River City Roots Festival issues call to artists

The Missoula Downtown Association has officially put out a call to artists interested in exhibiting at this summer’s River City Roots Festival. Applications are due by May 1; visit the MDA’s Web site for application info.

First Friday features eclectic Collector’s Resale at Dana Gallery

In the realms of art, it’s often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In the art marketplace, value is often even more relative than that.

Nobody in Missoula knows this better than Tim Gordon. A nationally respected fine art appraiser, Gordon has been called upon by estates and museums around the country to assess the value of everything from paintings and sculptures to a collection of the late Princess Diana’s dresses.

While his focus is geographically, historically, and aesthetically broad, Gordon has taken a particular interest in the legacy of artists from Montana and the surrounding region, many of whom he believes are both financially and historically underappreciated in today’s art market.

So when local gallery owner Dudley Dana put out the call for his 10th annual Collector’s Resale auction, where private art collectors have the opportunity to sell works from their collections via silent auction at the Dana Gallery, Gordon decided to take the opportunity to highlight some of those neglected treasures. [Read More...]

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“Orphan art” still looking for home after Macy’s building sale

The Montana Museum of Art and Culture will have to wait a little longer to find a proper showcase for its trove of art.

Monday’s news that a Virginia-based developer has purchased the Macy’s building in downtown Missoula means that the MMAC, Montana’s only state-owned museum devoted to art – and the only state-owned museum that lacks a public building of its own – likely won’t be moving into the 134-year-old building in the heart of Missoula.

“We’re disappointed, certainly,” said Barbara Koostra, director of the MMAC, the UM-based art collection that, for 117 years, has been a museum by name only. [Read More...]

Masterpieces, up close

For Missoula residents, it has never been easier to get up close and personal with Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The French Impressionist painter never visited Western Montana; but right now, the paint from his palette and the sublimely delicate impressions left by his hand are right here, hanging on the wall of a small gallery on the University of Montana campus.

The mere presence of three original works by Renoir – at least one of which hasn’t been exhibited in more than 40 years – is enough to draw art history buffs from near and far to Missoula. Add in a dozen other works by some of history’s most recognized artists – including Paul Gauguin, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, and John William Waterhouse – and the exhibit, titled “Renoir, Magritte, Gauguin and other European Masterpieces from a Private Collection,” lives up to its name. [Read More...]

We want your year-end best-of lists

It’s that time of year again, when every self-appointed critic and self-respecting media outlet looks back and ponders the best (and worst) of the year. We’re no different around here at the Missoulian. On Christmas Day, the Missoulian will publish an issue of the Entertainer devoted largely to the year in music, film, [...]

Holiday art markets: too much of a good thing?

Big retailers have their Black Friday; online retailers have their Cyber Monday. But for local artists and handiworkers, this December is shaping up to be Craftshow Chaos. And at least some folks are beginning to wonder if the profusion of local fairs and markets isn’t starting to be too much.

This weekend alone, a quick tour of the local scene includes a First Friday DIY Bazaar at the Top Hat Lounge (tonight), the annual Brunswick Artist Studios Holiday Open House (today and Saturday), the UC Holiday Art Fair at the University of Montana (today and Saturday) – and, of course, the gamut of First Friday openings, several of them expanded for the holiday season.

And that’s just the start of it. Still to come is the Missoula Made Fair (Dec. 12, at the Elk’s Lodge), the 24th annual UM Art Annex Holiday Juried Show and Sale (Dec. 9-12), and plenty more.

The long list of fairs and sales offers a celebratory manifestation of the growing diversity of Missoula’s art and craft scene – not to mention a reflection of the nationwide revitalization of interest in handmade crafts.

But some locals wonder if the ever-expanding creativity in our community will be matched this year by a deeper pool of interested buyers. [Read More...]

Car accident mangles signal box….and destroys art

Apparently yesterday morning, an errant driver ran into the traffic signal box at the tri-way corner of Orange, Front, and Main Streets in downtown Missoula. Thing is, this wasn’t just any ol’ signal box; it was one of several included in last year’s first round of the Public Art Committee’s traffic signal box [...]

William Kentridge film screening at MAM this weekend

This Saturday and Sunday, the Missoula Art Museum will present a pair of advance screenings of “Anything is Possible,” a film about the South African artist William Kentridge. If you’ve never heard of him, Kentridge is a multimedia artist best known for his playful yet hauntingly beautiful animated films. Thus this film is likely to be a perfect idiom to explore his work.

Here’s a trailer for the film, and a press release about this weekend’s screenings. [Read More...]