April Art Notes | Accomplishments from Montana’s art community
Published: April 2, 2008
Livingston artist John Banovich’s one-of-a-kind NASCAR hood was sold during a live auction Jan. 25 at the Safari Club International convention in Reno, NV. “Inside the Red Zone,” an original oil creation, graced the hood of driver Kevin Harvick’s number 29 racing car. Proceeds benefited the new Banovich Wildscapes Foundation and Safari Club International Foundation.
Roundup artist Jane Stanfel shows “Ghost Ranches of Montana,” a collection of paintings and related stories, June 3-28 at Jadite Gallery in New York City. Stanfel has spent the past five years capturing in oils the cultural symbolism of the abandoned ranches and farms of the state’s first western settlers. To give a sense of time and place, the ranches, rusting equipment, and household items left behind are painted on canvases framed in old barn wood, while the lives of the settlers are represented pictorially on the barn wood itself in muted sepia tones, reminiscent of old photos. So far, she has completed 54 paintings, and is still at work on the project, collecting stories and lore enroute. Her painting "Old Time Branding," has been chosen as the logo for the Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Lewistown this August; the Musselshell Valley Historical Museum in Roundup will host a two-month exhibition of the entire series in August and September; and the Dawson County Arts Unlimited Gallery in Glendive will show her work in October.
Helena artist Loren Kovich had a painting accepted in the American Watercolor Society’s 141st International Exhibition in New York. The exhibit continues through April.
Helena artist Karen Luckey’s painting “Golden Rule Days” was accepted in the International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art/Salon International 2008 Competition, on display April 12-May 2 at the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, TX, or online at http://www.greenhousegallery.com. The contest was open to oil painters of traditional representational subject matter and attracted 1,175 entries from 47 states, the District of Columbia and 16 additional countries.
Anaconda sculptor Fred Boyer won the Artist Choice award for three-dimensional art at the 2007 “Wild Wings” fall festival, Oct. 8 in Lake City, MN. This sculpture, “Fresh Sushi,” shows an Alaskan brown bear contemplating his next meal. Entries are judged by their peers, and Wild Wings is an internationally known art sales gallery, with outlets throughout the United States.
Anaconda jewelry artist Ken Bova’s work was featured in the winter issue of Ornament magazine. Bova’s piece, titled “(The Future is) An Open Door,” is a mixed-media brooch created in sterling, 23-karat gold leaf, bones, butterfly wing, and U.S. currency. It was shown as part of an article on the Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Maine where Bova will be teaching a two-week intensive jewelry workshop this June.
Cascade artist Laurie A. Stevens’s oil painting “Little Star” won the the C.M. Russell Museum CEO Award during the annual C.M. Russell Auction, held March 12-15 in Great Falls. Stevens, who was born in Billings, spent 11 years in Los Angeles as an artist in the entertainment industry and now resides on the family ranch near Cascade. She is a founding member of the Montana Painting Alliance and her work is displayed in regional shows and galleries. Other Montanans whose work was honored during the event include Kristi Billmayer, who received the People’s Choice Award — Painting for her pastel, “Muttley Crew,” and Christy Daniels, whose bronze “The Crossing, See You On the Other Side” garnered the People’s Choice Award — Sculpture.
Butte artist Sallie Bowen’s watercolor/collage, "Shining River, Rippling Hills," was accepted in the Memphis Germantown National Juried Show in March. In addition, two watercolors by Bowen — "Yucca" and "Old Growth, New Growth" — were selected for the Coastal National Juried Show, on display April 3-26 at the Glynn Art Gallery in St. Simons Island, GA.
Sculptor Thor Myhre, who grew up in Charlo and now resides in Washington, had two sculptures selected from 260 entries for this year’s “Sculpted Green” outdoor sculpture exhibit in Bellevue. Westcott Bay Sculpture Park on San Juan Island and Bellingham's Big Rock Garden will also show his sculptures again this summer.
