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These three exemplary Montana based artists bring their methods, media, and specific lenses of artistry to the Holter in Convergence. The works of Bev Beck Glueckert, Ellen Ornitz, and Susan Thomas intersect to form a show that illustrates nature – with a nod to its tender, furious, sweet and unforgiving essence. Explore the elegance of Thomas’s mixed-media sculpture, the fossilized and charred ceramic vessels of Ellen Ornitz and the intricate mixed media print collages by Glueckert.
Using primitive firing methods, Ellen Ornitz creates ‘burnt fossils’, pairing her exposure and involvement in Montana’s rich tradition of contemporary ceramics with her fascination with archeology and historical and ancient pottery.
Bev Beck Glueckert explores themes of transformation and survival, exposing poignant and vulnerable aspects of the natural world. A variety of printmaking techniques combined with various collage media provide layered narratives that reflect the fragile nature of our shared environment.
Susan Thomas, whose work is rooted in the natural world, creates paper, willow, and cottonwood vessels that float in space, and recall both nature and order through patterns, grids, and spatial division, allowing viewers to linger between concepts of human-made or naturally occurring form.
The convergence of these artists creates an exhibit that makes space for the appreciation and wariness of nature, of artifact, of form, and of human involvement in the natural world.
Bev Beck Glueckert lives and works in Missoula, Montana. Her work has been widely exhibited throughout Montana and the Northwest region, as well as nationally. She has been an art instructor and workshop facilitator for adults and children for over 30 years. Bev has served as adjunct faculty in drawing and printmaking at The University of Montana and The University of Great Falls. Bev is a member of the Montana Artists Caravan and the SALTMINE artists group,
She holds a BA degree from the University of Idaho and a MFA degree in printmaking from the University of Montana.
Susan Thomas lives and maintains a studio in Great Falls, MT. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Indiana University and an MFA in sculpture from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Susan was the Education Director at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls from 1996-2004 and has taught in the art departments of the former University of Great Falls, Great Falls, MT, and the St. Louis Community Colleges and Webster University in St. Louis, MO. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Montana and the U.S.
Ellen Ornitz has been a practicing ceramic and mixed media artist for nearly fifty years in the Gallatin Valley. She earned a B.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Masters in Secondary Art Education from the University of Indiana, Bloomington. She studied ceramics and sculpture with post-graduate work at Montana State University with John Buck and Akio Takamori. Ornitz has exhibited her work throughout Montana in museums and galleries including exhibitions at the Missoula Art Museum, University of Montana, Yellowstone Art Museum, Holter Museum of Art, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Aunt Dofe’s Hall of Recent Memory, Turman-Larison Gallery, Blackwood Salon and Radius Gallery. She was a finalist for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.
Museum Hours:
Tues – Sat: 10 am – 5:30 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 4pm
