New! - Missoula Art Museum

continuing
exhibitions
MAM’s 2009 MONTANA TRIENNIAL
Through September 24, 2009 // Carnegie Galleries and
Faith Pickton & Josephine Aresty Gallery
During the opening reception with over 700 art lovers, Missoula’s mayor,
the honorable John Engen, proclaimed June 26 as Montana Triennial Day.
MAM is proud to host the 2009 Montana Triennial, Montana’s first ever
state-wide Triennial, featuring over 80 works by 60 artists from across
the state. The Montana Triennial has been celebrated with a wide array of
educational lectures and activities.
Biennials and triennials around the world function as survey exhibitions of contemporary art representing the cutting edge of art
created in a particular region, with works typically chosen by a respected juror from outside the region. The juror of MAM’s 2009
Montana Triennial, Beth Sellars, is currently curator of Suyama Art Space in Seattle, WA, a gallery which has featured some of the
most avant-garde installation work seen in the Northwest. For many years, she was Curator of Art at the Cheney Cowles Museum of
Art in Spokane, WA, and remains one of the most respected curators of contemporary art in the Northwest.
In honor of the exhibition, MAM has published a full-color 136 page catalogue featuring the exhibiting artists, their work, and an interpretive
essay by Beth Sellars. This exhibition and associated projects are supported, in part, through the Montana Cultural Trust.
Jerry Iverson, Line Bomb 4, sumi ink and paper on board, 35 x 48”.
09
ALEXIA BECKERLING: HELMVILLE
Through October 4, 2009 // Shott Family Gallery
Artini: Highway to Helmville with Alexia Beckerling, September 17, 7 PM
Photojournalist Alexia Beckerling spent a great deal of time developing this work over
the past years in Helmville, Montana. On a certain level, Helmville reflects “every small
town in Montana” known for its characteristic anonymity, protective of its relative
isolation, and proud of its self sufficiency. Beckerling states, “There are signs of change.
But the Helmville Community remains faithful to its traditions and has resisted the
disintegration of rural life endemic in other Montana communities.”
MAM is pleased to feature this body of work that captures the true essence of a community. As we see, Beckerling uses photography
to capture the realism of place and quintessential beauty. Beckerling’s approach exhibits the roots of both the community’s history
and its dogged determination to preserve its own way of life. While Beckerling’s project itself is rooted in creative expression, the
exhibition serves as a form of respectful preservation.
Alexia Beckerling, Untitled, 2008.
ANNE APPLEBY: HERE WE ARE
Through November 22, 2009 // Lynda M. Frost Contemporary American Indian Art Gallery
“The Missoula Art Museum collects, preserves, exhibits and researches art that is relevant to the culture
of the American West with an emphasis on contemporary Montana artists.” (MAM’s Collection Mission
statement, adopted 2006).
Working with a collections committee consisting of community members and museum staff, MAM considers works for acquisition that will
capture the spirit of our mission, a mission made enjoyable by the rich bounty of talented artists that make the Big Sky state their home.
The internationally known and award winning artist Anne Appleby has generously gifted to our collection the vital early works from her
exhibit Here We Are, large paintings accentuate the development and approach of this celebrated artist, displaying the carefully developed
layers of translucent color, a philosophical and meditative character, and imagery reductive of and inspired by the natural world, speaking
directly to Appleby’s Native American heritage.
MAM is deeply grateful for Appleby’s donation of significant paintings that will be held in trust for generations to come.
Anne Appleby, Cliff Lake, 1994, oil and wax on canvas, painted, 64 x 64”.
MAM Traveling Exhibition Molly Murphy: Reservations Required
September 1 - October 1, 2009 // Schoolhouse History & Art Center, Colstrip, MT
November 6, 2009 - January 1, 2010 // Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT