Oktoberfish celebrates Stumptown Art Studio
Published: September 12, 2010
Oktoberfish, a fundraiser for Stumptown Art Studio in Whitefish, includes beer and wine tastings and entertainment, 6-10 p.m. Sept. 25 at 1380 Karrow Avenue. The event includes Ales in the Biergarten, a wine tasting, and Dinner by the Bite, provided by area restaurants. Big Fish Radio supplies entertainment; raffles and a silent auction round out the affair.
Established in 1995, Stumptown Art Studio celebrates 15 years in 2010 as Whitefish’s first and only nonprofit community art center.
The original mission – “to provide a place where children and adults may come to express their inherent creative nature; to learn about the world of art and its capacity to make whole the individual, enriching the community and beyond …” – still holds true 15 years later.
Since its first year of providing classes for children and adults in an old residential home, Stumptown Art Studio has expanded its programs every year. Exhibits, volunteers, memberships, summer art camps, adult workshops, local art events and an annual spring show of student artwork were added by the second year. Now in its 15th year, the annual student spring show has grown to include an ice-cream social and is part of the Whitefish First Thursday Gallery Nights.
In the next several years, art lectures, theme auctions and summer art treks on Big Mountain were added; the exhibition program was expanded and designed to feature emerging artists, students and guest artists on the gallery walls. Over the years, a ceramics annex was added and glass fusing was introduced; artists-in-residence were dispatched to rural schools throughout the Flathead Valley; and guest artists began offering a wide range of workshops for adults.
This year, Stumptown acquired a vehicle, The Van Gogh, to be used for bringing art to schools, senior-care facilities, the Veteran’s Home, and public events; precious metal clay (PMC) was added to the roster of art-making activities; and the studio hosted its first-ever exhibit of an internationally traveling art show this summer.
Tickets to Oktoberfish are $50 and include a souvenir beer stein or wine glass; call 406-862-5929 or visit www.stumptownartstudio.org for details.
