Upcoming Exhibits

Mary Ann Kelly:
Rivers Remembered - Rivers Imagined
Thayer and Mungas Volk Galleries
September 16 - December 31, 2010
Artist's Reception 5:30 - 7:30pm September 16, 2010
Art Share Presentation by Mary Ann Kelly at 6pm

The Square presents recent work by Bozeman, MT artist Mary Ann Kelly whose paintings record her thoughts about language, relationships and the powerful natural forces that shape our world. The exhibition includes aqueous media on paper and board.

"When I am drawing I allow my thoughts about struggles and resolutions, opposition and balance to take form in lines, shapes and images. I am drawing areas of lush colors or rich shadows to invite and intrigue the viewer. The emotional tone of any one drawing is carefully contained in the dominance and balance of the formal qualities. The titles give only a small clue to the questions asked in the drawings, for these drawings are a personal connection with visual metaphor. The viewer must engage in the dialogue with their own sensibilities and responses. Traditions, sovereignty, patterns, and identity are common themes. The process of drawing continues to be as much about abstraction and clarification of image as it is about the sheer delight of line and color on paper." - Mary Ann Kelly

Mary Ann Kelly received a B.S. in Art Education at the State University College of New York, Buffalo, NY and moved to Bozeman, Montana to study at Montana State University for an M.F.A. in painting. She has received two National Endowment for the Arts awards and a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship award. She has exhibited in Camberwell College of Art, the London Institute, UK; the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK; Studio 7 Gallery, Holualoa, Hawaii; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA; Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL; Boise Municipal Art Museum Boise, ID; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; and many Montana museums.

Susan Thomas: Sublime Repose
Rothschiller Gallery
September 16 - December 31, 2010
Artist's Reception 5:30 - 7:30pm September 16, 2010
Art Share Presentation by Susan Thomas at 6:30pm

Sublime Repose is comprised of new mixed media work by Great Falls artist Susan Thomas who utilizes basket and boat forms to portray paradoxical notions about the balance between spiritual, intellectual and emotional containment utilizing both sublime and compulsive pattern making, color usage and mark making.

Susan Thomas was born in Connecticut and lived in many parts of the U.S. before moving to Great Falls in 1995 with her husband, Ken Kohoutek and son Ethan. Susan served as Curator of Education at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art from 1996-2004 and currently is an Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of Great Falls. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from Indiana University. Inspiration for her work comes from the natural environment of each place where she has lived, particularly areas near streams, rivers, and woodlands and from the rhythms of daily life.

Theodore Waddell: Selections from the Permanent Collection
Wylder Gallery
October 14, 2010 - April 16, 2011
Artist's Reception TBA

Continuing in its examination of the Montana landscape, The Square presents selections of Theodore Waddell's paintings, prints and drawings from its permanent collection. The exhibition features gifts from the artist that depict the Missouri River.

Theodore Waddell is one of the Nation's best regarded painters. His contemporary paintings, drawings and prints capture the visual essence of life in the Rocky Mountain region full of grand vistas dotted by ubiquitous domestic livestock. His work is informed by a passion and personal knowledge of these subjects as well as the canon of historical painting that precedes him. His work is laden with expressive marks and layers of paint and brush strokes that reveal his roots in modernism and his continued devotion to his place in the West.

Theodore Waddell, a Montana native raised in Laurel, studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Eastern Montana College, and Wayne State University, Detroit (MFA, 1968). He taught at the University of Montana from 1968 to 1976 and has since been a full time artist and rancher. He has had over ninety one-man exhibitions, including a major survey at the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis.

This programming is made possible by the generous support of our members and supporters, with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Montana Arts Council and Cascade County.