Missoula Art Museum

Montana is a place where artists are not afraid to use their work to speak out about the state of things. The diversity of their commentary says a good deal about the state. Expressing Montana is an exhibit, hour-long Montana Public Radio special, and event that focuses on social, political, and environmental commentary --poets, songwriters, visual artists -- from right to left, from folk to fine, from rural to urban.

Some of the Montana artists featured in the exhibit include: Bill Ohrmann, Drummond, a metal sculptor and painter whose work portrays the consequence of environmental and social ills; Kate Davis, Florence, who learned metal sculpture from Ohrmann joins the exhibit; Monte Yellow Bird Sr., Great Falls, collects antique documents and overlays American Indian iconography as a statement about American history; Dave Bogess, Butte, carves an iconoclastic vision of nature and society. Artists Toni Seccomb, Butte, and Kristi Hager, Missoula, make statements about greed, heart, and faith. Ray Jacobs of Eureka devotes his life to making as small an impact to the earth as possible. Even his guitars and other stringed instruments are built from found materials such as cardboard.

Performing at the Artists' Reception on July 7 will be old-time songwriter Ray Jacobs, Poet Laureate of Montana Henry Realbird, satiric songwriter and rancher Sandy James, and Tongue River songwriter Martha Scanlan. Fieldwork is still underway at the time of publication. A full list of exhibiting artists and performers will be available at missoulaartmuseum.org.

The exhibition was researched and assembled by guest curators Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis. An archive of interviews and documentation form the basis of this project sponsored by the Western Folklife Center, a regional organization dedicated to the grass roots culture of the West, with generous support from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.