Shack Up Design: the Art Bozeman interview

Yesterday I interviewed Kathryn Helzer at Shack Up Design. It was actually more of a conversation, and I was distracted by the amazing leather armchair I was sitting in, but here’s my best effort at organizing it into questions and answers.

1. Please introduce yourself and your exhibit space.
I’m Kathryn Helzer and I manage Shack Up (908 N. Rouse Ave., Bozeman).

2. Do you have a defined mission or niche?
We are trying to promote contemporary work in the context of a non-traditional gallery setting. We sell classic modern to contemporary rustic. We try to promote design that meshes with almost any decor.

3. What local/regional/national mix of artists have you had?
We focus on local and regional, meaning Western. There are enough artists in this area that need to be showcased. Also, that’s what people are looking for.

4. How do artists usually connect with you?
Sometimes I ferret them out. I go to lots of openings and try to keep aware of what’s out there. Many of the artists I’ve known for some time, and I hear of others or they hear of us through word of mouth.

5. How should an artist looking for a show or advice best approach you?
Peruse your surroundings, go to galleries, and have a good idea of where your work would fit in. I’m always happy to look at work.

6. Anything else you’d like to tell artists and art aficionados?
Do what you love and for the art aficionados out there…go to galleries and buy art! Showing and selling contemporary art is hard work, but there is nothing else I would rather do.

BAZAAR Opening in Willow Creek @ Aunt Dofe’s Hall of Recent Memory

Aunt Dofe’s winter holiday show opening on Sunday December 16 will
appeal to a wide audience. The main gallery will be full of fabric
yardage and banners that have been shibori dyed by Marlene Saccoccia.
Shibori is an ancient hand dying technique most of us are familiar
with in its common form as “tie died”. But this isn’t the stuff you or
your grandmother wore to Grateful Dead concerts. Those bright colors
and bold blotches are there on some of the pieces, but subtle colors
and small, intricate patterns and textures are also well represented.
The room full of fabric is available for casual wanderers, but the
show is of particular interest to quilters and clothing makers looking
for something spectacular to accent their projects.

The show is set up like an exotic bazaar in the main gallery and
to stretch the bazaar theme further, jeweler/ sculptor April Hale will
be showing her work that is fabricated from silver and “roadkill” in
“the meat locker”. In this series of work Ms. Hale combines her
beautifully conceived and crafted silver work with materials we
usually don’t consider beautiful. She takes a few quills and some bone
and makes a finger ring reminiscent of abstract sculpture. But there
is nothing abstract about it. It is silver. It is quill from a
roadkilled porcupine. It is bone from who knows where. And it is
really beautiful sculpture. April treats all the elements of her work
with deep respect that often uses humor, but never makes rude jokes.
And so she makes us look at that blob at the side of the road with a
renewed appreciation of what it was and what it could become. She will
also be showing work that isn’t from the roadkill series just to get
us looking at scrabble tiles and cheep paperbacks with her same fresh
insights

BAZAAR will open at noon on Sunday December 16 and the artist’s
reception will be from 5 until 7 that evening. Aunt Dofe’s Hall of
Recent memory is at 100 Main Street in Willow Creek. If you would like
to take an afternoon drive with a unique destination on any other day
before the closing on January 16, 2008, please call Dave Kirk at 285-6996 to arrange it.

Exhibit opportunities at the Bozeman Public Library

The Bozeman Public Library is now accepting applications for solo and group art exhibits in its Atrium Gallery lobby exhibit space. Each exhibit runs for three months with the next opening scheduled for September 2008. The Library is committed to promoting the visual and aesthetic enhancement of the Bozeman community through an ongoing process of rotating exhibits of public art in the Library which involves exhibiting the work of both established and emerging artists of our region. The Atrium Gallery will showcase both traditional and innovative contemporary art forms, as the Library is committed to exhibits that will expand the public’s appreciation of art as well as reflecting the diversity of the community. A Library Art Committee consisting of local artists, community members, and Library staff reviews these applications throughout the year.

Get the exhibit proposal form, or contact Alice Meister, Library Director at 582-2401. The deadline for this round of submissions is January 31, 2008.

Gennie DeWeese and the Art of Community

The memorial service for Gennie DeWeese was held today. Though I knew her personally in the slightest way–enough to greet each other on the various occasions we met at some art event over the last year or so–I knew well of her significance in the Montana art world. She and her late husband Bob were instrumental in developing modern art in the state. They did this not only through their work and teaching, but by forming the nucleus of a very strong and supportive community of artists, a fact universally attested to by the many who spoke at the service.

Some of DeWeese’s recent canvas scrolls were hung around the walls of the ballroom. My clear favorite was of a tree-lined stretch of creek, with snowy ground before and snowy hillside behind. Later in the afternoon I drove past her house on Cottonwood Creek on my way to ski up the canyon. It seemed a good place to spend time.

About Gennie DeWeese: News story and art on the web

Smooch: The Art of the Kiss

tart seeks submissions for Smooch: The Art of the Kiss. This will be a juried group show to be hung the month of February 2008 in tart in the Emerson Cultural Center. Art in all mediums will be considered. Subject matter is – you got it – kissing. Jury may use their discretion in determining the appropriateness of submitted work.

Submissions due by January 15th, 2008 to tart, Emerson Cultural Center 111 S. Grand Ave. #110, Bozeman, MT 59715 For more information call 406-582-0416 or email tartalicious@yahoo.com.

Uncovering the West – a photojournalist’s perspective: photographs by Anne Sherwood

Although she enjoys exploring distant lands, Sherwood also loves photographing in her own backyard. Since 1995 she’s been covering Montana and the neighboring states for publications as global as the New York Times and as local as the Big Sky Journal. These twelve images are a few of Sherwood’s favorites from her assignments across the American West.

Join us for an artist’s reception in tart
5-8p.m. on Friday, December 7th

Sherwood’s photography will be on display in tart for the month of December.

tart is in the Emerson Cultural Center
111 S. Grand Ave. Suite 110
Bozeman, MT 59715
406.582.0416
12-7 Monday – Friday, 11-7 Saturday

anna visscher @ tart @ The Emerson

I own a small shop/gallery named tart in the Emerson Cultural Center, and am looking for artists to do month long shows. I feature local and regional art, both jewelry, accessories, and more traditional art that hangs on walls. The space is bright, colorful, and fun. I’m looking for more contemporary, less traditionally “western” work, the quirkier the better. If you’re interested in showing in tart, I prefer email contact (tartalicious@yahoo.com), with images of your work attached. If it looks like it’s a fit, I’ll get in touch with you and ask you to come in and show me the work in person.