Author: wheatgrassaloon

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Dangerous: A Mural Arts Competition, September 2017

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Fourteen artists submitted 20 mural art pieces with a message geared toward raising our political consciousness with the hopes of making our world a better place. The winning piece, titled,  was painted on the side of the building at 120 North Main Street. 

“There is nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.” ~ Banksy

Parker Beckley’s Grow #7 is the piece that was chosen by a panel of local judges. Of his work, Parker says: “I work with local farms and producers constantly. I believe many of the global problems we face today have at least one root of their solution in food. Something we all do multiple times each day, we truly are what we eat and that impact shouldn’t be taken for granted.  I think it’s incredibly important in this age for artists and growers to work together to inform, inspire and educate those around that even our most simple of daily choices affect systems far beyond our individual selves. The parallels of art and farming range far and wide, but at their core they both require immense amounts of patience and dedication. Technique and skill are necessary but there are also forces we can’t control. At times both farming and art making require at least a bit of blind faith. The way to a successful harvest is the continued work and care, day after day, learning and growing as you go.”

 

 

Parker Beckley is a working artist in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of the University of Montana’s Fine Arts program with an emphasis in painting and photography, Parker now finds himself working in a countless array of mediums. From graphic design, animation, sculpture/3D to street art, printmaking, event orientated performances, on and on, his mediums shift to match the desired intent of each body of work.

Parker Beckley on street art:  “I think part of the beauty of street art is in it’s tendency to be overlooked and ignored by many, and the almost certainty of it’s impermanence. The walls will be painted over, that brief moment in time disappearing forever. Sometimes the messages are loud and to the point while others capture these quiet moments and thoughts in the most silent corners and alleyways. The process of hand cutting intricate stencils and repeated spraying leads to a fairly quick and natural deterioration of the stencils themselves, in a way guaranteeing their relatively short lifespans. I’ve been creating stencils for over a decade now and still learn new techniques and ideas every time I create.  Street art has this special relationship in that it is tied directly to it’s environment, the statement and context can change dramatically based on the location they are placed in.
To younger artists I would say that I hate seeing bad street art, especially bad street art placed in seemingly pointless places (garbage tags thrown up on the side of small mom and pop shops, pointless vandalism, etc.) I don’t see the point in breaking the law and risk getting caught unless you really, really have something pertinent to share. It’s often pretty easy to get permission if you’ve put the time in to develop your craft. As with anything.”

 

 

 

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Living in Paradise, September 2018

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One of Traci Jo’s sketches for 3-dimensional figures.

Traci Jo Isaly has been pursuing a mixed-media approach to the creation of archetypal figures for 14 years. It is an inexhaustible medium. On September 28th, her show Living in Paradise opened at Green Door Gallery for the fourth art walk of the season. Our area is rich in culture, characters and wild creatures of both the human and non-human sort. Mixing it up, she has created a collection of archetypal figures that reflect where she lives, dreams and works to to make the world a better place.

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Into the Void, August 2018

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Artist, Carla Pagliaro brought a new body of work, Into the Void, to Green Door Gallery. Of these new works, Carla says, “these paintings reflect my feelings about these troubled times, and about death. I never expected to do anything figurative, but these sculptures felt more right than anything else.” For more about Carla Pagliaro and her new work, enjoy this interview by Rachel Hergett from the Bozeman Chronicle.

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#MeToo: A Visual Dialogue, July 2018

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#MeToo: A Visual Dialogue, with works by six artists: Jane Deschner, Angie Froke, John Garre, Traci Isaly, Tandy Riddle and Cathryn Reitler. Over a decade ago, Tarana Burke created the “Me Too” movement to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in society. The movement was popularized by actress Alyssa Milano in the fall of 2017 when she encouraged women to tweet it to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Since then, the hashtag has spread virally and the phrase has been posted online millions of times, often with an accompanying personal story of sexual harassment or assault. In this exhibit voices will be heard through images. What began as a relatively straight-forward movement in which newly empowered women were outing men, #MeToo has come to involve all genders as it looks at the prevalence of the abuse of power in the context of gender, class and race. To what extent can our voices come together and work toward a collective truth and toward a holistic approach to health in community? The hope is to create an exchange of telling and listening that is helpful in the move toward awareness, change, healing and prevention.

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Mask Artistry

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We kicked off the series on June 22nd with  Stephanie Campbell’s Mask Artistry: Faces of the Elements. In the two and a half years since artist Stephanie Campbell retired from a 33-year career as a theater professor at MSU, she has found a new calling in Mask Artistry and the creation of almost 50 masks. Each is uniquely designed from all natural materials, and each has a back story to integrate the emotional/physical/mental/spiritual aspects of the masks. Mask Artistry is an investigation of who we are within the masks, and what each may represent or trigger within our own emotional makeup, as we witness and explore ancient creative traditions and bridge the gap between ordinary reality and the non-ordinary spirit realm.

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Joker Cards Bios and Artist Statements

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Darla Myers was born in Oregon and now calls Bozeman, MT home. She is a painter and captures the beauty of ordinary moments in the outdoors in her own colorful, evocative style.

Pronghorns are a ubiquitous sight in the West, and to me they appear a bit quiet and unassuming. I believe you’ve always got to watch out for the quiet ones as they are often full of pranks and jokes.

Rod Kurtz enjoys using his artistic abilities for community betterment. Anytime he is asked to use his art for a community project he jumps at the opportunity.

The fox seems to be the Joker of the animal kingdom in our area. The changing seasons gave me the idea to make the falling leaves the suits.

Return to Livingston: Queen of tHE ARTS page.

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Spade Cards Bios & Artist Statements

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ACE
Morena Garcia has been making things with her hands for years; always putting odd pieces together. It is a Montanan trait to restructure the wild into a vision that has a story to tell.

As I started to research the ace of spades, two things became apparent. The first is that we have long associated it with the greatest triumph: life. The original shape mimics the tree of life. While many associations with the ace are bright and strong, many are cursed. The ace has been used as a symbol of ultimate destruction: in Vietnam, US soldiers would place it in the helmets, mouths, or on the bodies of dead Vietcong. Saddam Hussein’s code name was the ace of spades until his murder. So my piece reflects the human choice to adopt triumph. Dull this tree’s colors until it is nothing more than black. While this is what we can do, the tree’s roots still go deep and have a chance to touch its former brilliant life filled glory.

TWO
Lyn StClair is a Montana artist who finds inspiration in the creatures that live in the Northern Rockies and in the views seen between her horse’s ears.

“Double Pounce of Spades” began with a twist on the rotational symmetry of classic playing card design. It finished with a pair of pouncing foxes for a touch of wild Montana.

THREE
Kaitlin Kaiser is an enthusiastic adventurist, yogi, and creator. She loves to explore different mediums from charcoal to acrylic on surfboards and has recently began dabbling in watercolor. She uses nature for inspiration and often incorporates ambiguous and ironic situations into her work in attempt to lighten the mood and the heart.

When I picked the three of spades I knew that I wanted to use watercolor and originally envisioned a black and white snowy scene with Ponderosa Pine trees representing three spades. As I began painting a few drafts though the piece took on a punny direction that so often speaks to me, and voilà I dug the three black spades.

FOUR
Blynne Froke is a retired English teacher living in Northern California. She possesses an ever-growing passion for birds, but the raven has always been her favorite. She has enjoyed making friends with the from California to Alaska.

Ravens are the most intelligent of birds displaying a wide variety of moods from serious to playful. They communicate generously and remember individual peoples faces for years; sometimes sharing them beyond their own generation.


FIVE
Bonnie Lynn Watton is a professional landscape designer and enjoys working in various mediums. She enjoys painting, working with markers, botanical artwork (pressed flowers), floral arranging, photography, hand applique and drywall carvings. Bonnie has been teaching creative arts and landscaping classes for community education programs since 1999.

I grew up in a family that played card games for entertainment. Although I loved the games, I never understood why the cards were so boring in design and color. I wanted to create a whimsical, colorful card that people would enjoy looking at.

SIX
Buff Brown graduated from Philadelphia College of Art in 1979, with an MFA in Photography. He is a musician, having played electric blues harmonica for the last 40 years.

Sam Spade came almost simultaneously with choice of the six of spades. I used colored pencils on the black and white print and sandpaper to distress the overall look of the card.

SEVEN
Parker Beckley is a multi-media artist from Missoula, Montana. From murals and graphic design to weird, performance art-esque events and more, he’s constantly trying to learn and grow as an artist/person.

Seven of Space, get it? I went to Art School.

EIGHT
Beth Gregory is a metalsmith and owner of b gregory jewelry. She creates original designs in silver, gemstones, and enameled copper, using primarily recycled metals.

My goal with this piece was to create an image with a vintage look and a whimsical tone, using recycled materials and found objects

NINE
Jo Newhall has been a long-time educator, in the classroom and outdoors. When she is not in the classroom or in the mountains she can be found creating in her studio. Her medium is clay, which she uses to hand-build playful pots inspired by nature and children.

As a clay artist I look to the natural world for inspiration. With the 9 of spades I found my muse in a murder of crows and aspen trees.

TEN
Sarah Faye was born in Livingston and encouraged from a young age to follow her heart. She has a vision and color palette full of passion and vibrancy. She creates art through invoking emotion and painting in a moving meditation.

I strive to inspire and create a space for meditation and reflection.

JACK
Linda Barnsley felt the call of the west a decade ago and relocated from Maryland to Montana.  She now enjoys working in both oils and acrylics, capturing the expressions and textures of the wildlife and natural world surrounding her.

Upon hearing of this project, a jackalope just popped into my head.
Note: A “jackalope” is a combination of a “jackrabbit” and an “antelope,” though a jackrabbit is not a rabbit and a pronghorn is not an antelope and antelopes don’t have antlers they have horns, my apologies.

QUEEN
Trish Wild is a Montana native. She paints visions of colorful images inspired by nature and the beauty of life in the west. In addition to being a full-time artist, Trish is the founder and leader of Montana Horse Archers, a Livingston-based affiliate of Horse Archery USA.

The Queen of Spades in Tarot represents female intelligence and independence. I have painted this Horse Archer Queen to represent a powerful feminine agent of change.

KING
Storrs Bishop has lived in Livingston since the mid-nineties and has shown his work in many of Livingston’s galleries since 2002. He searches for meaning to life’s great questions through the creative process using a variety of media, including photography, printmaking and mixed media.

On a project where we are combining functionality with interpretation I wanted to stay fairly literal to the assigned subject. By interpreting the King of spades through a pun and inverting the royal status of the face card to a gravedigger, I hope to give the poker player a moment’s pause before she bets the farm on a king-high hand.

Return to Livingston: Queen of tHE ARTS page.