Holter Gala Live Auction Preview 2024

Paul Harris – El Cementario (22″ X 30″): “In 1969, Harris received a fellowship from the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Los Angeles and while there created the Shut-in Suite. Harris states, “I lived alone in a rundown LA apartment amidst my own disorder. I had not intended to make a Shut-in Suite . . . there was just no time to go out into the world. I shuttled between the apartment and the print center for three months. At the end of the second month, I realized that my world was first, a crummy apartment and second, my imagination.” His studio mate at Tamarind was Richard Diebenkorn — the two were close friends and remained so for the rest of their lives.” – Michele Corriel

Paul Harris is affiliated with the Montana Modernist Movement. A mid-century art movement centered around bringing modernism to the American west. His contemporaries include Robert Deweese, Gennie Deweese, Frances Senska, Bill Stockton, and Isabella Johnson. Find out more here.

Peter Lik – Tree of Life (66″ x 91″): “Some of my shots provide such overwhelming sensory experiences that I am compelled to take careful notes so I can forever share the moments that led up to capturing the image. While shooting “Tree of Life,” I got low to the ground to capture the rich contrast between the foliage of the tree’s canopy and the lush green grass below. The grass was still damp, and it gave of a clean earthy scent, and in that moment, I found exactly what I was looking for as I realized that these minutes could never be replicated. The tree was in the peak of color, another week earlier and the leaves would have been too green; a week later and I might have found nothing at all. As the soft light of early morning was further diffused by the overcast skies, I opened up the shutter for a long exposure and smiled at my good fortune. Even after weeks away shooting up and down the coast, coming home and seeing this shot enlarged brought me straight back to the peacefulness and the spirituality of the tree as it reached up to touch the sky.” (from our permanent collection)

Stella Nall – Sweetie Wolves (13.5″ x 28″): Stella Nall Bisháakinnesh is a Missoula based artist who draws inspiration from a combination of Montana wildlife and her imagination to create sweet, vibrantly colored, whimsical creatures which tell a story. A First Descendant of the Crow tribe, her work often engages with current issues pertaining to Indigenous identity, visibility and representation; while also inviting connection from people of all backgrounds by discussing ubiquitous human experiences such as love, loss, joy and grief. As a multimedia artist, she employs unique methods and materials to create the intricate mark making that is characteristic of her work, including beadwork, painting, illustration, wood carving, and ceramics. Stella graduated from the University of Montana in 2020 with a BFA in Printmaking, a BA in Psychology and a minor in Art History and Criticism. Her work may be seen as murals across Montana, and has been acquired to national permanent collections at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), The
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM), The Montana Museum of Art and Culture (Missoula, MT).

April Werle – “Where Are You From-From?” (40″ x 30″): April Werle is an emerging Filipino American painter whose narrative paintings delve into the transmission of culture across generations in the diaspora. Influenced by her parents’ arranged marriage, Werle’s works explore themes of mixed-race identity, belonging, and family. She achieves this by reimagining memories and shared family stories, skillfully capturing the nuances of body language, particularly through the expressive use of hands. Her paintings have been exhibited at notable venues, including the Holter Museum of Art, Missoula Art Museum, and The Other Art Fair Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in publications like New Visionary Magazine and Kapwa Magazine.  April Werle has received recognition for her contributions, including an ARPA Grant and a Strategic Investment Grant from the Montana Arts Council. Currently based in Missoula, Montana, she continues to explore cultural identity and heritage through her art.

Josh Deweese – Jar (19.5″ x 14″): Josh DeWeese is an artist and educator teaching ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he and his wife Rosalie Wynkoop have a home and studio. He is currently the Interim Director of the School of Art at MSU. DeWeese received a Montana Governor’s Arts Award in 2022. He served as Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana from 1992-2006. DeWeese has exhibited and taught workshops internationally and his work is included in numerous public and private collections.

Robert Harrison – Articulated Porcupine Serpentine House (11″ x 8″ x 5″): He is a practicing artist who lives and works in Helena, Montana, USA. He has built his career in the site-specific large-scale architectural sculpture realm along with smaller-scale studio activity. He holds BFA and MFA degrees in Ceramics and is a member of the IAC (International Academy of Ceramics, Geneva), WABA (World Association of Brick Artists), RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of Arts) and is a Fellow of NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts). His exhibition and installation record is extensive and global. His book Sustainable Ceramics: A Practical Guide was co-published by Bloomsbury (London) and the American Ceramic Society (Ohio) in the fall of 2013.

His 40+ year association with the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts began in the summer of 1982 as a summer Resident Artist; from 1983-85 he was a full-time Resident Artist. In 1989 Robert and Christel invested in property just west of Helena and built their home and studio at Granitewood. In 1993 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bray and served as President of the Board from 1998-2004, overseeing the first capital campaign at the Bray and construction of new year-round resident artists’ studios and resident center. He continues to serve on the Bray facilities committee.

Mary Harris – Tree of Life (18″ x 24″): I am the artist behind Harris Art Glass and I’m passionate about this art form. For over 40 years I have specializing in stained, mosaic, and fused glass. I have done many local works as seen in the Great Northern Carousel’s scenic panels as well as work at the Rocky Mountain Credit Union, and Montana Hospital Association. I have spent 2 years conserving and restoring the stained glass at the Cathedral of St. Helena as well as the First Lutheran Church just a short distance away. I have won numerous awards at the Glass Expo National Competition in Las Vegas and have had works published in the Glass Patterns Quartery publication. In attempt to further my ambitions, I have added unique live edge wood to showcase my fused mosaics. Because my interests vary within the medium, there are no two pieces alike and showcase the diversity of stained glass.

Dale Beckman – Makoshika State Park #6 (22″ x 30″): The badlands are nature’s sculpture garden, an environment born from erosion creating intense shadows and contrast, of interweaving land formations and marked by the passage of elements and time. This exhibit explores this otherworldly landscape in abstraction.

Montana is famous for its mountains and fishing streams, but much of the eastern third of the state is badlands, sandstone hills sculpted for millennia by wind and water. Next to the town of Glendive is Makoshika State Park, home to some of the most fascinating and bizarre rock formations in the state. The name Makoshika (Ma-ko’-shi-ka) is a variant spelling of a Lakota phrase meaning ‘bad land’ or ‘bad earth’.

Drawing on the influences of artists like Georgia O’Keefe and Evelyn Cameron, Beckman captures the energy of the landscape, honing in on specific features to highlight quiet contemplative works out of a rugged environment.

Larry Blackwood – The Secret of Rooky Wood (24″ x 24″): This composite photograph, The Secret of the Rooky Wood, is made up of various individual photographs of crows, ravens, and trees I’ve taken over the years. They are overlayed onto a maze I drew on the computer. The name comes from a Shakespeare line in the play McBeth: “Light thickens and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood.”

Composite images are a major focus of my work. By combining multiple images, I am able to move past the traditional boundaries of the medium of photography, opening new paths for expressing creative thoughts. The animal world (particularly crows, ravens, and magpies), symbology, and references to literary, cultural, and mythological icons form the basis of these creations.

Stephanie Frostad – Down Winter’s Slope (12″ x 24″): Stephanie J. Frostad studied at Studio Arts Center International in Florence, Italy in 1985-86. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1990, and in 1994 completed an MFA in Painting at The University of Montana. Frostad has exhibited throughout the Northwest, in California, Maryland, Washington D.C. and abroad in Canada, China, Italy and New Zealand. In 1994 she was awarded a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. In 2018 she received MAC’s Artist Innovation Award. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections including The University of Victoria in British Columbia, The Montana Museum of Arts and Culture, The Missoula Art Museum and The University of Washington Medical Center. Born and raised in Walla Walla, Washington, Frostad now makes her home in Missoula, Montana.

Helen Rietz – All Quiet on the Hill, Comet, MT (21″ x 14″): I’m a rambler, always exploring the back roads and byways, looking for iconic places and objects to paint. I go to places few artists would ever find or venture to explore, and that gives me subject matter that is often unique.

My style is also unique, focused on rich color and “you can feel it” texture. Seeing my work, many people are surprised to learn it is watercolor because of its strong composition, vividness, and detail.

Above all, I hope my work brings an emotional connection to our disappearing West, and a deeper appreciation for the value the old or ordinary thing we might otherwise overlook. There is beauty, joy, and inspiration all around us.