May 19th – July 21st
“Would that he had died on the battlefield”
To describe Meagher’s life-journey as an odyssey is not an exaggeration. Like the legendary Odysseus, he was blown by the winds of war and fate to the four corners of the earth.
Art engages the heart as well as the mind and is one of the most effective ways to engross an audience, pique their interest, and increase their awareness of history. As you spend time with Stephen Glueckert’s expressive oil pastel drawings you will feel the danger, energy, and emotion of Meagher’s odyssey.
Glueckert’s 24 colorful vignettes are filled with the celestial, earthly, and man-made symbols that governed Meagher’s life:
His birth and privileged upbringing in Waterford City, Ireland in 1823. His leadership in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. His imprisonment in Van Diemen’s land and escape to the United States in 1852. As a commander on the bloody battlefields of the American Civil War. And finally, his mysterious and tragic death at Fort Benton, MT in the churning waters of the Missouri River in 1867.
Though Meagher’s time in Montana was short, he remains a source of Irish pride in our state and his story continues to capture the imaginations of Montanans of all types.
This exhibit is dedicated to Samuel Robert Robinson, a humble Irish immigrant who left Dunfanaghy, Donegal and found refuge in Butte, MT. And to his children James, Mary and Roberta and to his children’s children, many of whom remained in Montana.
Stephen Glueckert was born in Missoula, MT and received a BFA from the University of Idaho and an M.Ed. In Art Education from Western Washington University. He is Curator Emeritus for the Missoula Art Museum.
A fifth generation Montanan, his grandfather was an Irish immigrant from Donegal, Ireland. Glueckert has taught at The University of Montana, the University of Papua New Guinea, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. He spent ten years at the Northwest Children’s Home as a counselor and teacher. He has been a recipient of a Montana Individual Artist’s Fellowship and Missoula Arts Cultural Achievement Award.
In addition to being a practicing artist, he has written extensively about contemporary artists living and working in Montana. Recent illustrated publications include; The Blind Men and the Elephant, The Illustrated Bible, and A Western Coloring Book.
Acknowledgements
This exhibition is sponsored by the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association (MAGDA), a statewide service organization for non-profit museums & galleries, and supported in part by grants from the Montana Arts Council, a state agency funded by the State of Montana; coal severance taxes paid based upon coal mined in Montana and deposited in Montana’s Cultural and Aesthetic Projects Trust Fund; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Museum Hours:
Tues – Sat: 10 am – 5:30 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 4pm
FREE ADMISSION
12 E. Lawrence St.
Helena, MT 59601