HEALTH Strings Under the Big Sky - Explore Big Sky

Section 3:
liFe, land and Culture
gallery
Mitch Billis
by abbie digel
big Sky weekly contributor
Bronze sculptor and painter, Mitch
Billis, has lived on and off in Bozeman
since 1967. Billis’s shop and studio,
Northwest Art Casting, is in Bear Canyon,
outside of Bozeman. His work is
displayed nationally, in Vail and Aspen
Colo, and Charleston, S.C., and also
locally in Bozeman at Planet Bronze,
the Last Windup, at Bogert Park and in
front of the public library, and in Big
Sky at Charsam Gallery.
Billis in his own words
I moved to Montana in 1967 when I
was in kindergarten. My father taught
at MSU in the math department. He
loved to hunt and fish. We then moved
to Maine, where I graduated from
high school, and returned to Montana
shortly after.
I went to Kalispell in 1980 and worked
at the Powell bronze foundry for
two years, lived in Colorado for four
years where I worked for a sculptor,
and in 1987 moved back to Bozeman
and opened Northwest Art Casting. I
owned it for 20 years, and then sold it
"tomorrow's music Cello"
to my brother and coworkers who work
with me. I still have my studio there.
I spend a lot of time in the mountains
fishing, hunting, snow biking and dirt
biking with my friends. I enjoy fishing
the best, and tying flies.
I have five children and am greatly influenced
by them. Now they are grown
up so I’m branching into new territory,
but I had to sculpt all of them at one
time or another. I have three grandkids,
who will be my next models. They say
things like, ‘No really, when are you
going to sculpt me grandpa?’
My father is also an oil painter, and I
grew up with his influence. I’ve always
been fascinated with three-dimensional
forms and the movement that goes into
it. I met [many] artists when I was in
high school, and studied sculpture in
Italy a few times.
I start with drawings of the models,
do small studies of what I’m going to
make, and use that to go by. I make a
miniature with wax before I do a bigger
one with clay, then make them bigger.
It takes three months to a year to finish
a project.
I use the lost wax method, [where]
the foundry takes the artist’s originals,
makes rubber molds, and then the artist
orders the bronze, pours a wax replica,
and pours a molten bronze to take the
place of the wax.
I try to bring the kid out in all of us.
I want to capture a moment, bring a
smile to people’s faces. My work will
[eventually] sit in a children’s hospital
to bring happiness and joy into peoples
lives.
Right now I’m doing plaques. I will
have those at the ArtWalk, too. They
are more Montana-oriented with wildlife
scenes. I’m doing some wolves right
now, bighorn sheep, elk, and a couple
of different pieces with bison.
explorebigsky.com
explorebigsky.com
Big Sky Weekly
June 29, 2012
Volume 3 // Issue No. 13
This gallery is the last in a three-part series featuring artists showcasing their work at the fourth Big Sky Meadow Village
ArtWalk, July 7-8. Stroll the ArtWalk on a self-guided tour while enjoying refreshments and summer weather. Be sure to stop
by and meet the artists themselves.
"low Country gator boy"
My art is a healthy way to express
myself. It's a way of venting. If I don't
sculpt for a while or do something
artistic, I don't feel complete. I also want
to share that with people and bring joy
into their lives.
I like to be able to exaggerate the right
things, create the forms that move. The
human form is the most difficult to capture,
because everybody knows people,
and it’s hard to get that right—that's the
challenge I enjoy.
My hands are beginning to get tired. I
want to start dabbling with oil painting.
I paint a little bit, and take a few pointers
from my father. When he comes to
visit [from Maine] we paint and fish
together.
billisfineart.net
REGIONAL ARTISTS’ MARKET
Sunday, July 8 • 11 am – 4 pm
20+ MONTANA ARTISTS
Live Music
Historic Crail Ranch Museum
Free Admission
Big Sky Meadow Village
2110 Spotted Elk Road
across from Community Park
crailranch.org
“Celebrating 110 years in the Meadow”
A project of the Big Sky Community Corporation, a 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit entity created in 1998 to promote, acquire, preserve
and maintain land, parks, trails and easements.
June 29, 2012 33