Green Door exhibits Missoula artist & illustrator during Livingston Holiday Art Walk
Green Door Gallery will host an artist reception with Courtney Blazon featuring her work, “The Brautigan Poetry Project,” on Friday, November 22nd during the Livingston Holiday Art Walk. The event will be held from 5–8pm.
Blazon draws intricate narratives layered with symbolism and meaning, in particular, issues surrounding women and the complexities of women’s lives throughout history. She draws influence from mythology, fairytales, societal expectations and coming-of-age issues and leans into humor, irony and symbolism to create involved stories that are woven together and are not always what they appear to be upon first glance.
Richard Brautigan, on whom Blazon’s project is based, was an American writer born in Tacoma, Washington in 1935, who rose to international fame in the 1967 with his novel Trout Fishing in America, written in his adopted home of San Francisco. He was considered a symbol of the counterculture’s youth movement. He was a lifelong depressive and alcoholic, and beyond his countercultural gravitas, he was widely dismissed by critics and his contemporaries for his naivety and lack of literary cultivation. He wrote and wrote and wrote, however, with pathos, humor, lack of concern for tradition, and wild imagination until his death by suicide in 1984.
In addition to the artist reception and exhibit, which will be on display through the holidays, the evening will include Brautigan’s Willard and His Bowling Trophies, read in its entirety. Don Devore (Collapsing Scenery, Ink & Dagger) will provide a live score for the reading. The evening will end in the premiere of Kansas Bowling’s short film Curiously Young Like a Freshly Dug Grave.
The Synergigi-designed Green Door Gallery can be found just above Wheatgrass Saloon, a cold-press juice bar and eco-boutique in historic Downtown Livingston. Green Door celebrates the work of local and regional artists and presents a culturally engaging experience for the viewer. The gallery is located at 120 N Main St. Learn more by visiting www.wheatgrasssaloon.com. •