Bozeman’s Oxbow Gallery opens its inaugural exhibition on Saturday, June 15th, with “Endangered Rivers” from local artist Ben Miller. Established by veteran art dealer Gary Snyder, Oxbow is a seminal space in Bozeman’s emerging vibrant contemporary art community. Set within a spacious and luminous gallery, the space offers a welcoming and accessible visual arts program.
Artist Ben Miller has developed an international reputation for painting rivers with a fly rod, often in partnership with river conservation groups. The ‘Endangered Rivers’ exhibition will feature paintings from recent partnerships, including four paintings focusing on the Jefferson Basin (Big Hole, Beaverhead, Ruby and Jefferson Rivers) and a mural-size painting of the Gallatin River, painted in collaboration with the Gallatin River Task Force.
The exhibition will also include paintings of urban rivers – Miller worked in association with Friends of the Chicago River to paint the Chicago and Calumet Rivers, and with river groups in New York and New Jersey to paint the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers.
The ‘Endangered Rivers’ paintings, like the rivers themselves, shimmer with complex layers of color and transparency. In this sense, Miller’s paintings are not abstractions but a collection of moments that reflect onrushing life in constant motion. Miller’s ‘Endangered Rivers’ express the idea that small parts of the world can hold our deepest attention and that by looking closely we heighten awareness of our environment.
The exhibition is curated by Gary Snyder, an art dealer known for his expertise in American art of the 1920s through the 1960s. For over thirty years, Snyder has championed historically overlooked artists. Pursuing a passion for the American West and new frontiers, Snyder moved to Montana in 2018 where he discovered Ben Miller painting the Gallatin River. This will be Snyder’s third summer presenting Miller in Bozeman – the first two exhibitions were presented at Story Mill in 2020 and 2021.
The exhibition will open to the public on June 15th from noon until 5pm. There will be a gallery talk by artist Ben Miller and gallerist Gary Snyder at 2pm.
Oxbow Gallery will be open Saturday and Sundays from 11am to 5pm, and by appointment. For more information on the exhibition, visit www.oxbowgallery.art. •
