Montana’s many facets on display with trio of Emerson exhibitions
The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture is pleased to host its newest shows featuring emerging artists from our community.
Degrees of Abstraction showing the Emerson Lobby is a co-exhibition by Carrie French & Jennifer Vermeer. Both artists show their fascination of urban life by combining shapes and imagery that are part industrial and part natural reflecting their love of cities and their Montana home. French and Vermeer are founding members of the Montana Contemporary Arts Collective. While supporting each other in their artistic endeavors, these artists work within the genre of abstraction as a way to voice their response to the environment, both emotionally and spiritually. Their co-exhibition is on display through Sept. 2nd.
Degrees of Abstraction
Paintings, Drawings & a Living Craft in the Jessie Wilber Gallery showcases the artistic expression of Eric Alley. He is a Montana artist whose studies in architecture evolved into experimenting with traditional oil painting. His contemporary models are often depicted in classical backdrops, which incorporate nature’s palette. Of the exhibit he says, “My greatest hope for you here with this work and the craft I intimately live with, is that you find, within it, an invite into attention – an invitation to the timeless and untrammeled.” This show is also on display through Sept. 2nd.
From Above by Nic Fischer in the Weaver Room is another opportunity to experience local art. For the last decade, Fischer has focused on painting landscapes from above, offering a different perspective to painting the expansive Montana landscape. Plein air studies, maps and satellite imagery then inform large studio paintings that look down across entire mountain ranges. With one foot in reality and another in a dream or memory, they provide the viewer as much a journey as the hike itself. This exhibit will remain open through Sept. 2nd.
All exhibits are free and open the public. For gallery hours and more information, please visit www.theemerson.org. Located at 111 S Grand Ave., the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture serves as a primary resource for the arts, arts education, and cultural activities in Southwest Montana. •
