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Home  News Latest Western art show boasts area artists
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Western art show boasts area artists |
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Wednesday, 14 March 2007 |
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Other Choteau artists in the WHA show are Dale Depner, with western and wildlife drawings, and Miles Anderson, a bronze artist who specializes in miniature bronze sculptures.
Jim Mepham of Brady will be in room 109 with his photography exhibit.
Artists coming in from Power include oil painter Melody Berg and Diane Anderson who works with watercolors as well as oils. Anderson is one of the WHA artists currently working on painting buffalo for a West Yellowstone project that is similar to what was done in Great Falls.
According to show chairman Kay Chick, Fairfield artists include Ross Contway with bronzes and Bonnie Dale with sculptures, oils and pastels.
Scott Hayes of Augusta is participating again this year. His website, www.scotthayesart.com, says that “Hayes has more than 15 years of experience carving intricate wildlife scenes inside the antlers of elk, moose, deer, and the horns of big horn sheep. He is well known for his award-winning pieces which combine these carvings with detailed bronze sculptures.” Hayes also does one-of-a-kind relief sculptures out of drywall mud on walls and ceilings.
Pat Shepherd, Dupuyer, and Athena Mosxona, Valier, are sharing room 241. Their showing consists primarily of watercolor paintings, but they may add mixed media.
Mosxona started doing Byzantine paintings about eight years ago. This style of art is most often recognized as religious icon paintings. She has also received recent recognition for her mural painted on a wall at the Stone School Inn Bed and Breakfast in Valier.
Called “Inn School Eagles,” the mural starts in the entryway at the top of the entrance to the dining room. It then continues on the wall downstairs where the main part of the painting measures about 10 feet high by 20 feet long. It was painted using regular house paint.
Mosxona painted a watercolor of the finished mural and will have prints and note cards of it for sale at the WHA Art Show.
“You can get mesmerized just by looking at it,” said Inn owner Susan Northfisher, describing how the dramatic effect of the soaring eagles was created by layering birch trees in front of lodgepole pines, which are in front of the Chief Mountain background. “The perspective makes the room downstairs just look huge,” added Northfisher.
The painting, which features magpies and mountain bluebirds as well as eagles, can be seen by visiting the Inn or its website, www.stoneschoolinn.com. Northfisher was pleased to report that she and Sharon Briden were able to help with some of the painting – doing thousands of pine needles!
This is not the first mural painted by Mosxona. In fact, she said her work can be seen on her garage located on Illinois Street in Valier where she painted a sandhill crane flying into a sunset.
And like those flying birds, the spectrum of art featured at the WHA Art Show reaches several levels with awards presentations, musical entertainment and a Lewis and Clark seminar.
The seminar is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. Presented by Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, it is called “Why Sacajawea Deserves the Day Off.”
Friday evening’s music will feature Jeni Dodd of Great Falls who plays guitar and sings. Chinook musician, Ken Overcast, continues with performances on Saturday evening and Sunday.
“Western art is western art – some is visual and some is audio,” said Overcast, who has been attending the WHA Art Show for about 10 years. “We’re a perfect match.”
Background information about Overcast is available on his website, www.kenovercast.com, but many will also recognize him as author of the column, “Meadow Muffins,” and recent performer of his “Montana Lullaby” for the Montana House of Representatives.
A proposed bill for the song to become the official state lullaby passed in the House of Representatives and is in transmittal now, waiting for a decision by the Senate.
Overcast explained during a phone interview how his lyrics were inspired by a tune written by Conrad native Wylie Gustafson back in the 1990’s.
He liked Gustafson’s melody called “Big Sky Lullaby.”
“But it had no words, so I came up with lyrics,” said Overcast. “The yodel is exactly the same, but I had to change the tune a little.” he added.
Montana Lullaby is included in Overcast’s program for the WHA Art Show.
Undoubtedly, Charlie Russell would have approved of having music included in an art show depicting lifestyles of the Old West. In the book entitled Charlie’s Trail, Gayle C. Shirley states that Russell “sang to the sleepy animals and gazed in wonder at the stars” when he worked as a night wrangler before becoming a full-time cowboy artist.
Though not yet a full-time artist, Moritz pointed out that music is a great mood setter for painting. His hobby through the years has been music and he continues to play and sing with the “Group” at the Horizon Lodge and the Nursing Home.
Western Heritage Artists Art Show hours run 7 to 10 p.m. March 14, with the Quick Finish and Auction starting at 7 p.m. The show continues from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. March 15, 16 and 17; and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 18. Admission is free.
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