Opening Reception: Friday, February 28 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
About Jessie
Jessie Wilber was an artist who grew up in many places before her family settled in Boulder, Colorado, when she was 8. She studied art in college and became interested in cubism, a way of painting that shows things from different angles. Later, she changed her style to impressionism, which is more about showing how things look in the light.
Jessie taught art at Montana State College in Bozeman for many years and helped bring modern art ideas to the school. She worked on big art projects, like painting a mural for a U.S. post office and making prints of colorful tipis. Jessie also traveled to Africa and made a series of prints inspired by what she saw there.
She is remembered for her art, and there’s a gallery named after her in Bozeman where people can see her works. Jessie won an important award for her art in 1988, and today, a special prize for artists is given in her name.
Artist Jessie Wilber found inspiration in many places, from the African savanna to her own backyard. During her travels and her time at home, Jessie spent time observing many different kinds of animals. She noticed the ways that they looked, moved, and how they interacted with their environment and with each other. Jessie used her observations to help her create drawings, paintings, and prints.
These artworks were all made using a technique called printmaking, in which ink is applied to a surface and then pressed onto paper. There are different ways to make prints, and Jessie experimented with many of them, such as relief, lithography, and screen printing.
Instead of attempting to illustrate each animal with scientific accuracy, Jessie decided to use different shapes, colors, and compositions to help the viewer understand the emotions that she felt toward the animals. Jessie was a part of a group of artists that worked in the same way, called the Modernists. The Modernists believed that every artist’s unique point of view could allow them to depict not only what they saw, but the emotions that they felt.
The pieces in this show were chosen to celebrate Jessie for her skills in printmaking, her unique point of view, and her ability to convey emotion through her artwork.
Committed to showcasing legacy, established and emerging artists, we aim to be a vibrant hub that celebrates the power of art, in all its forms and expressions, to transform lives.
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