | Ormond Builders Rammed-earth construction has taken on various iterations, long serving to shelter humans across the globe. Despite its popularity through the ages, it is seldom seen in the Northwest. But architect Tom Ward of the Jackson,......
ARCHITECTURE | Reid Smith Architects CONSTRUCTION | Teton Heritage Builders INTERIOR DESIGN | Decorators Unlimited Where the Gallatin Range of southwest Montana anchors an open-ended sky, a house built into the side of a mountain is the meeting of the structural and sublime. Roaming Bear,......
ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN | O’Neill Rose Architects CONSTRUCTION | OSM Construction At first glance, the almost 9,000-square-foot home on the Moonlight Basin side of Montana’s Big Sky Resort appears uncompromisingly futuristic for a rugged location seemingly more accustomed to rustic cabins or contemporary barnwood-clad......
ARCHITECTURE | Miller | Roodell Architects CONSTRUCTION | North Fork Builders INTERIOR DESIGN | Design Associates Bringing a historic building back to life takes insight, inspiration, and imagination. Luckily for the Lovelace building on Main Street in Bozeman, Montana, the team that completed its recent......
DESIGN | Hub City Productions CONSTRUCTION | Malmquist Construction INTERIOR DESIGN | Cooke Interiors Studio STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING | Eclipse Engineering LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE | Northwest Design Studio When Travis and Stephanie Hollman set out to build their home in Whitefish, Montana, their primary goal was simple: “We......
ARCHITECTURE | Robbins Architecture CONSTRUCTION | Wilkinson-Montesano Builders INTERIOR DESIGN | Herringbone Design LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE | Design Workshop When Laura and Bruce Linger went looking for the ideal place to build a second home in the Mountain West, the many advantages offered by Tributary, a......
ARCHITECTURE | Faure Halvorsen Architects CONSTRUCTION | Highline Partners INTERIOR DESIGN | Peace Design Halfway through constructing what was intended to be a two-bedroom guest house, Bozeman, Montana-based builder Rob McRae of Highline Partners had a feeling that something was missing. “Everything was going well......