Exit Gallery Call for Entries!!!

ASMSU Arts and Exhibits is now accepting applications for exhibits in the Exit Gallery during the Spring 2010 semester. We’re looking for anyone and everyone, whether you are a student or an established artist. If accepted you will show your artwork in a two week solo exhibit with paid advertising and reception. This is a chance to promote yourself as an artist, promote the arts on campus, and sell your work! Seven spots are available. For an application or for more information please contact Stacey Ray, ASMSU Arts and Exhibits Director at  exhibits@montana.edu. Applications are due December 15, 2009.

jROD and Pyper Hugos: “The Creative Life”

Living an inspired life isn’t always easy, making a living off inspiration can be even harder. So, is the creative life worth it? Jarrod Eastman (aka jROD) and Pyper Hugos think so. They are the husband and wife behind jRODaRT and You Got Mojo. They met 11 years ago in Granada, Spain. Magnetized by their mutual love of life and creativity, they have been pursuing careers in the arts ever since they met. Jarrod has always been drawn to painting while Pyper’s love for anything old and rusty, especially metal, has led her to jewelry. jROD’s work leans towards an urban aesthetic while holding true to a painterly style. His paintings appear kinetic and surreal with the essence of a story just beginning or of one in progress. Pyper’s jewelry is beautiful in its simplicity of design and color. Using reclaimed automotive steel, found objects, and sterling silver, she reinvents pieces that transcend time and genres, creating art that is at once retro yet modern.

These two artists have teamed up with Amy Kirkland of Altitude Gallery to bring you a one night art extravaganza…“The Creative Life”. They will be showing new artwork from the last few months in the studio. jROD will also be releasing a new 16 x 20 limited edition print series, and Pyper will be unveiling new bracelets and rings in her line of jewelry. This event is sponsored by Altitude Gallery and Montana Ale Works and will take place at the gallery located at 134 E. Main St. from 5 to 9pm on November 6th, 2009. Stop by for some great art and libations.

For more information contact Amy @ 406.582.4472 or visit www.altitudegallerybozeman.com, www.yougotmojo.com, or www.jrodart.com.

In Memoriam: An Installation by Willem Volkersz

ASMSU Arts and Exhibits presents In Memoriam, an installation by Willem Volkersz. The exhibit will be showing for the first time in the Exit Gallery October 19-30. There will be a free public artist reception Wednesday, October 21 from 5-7pm in the gallery. The Exit Gallery is the MSU campus gallery and is located in Strand Union Building room 212, Montana State University, Bozeman. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. For more information please contact Stacey Ray, ASMSU Arts and Exhibits Director at 406.994.1828 or exhibits@montana.edu.

Artist Statement:
Several years ago, I learned that 165 students and former students from my elementary school in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, had died during the Holocaust. Although I did not start school until 1944, I feel a special kinship with these young people–we probably had some of the same teachers and their parents had the same passion for Montessori education as my family.

Much of my work as an artist has been autobiographical; my most recent solo exhibition (in 2008) was called Stories of War and Peace and dealt with my World War II memories and my family’s emigration to the US in the early 1950’s. Since life was difficult and because my parents were active in the underground (a number of Jews lived secretly under our roof), I grew up with a lot stories about the war. And, as kids, our lives were filled with the daily adventure of trying to take a shortcut to school by sneaking through a barbed wire barricade and with collecting Nazi helmets, broken rifles and spent cartridge belts we found in bombed structures.

In Memoriam consists of 165 wooden suitcases, one for each of the young people from my school who died in concentration camps. There are three sizes–the smallest for children 6 through 12 at the time of death, a medium size for teenagers, and a larger size for the two dozen who were in their late teens or early twenties. Many of the suitcase panels are made from plywood scrounged from the dumpster furniture factory where our son works. On each suitcase, I have painted the name of one of the children and the place, age and date of their death.

One additional component consists of a neon sculpture depicting a young, stooped boy carrying a suitcase (I have named him “Leo”). I am asking the staff at each venue that installs In Memoriam to interact with the work and to decide on how to display the 166 components. Whenever possible, I look forward to speaking about my family’s war experiences and the circumstances that led to the untimely death of these young people.

Artists Sought for new Bozeman License Plate Design

You might wear your heart on your sleeve, but how would you wear your town on your license plate?  Area artists are encouraged to submit designs for a new Bozeman license plate that represents the best of where we live.  What do Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley mean to you?  How would you represent that visually?  This is your chance to show us, and to see your artwork adorning vehicles across the state!

The City of Bozeman and the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture are excited to collaborate on a new license plate design to be released in 2010.   Proceeds from the license plate sales will go toward nurturing area children’s bodies and minds. Money collected from the purchase of the license plate will help fund tangible improvements to children’s areas in Bozeman parks by adding slides, climbers, wood chips, etc. and will also supplement the Emerson’s Children’s Art Education Program.

Artists must submit original designs that adhere to the State of Montana specifications listed on the application.  Specifications are available for download at www.bozeman.net.  Artwork specifications may also be picked up at City Hall, 121 N. Rouse or at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture’s main office, 111 S. Grand.  Your license plate designs are due by December 14 and may be mailed or delivered to:

Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture
Attn:  License Plate
111 S. Grand Ave.
Bozeman, MT  59715

Questions: Email Brit Fontenot at bfontenot@bozeman.net or call Jeane Garrity at 406-587-9797.

Call for Artists: Art Markets at the Emerson

Local artists are sought for the Emerson’s second annual Art Market, held in conjunction with the Bozeman Winter Farmer’s Market. The Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture seeks local craftspeople selling handmade arts, crafts, jewelry and more. Products must be handmade locally by the vendor and vendors must attend all dates. Applications are due by October 24th.

Art markets will take place on the following Saturday mornings, from 9am – 12pm: November 14th and 28th, December 12th, February 13th and 27th, March 13th and 27th, April 10th and 24th.

For more information or an application, visit www.theemerson.org, email cherlyn@theemerson.org or call 587-9797.

Ceramic and Mixed Media by visiting artist Hun Chung Lee

This fall, the School of Art welcomes Hun Chung Lee, an independent studio artist working in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, just south of Seoul. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, an master’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in California, and is currently a doctoral candidate in architecture at Kyung-Won University in Korea. Lee was a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in 1997 and 2001 and has an extensive exhibition record. His work is held in many public and private collections.

During this visit Lee will create work for the Archie Bray Foundation and for the MSU Copeland Gallery exhibition. While at MSU, Lee will host a ceramics workshop at the ceramics studio in Haynes Hall Oct. 13 and 14 during regular class times. He will give a lecture, open to the public on Oct. 13 from 5-6 p.m. in Cheever Hall, room 215. On Oct. 15, there will be a reception and gallery talk given by Lee at the Copeland Gallery from 7-9 p.m.

The Helen E. Copeland Gallery is located on the second floor of Haynes Hall on the MSU-Bozeman campus. Haynes Hall is on 11th Avenue. For more information, call Erin W. Anderson at 994-2562 or visit Hun Chung Lee’s website at www.hunchunglee.com.

Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate

Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate is a visual arts exhibition encouraging a re-examination of international social justice. The exhibit features works by forty artists from across the United States reflecting upon and transforming volumes of white supremacist propaganda into thought-provoking, relevant works of art.

The impetus for the Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate exhibit came from the Montana Human Rights Network that acquired a large quantity of white supremacist books from a defector. The books were used as a catalyst for change through collaboration with curators at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana. The Holter Museum issued a national call to artists to participate in the exhibition to create art from the hate books and turn them to constructive, positive use. The impressive result—sculpture, painting, photography, collage, printmaking, book art, beadwork, and mixed media is insightful and inspiring.These artworks will be on display at the Emerson’s Jessie Wilber Gallery from October 15 – December 15 and the Helen Copeland Gallery at Montana State University from November 23 – December 18.

In addition, artworks by the curator, activist-artist Katie Knight, will be on display in the Emerson Lobby from October 15 – December 15. This exhibit, Travels to Namibia is a collection of Knight’s photographs, woodblock prints and quilts interpreting her human rights advocacy experiences in Africa. Katie Knight is also the curator of the Speaking Volumes exhibit that is traveling throughout Montana.

Meet Katie Knight at the opening reception for the Emerson exhibits, on Tuesday October 20th at the Emerson. She will give a gallery talk about her mixed media works at 5:30 pm followed by a 6 pm talk in the Wilber Gallery on curating the Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate exhibit.  Refreshments and a question/answer session will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

For further information please consult our website:; www.theemerson.org or contact  Ellen Ornitz, (406) 587.9797, ext. 104 or email: ellen@theemerson.org.

Transcontinental Fusion : A Collection of Oil Paintings by Christiane Buell

ASMSU Arts and Exhibits presents Transcontinental Fusion, a collection of oil paintings by Christiane Buell. The exhibit will be showing in the Exit Gallery October 5-16. There will be a free public artist reception Wednesday, October 14 from 5-7pm in the gallery.

Christiane Buell is an artist currently living in Helena, MT. She has been a Swiss citizen and resident of  California since 1994. She has attended Swiss College for Dance and Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance School in New York, Swiss College of Fine Arts in Zurich, Switzerland, Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA, and the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. Christiane has also been an artist in residence at the Montana Artists Refuge in Basin, MT.

The Exit Gallery is the MSU campus gallery and is located in Strand Union Building room 212, Montana State University, Bozeman. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. For more information please contact Stacey Ray, ASMSU Arts and Exhibits Director at 406.994.1828 or exhibits@montana.edu.

MSU Graduate Students 09 @ The Emerson

The exhibiting artists include sculptor Shannon Berg, exhibiting large drawings; 2-D artist Emily Browne, showing figurative paintings/drawings; Lorie Hoffman, op art paintings; April Hale, conceptual “jewelry” that combines cast and fabricated metal objects with appropriated mixed media; and Sukha Worob, prints with a “pop art” influence. The exhibiting artists employ both traditional and contemporary techniques with the scale ranging from the intimacy of jewelry to expansive paintings. Some artists focus on a purely aesthetic and optical experience while others promote concepts and emotions that are essential to appreciating the work.

Larry Blackwood: Ghosts and Empties

Ghosts and Empties, a series of photographs by Larry Blackwood of an abandoned amusement park, will be on display at the Daily Northside Coffee Bar, 1203 N. Rouse through the middle of November.