To make my unique hand-painted solar plate etchings, I combine contemporary non-toxic solar plate etching methods with laborious hand inking, wiping and hand-pulling though an old-fashioned cranked etching press. I then isolate the damp inked impression with rabbit skin glue and painstakingly paint on top of it with oils. The edition sizes are very small, and each painted etching is one-of-a kind.

Sept 21-Oct 26
Reception: Sept 30

Kimberly Navratil-Pope, metalsmith, is a fifth generation Montanan. The anvil she uses came up the Missouri River on the steamboat “Josephine” by her great great grandfather, a woodhawk on the Missouri who later started one of the first stage coach stops in Montana

Much of Navratil-Pope’s adult life was spent raising a child and making art in her house with no electricity, running water, phone or heat in a small fishing village in rural Greece. She returned to Montana to finish her Studio Arts degree at MSU in 1993.

Her studio is a renovated 1940’s chicken house that her husband, ceramic artist Rick Pope, refurbished. The studio is located at the foothills of the Bridger Mountains and bear and mountain lions venture down into her yard. Her work has been published in various national magazines and books. Navratil-Pope exhibits locally, nationally and internationally and her work is included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian.

Sept 21-Oct 26
Reception: Sept 30

Talk about turning your life upside down! After 33 years of marriage and two hip replacements, Noel went from suburban housewife to single independent artist living in a high-rise.

“My marriage fell apart, my body fell apart, and I started looking out for myself. I figured I’ve done my job, raised my kids; I might as well see what I’m about.”

A class in metal-working left her wanting more. “I decided to give myself five years and see what happened.”  Happiness happened!

Now, using an acetylene torch, hammers, saws, files, and an anvil, Noel turns bronze, silver, gold, and copper into wearable or displayable art. The one time newspaper reporter says, “My pieces all have a story behind them. It’s sort of like writing with metal.”

Working mostly on commission, she turns client memories of special days, memories, and passions into beautiful works of art.