JEAN ALBUS: RAPTURE ON THE PLAINS
Friday . October 14 . 5:30-8pm
Bair Gallery
MICHAEL DEMENG: LOS MISTERIOSOS
Friday . October 21 . 5:30-8pm
Nicholson-Artworks Gallery
ART
October Opening Receptions
Friday . October 14 . 5:30-8pm
Friday . October 21 . 5:30-8pm
Narratives of the Land: Railroad & Highway Series
Fall 2011: Sept 9 – Oct 22
The Holter’s ongoing Narratives of the Land series highlights Montana landscape and continues through September and October. Events are held in conjunction with Andy Cline: Cruise Control and David Swanson: Sweat & Steel. The series will end with a gallery talk by Jean Albus, whose exhibition Rapture on the Plains celebrates women and Montana’s landscape.
All events are free and open to the public. Call 442-6400 with questions.
Friday . September 9 . 5:30–8pm
Opening Reception . David Swanson: Sweat & Steel
Livingston artist David Swanson has collected railroad poetry, songs, and folklore that enhance the striking exhibition of paintings of Montana’s railroads and their workers. Special music performance at 6:30 featuring David on acoustic guitar and Bill Devine on dobro.
Saturday . September 10 . 10am | 11am
Gallery Talk | Historic Photographs
10am . Join David Swanson for a gallery talk on Sweat & Steel and the unique influences on his work.
11am . Steve Jackson, Curator of Photography at the Museum of the Rockies, illuminates the museum’s photographic collection of Ron V. Nixon, a nationally recognized railroad photographer, telegrapher and dispatcher for Northern Pacific and Burlington Northern.
Friday . September 16 . 6:30pm
Roadside Montana
Willem Volkersz, artist and professor emeritus of MSU, presents images of roadside art he’s collected throughout Montana. From neon signs to folk art sculpture, these works are worth a detour.
Saturday . September 17 . 10:30am
Montana’s Historical Highways
While not sweating over the state’s historic roads and bridges, historian Jon Axline conducts cultural resource surveys for MDT and writes interpretive markers on everything from dinosaurs to missile silos.
Friday . September 23 . 6pm
Night at the {silent} Movies: The Railroad Men (1923)
Experience the silent movies the way they were meant to be! Cheer the hero as he rescues the boss’s daughter and boo and hiss at the villain. Alex Swaney will improvise the music! Come in historic costume if you like. Popcorn provided!
Friday . September 30 . 6pm
Night at the Movies: Danger Lights (1930) and Union Depot (1932)
Danger Lights was a Hollywood hit and largely filmed along Montana’s railroad lines. Two railroaders fall in love with the same girl, but when the chips are down everyone joins together to save the day. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell star in the steamy Warner Bros. classic Union Depot. Popcorn provided!
Saturday . October 1 . 10:30 am
Rails to Gold and Silver: Montana’s Historic Railroads
Bill and Jan Taylor are the authors of several books and articles on Montana mining and railroad history. They have walked and photographed most every railroad line (including the abandoned ones) in western Montana and have served as on-board host-lecturers for the American Orient Express and the Montana Daylight train between Livingston and Sandpoint.
Saturday . October 8 . 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Family Day: Everything Railroad!
Join us for a fun-filled railroad-themed day for the entire family. Model trains will take over the Museum’s Sherman Gallery against a backdrop of David Swanson’s railroad paintings as Ken Matthews from “Imagination Station” delights old and young alike with his gallery-sized modular railroad. Georgia Stinson (and other members of the Helena Rail Modeling Club) will give tips on model making. Enjoy railroad-themed art projects, food, and stories as we all get our “choo-choo” on.
Friday . October 14 . 5:30-8:00 pm
Jean Albus: Rapture on the Plains — Opening Reception (Bair Gallery Oct 14-Dec 31, 2011)
Jean is a feisty Montana native who now lives near Bridger, Montana. Her striking images have many layers of meaning relating to the history of the land, our connection to it and the human conditions of joy, transition and mortality.
Saturday . October 15 . 10:30 am
Jean Albus: Gallery Talk
Jean Albus will talk about her creative process and the importance of Montana landscape to her work.
Saturday . October 22 . 10:30 am
Helena’s Sixth Ward: History and Walking Tour
Learn about the importance of the Sixth Ward to the railroads in Montana and Helena’s history and about plans for its revitalization. Join Historian Ellen Baumler of the Montana Historical Society for a spirited walking tour — weather permitting. Call 442-6400 for details.
The Holter’s Speaker’s Series is made possible by grants from Humanities Montana, BNSF Railway, 
Montana Rail Link and MT AFL-CIO. Thank you!
DAVID SWANSON: SWEAT & STEEL
Sherman Gallery Sept 1-Oct 30, 2011
Reception: Friday, Sept 9. 5:30 – 8:00 pm — Special performance of railroad music and poetry by David Swanson on acoustical guitar and Bill Devine on dobro: 6:30 pm
Artist talk: Saturday, Sept 10. 10:00 am
When Livingston artist David Swanson looks at the Montana landscape, he sees powerful machinery and men sweating for a living. He hears the chink of line being laid and songs that keep a man going on a killer winter morning. Railroad workers on Montana’s MRL and BNSF rail lines steal the thunder in Sweat and Steel from the blue sky and open landscape. The exhibition includes 18 oversize paintings, artifacts, poetry and music that underscore the current and historic importance of Montana’s railroads.
SEE OUR Narratives of the Land SERIES FOR SPECIAL RAILROAD-RELATED EVENTS. Here’s a sampling:
Saturday . September 10 . 10am | 11am Gallery Talk | Historic Photographs
10am . Join David Swanson for a gallery talk on Sweat & Steel and the unique influences on his work.
11am . Steve Jackson, Curator of Photography at the Museum of the Rockies, illuminates the museum’s photographic collection of Ron V. Nixon, a nationally recognized railroad photographer, telegrapher and dispatcher for Northern Pacific and Burlington Northern.
Friday . September 23 . 6pm Night at the {silent} Movies: The Railroad Men (1923)
Experience the silent movies the way they were meant to be! Cheer the hero as he rescues the boss’s daughter and boo and hiss at the villain. Alex Swaney will improvise the music! Come in historic costume if you like. Popcorn provided!
Friday . September 30 . 6pm Night at the Movies: Danger Lights (1930)
Danger Lights was a Hollywood hit and largely filmed along Montana’s railroad lines. Two railroaders fall in love with the same girl, but when the chips are down everyone joins together to save the day. Popcorn provided!
Saturday, October 1 – 10:30 am Rails to Gold and Silver: Montana’s Historic Railroads
Bill and Jan Taylor are the authors of several books and articles on Montana, mining and railroad history. They have walked and photographed al most every railroad line (including the abandoned ones) in western Montana and have served as on-board host-lecturers for the American Orient Express and the Montana Daylight train between Livingston and Sandpoint.
Saturday, October 8 – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Family Day!
A railroad-themed day for the entire family. Arts projects. Food. Films. Music. Model trains take over the Sherman Gallery against a backdrop of David Swanson’s railroad paintings. Georgia Stinson (and other members of the Helena Rail Modeling Club) will give tips on model making. Ken Matthews from “Imagination Station” will delight old and young alike with his gallery-sized modular railroad.
Saturday, October 22 – time to be determined Walking Tour of Helena’s Sixth Ward
Learn about the importance of Helena’s Sixth Ward to Montana’s railroad history and about plans for its revitalization. Join historian Ellen Baumler of the Montana Historical Society for a spirited walking tour — weather permitting. Call 442-6400 for time and meeting place.
The Holter’s Speaker’s Series is made possible by grants from Humanities Montana, BNSF Railway, Montana Rail Link and MT AFL-CIO. Thank you!
Kris Snider: Make Believe
Nicholson-Artworks Gallery
August 30-October 2, 2011
Reception: Thurs, September 9, 5:30-8pm
Helena artist Kris Snider presents her latest figurative work. Her colorful portraits present moments depicting the use of imagination. “Growing up, in order to understand the world around me, I studied life by pretending and playing. I still do this even today. “ Her images originate from her friends and family, a nostalgic childhood, and present life as a new mother, Kris’ paintings encourge playfulness and challenging your imagination all throughout life.
In 2004, Kris received her BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Her artwork has been in galleries across the nation and overseas. She has served on the Holter Museum of Art’s Third Thursday committee and has donated creativity and time to local organizations including the Turman Larison Contemporary, The Lewis & Clark Humane Society, Spirit of Service, The Gravity Guild, Pennies for Progress, The Prickly Pear Land trust and Head Start. She lives in Helena with her husband Will and daughter Hazel.
Michael deMeng
Nicholson-Artworks Gallery
October 4 – November 6, 2011
Artist Reception: Friday, October 21, 5:30-8pm
Michael deMeng is an artist who travels the world teaching and creating mixed media shrines and “deMented” toys. He has exhibited throughout the world with his unique style of assemblage. His book, “Secrets of Rusty Things,” published by North Light Books was released in May of 2007. His second book, “Dusty Diablos,” focuses on his love affair with Mexico and the art it inspires.
“My work is about transformations. It is about the transformation of the common into the sacred. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in my work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning. These assemblages are metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth, from new to old to renewed, from construction to destruction to reconstruction. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever changing.”
BRAY 60TH CELEBRATION: “BIG CLAY”
High Gallery
June 17-Dec 31, 2011
Reception: Thurs, June 23, 5:30-8pm
Downtown Ceramic Stroll: Thurs, June 23,
7-10pm
A dramatic exhibition of “Big Works” – large sculptural, architectural and installation pieces – by outstanding Bray artists, including Nathan Craven, Jeremy Hatch, John Balistreri, Alanna DeRocchi and Kensuke Yamada. In collaboration with The Bray Foundation and their 60th anniversary celebration.
Images listed by artist clockwise from top left: Jeremy Hatch; Kensuke Yamada; Alanna DeRocchi; Nathan Craven; John Balistreri.
BRAY COLLABORATION: THEN AND NOW
Sherman Gallery
June 17-Aug 28, 2011
Reception: Thurs, June 23, 5:30-8pm
Downtown Ceramic Stroll: Thurs, June 23,
7-10pm
The exhibtion highlights work of established Bray artists from their early stages to their most recent. Follow their creative direction over time, discover the new directions their work has taken, explore the early experiments and their later maturity. Co-curated with Emily Free Wilson of the Bray, using works from the permanent collection of the Holter and the Bray and artists’ most recent work.
The participating artists are:
*JOSH DEWEESE *CARY ESSER * CHRIS GUSTIN * ROBERT HARRISON * WAYNE HIGBY * EVA KWONG * STEVEN YOUNG LEE * BETH LO* KIRK MANGUS * MATTHEW METZ * RICHARD NOTKIN * DON REITZ* LINDA SIKORA * BOBBY SILVERMAN * CHRIS STALEY * RICHARD SWANSON * TED VOGEL
* ROSALIE WYNKOOP
Images listed by artist clockwise from top left: Ted Vogel; Linda Sikora; Kirk Mangus; Cary Esser;
Matthew Metz.
Kurt Keller: Altered Realities
The Day I Found The Idea Tree
Nicholson-Artworks Gallery
July 19 – Aug 28, 2011
Reception: Thurs, July 21, 5:30-8pm
After years of creating straight black and white photography, I wanted to go in a new direction to get a fresh way of looking at the world. I decided to create a new photograph every week for a year. This challenge brought a time deadline as well as a personal goal for each image to be something outside of my normal work. These images come from dreams and thoughts of things that could be. Some of these ideas have been wandering in my head for years. Others happen as I walk the streets looking for inspiration. The idea that photographs are real has changed in recent years. These images were created from several “real” photographs that I combined to create a very unreal image. I have always been facinated by dreams and where they come from. These images represent my dreamscapes.
