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Category: Current Exhibit

Our Very Last Exhibit opens June 11th — And It’s Only In Our Windows

Dear friends,

After almost 11 years, we have made a heartfelt and difficult decision to close 1+1=1 Gallery. Our current show ends on June 10th and that evening we will be closing the gallery doors permanently.

We tried our best to find a buyer who would carry the gallery into its next decade (or two) but several very interested buyers just couldn’t commit. So here we are, 9 days from the last day of our current exhibit “Celebrate the Body” and sadly, the gallery will close permanently on June 10th. We hope to have a big farewell party after we get the gallery space cleared out – likely in early July – as well as a sale of everything that belongs to us that isn’t attached to the walls or floors (think pedestals, floating shelves, light fixtures, serving platters, one-of-a-kind cups, wine glasses, chairs, tables, stools, art supplies(!) and furniture.)

Subscribe to Maureen’s Love Notes to make sure you get an announcement about our big sale, farewell party, and find our why we are closing the gallery. 

Featured Window Artist June 11 – July 30

In the meantime, while we are spending the next couple of months packing, moving and shipping art back to our artists all over the US, our windows will be the site of our last “exhibit” and the artwork in the windows will be available to purchase online through July 30. Our gallery windows have often been filled with a street-facing 24-7 exhibit we call “Featured Window Artist.” QR codes in the window will take you right to the online exhibit, even if the gallery is closed and you’re standing out on the sidewalk!

This time, we are showing artwork by gallery owner/printmaker/painter Maureen Shaughnessy. She has reduced prices on her remaining artworks to help raise funds for shipping art back to artists all over the US, and to pack and move what’s in the gallery. Please help us go out with a great big bang and stop by to see if there is something you’d like to take home with you.

Hover your cursor over the images below to see which pieces by Maureen are still available. Click any image you’re interested in, then click the “purchase” or “Inquire” button. We’ll make it happen for you!

Celebrate the Body Opens May 12th

“Celebrate the Body” opens May 12 with an elegant opening reception

Wine and appetizers … and most importantly, fabulous art jewelry, wearable art, figurative paintings and sculpture.

Opening night is Friday May 12th, during Downtown Helena’s Spring Art Walk.  Can’t make it Friday evening? Come by for our Open House on Saturday May 13th, where we’ll have refreshments and you can view and shop in a quieter setting. The exhibit runs through Saturday, June 17th, 2023 and online through the end of June.

Please join us for opening night on Friday, May 12 from 5 to 8pm.

Stop in for a few minutes or hang out and gather with friends. Be the first to see and try on some of the art! We have incredible new jewelry and wearable art by Caroline Davis, Laurel Nathanson, Bonnie Lambert, Ashley Hanna, Joan Wescott, Christine Horner, Clare Clum, Paul Guillemette, Joyce Coolidge and Mandy Allen. Plus, we are so excited to have new figurative sculptures and paintings from artists Nancy Goughnour, Carla Potter, Dalayna Christenson and Ilse Coffman.

Wear something elegant and/or simple to show off the jewelry as you try it on. Maureen will take lovely photos of you wearing your best plus a piece of jewelry (think portraits + think hint-hint) and send them to you via cell phone! Let us help you find the perfect pair of earrings, a ring, bracelet or necklace for the mother(s) in your life. Indulge yourself and add to your art collection with a new painting or sensual clay wall sculpture.

Details

WHAT: new exhibit, “Celebrate the Body 2023” — our 7th annual Art Jewelry and Figurative Art Show

WHEN: Opening Friday May 12 from 5 to 8pm/ Open House Saturday May 13 from 11am to 4pm

WHERE: 1+1=1 Gallery is located at 434 North Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana

EXHIBIT: Celebrate the Body 2023 runs through June 17 in person, or online through the end of June

MORE INFO: Call the gallery 406.431.9931 or email us

 

 

Artists include:

• Bonnie Lambert . helena mt
• Caroline Davis .  kingston, WA
• Joyce Coolidge . Anchorage AK
• Carla Potter .  helena mt
• paul guillemette . los angeles ca
• dalayna christenson . butte me
• nancy goughnour . helena mt
christine horner . helena mt
• clare clum  .  helena mt
• ashley hanna . helena mt
• ilse coffman . portland or
•  laurel nathanson . oakland ca
mandy allen .  portland or

 

 

 

Shop Celebrate the Body 2023 or just Browse Our Online Catalog  

All artworks featured in Celebrate the Body will be available through our online exhibit catalog THROUGH THE END OF JUNE, 2023. To make sure you don’t miss when the catalog goes live, subscribe to our love notes and we will send you a link in an email that week.

Here’s the magic button to subscribe to our “love notes!” Get updates on events and invitations to our opening receptions for new exhibits. We promise not to spam you or share your private info with anyone — ever.

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Art of Wood 2023: Opening Night

Every year as we mount our woodworking exhibit, I am reminded of how much I appreciate not only the craftsmanship and artistry of our wood artists — but the source of their raw material: the trees themselves. And writing this, I remembered way back, a blog post I wrote on Tim Carney’s website titled “The Songs of Trees.” I had to go looking for the music – yes it really is music, unique and kinda wild, made by a device that “plays” tree rings like an LP.

So, trees. Wood. The warmth of wood, of natural materials, of organic curves and soft angles. I am fascinated by the way trees that have been wounded, or stressed, or bent produce scars and signs of their struggles – and those scars make the wound more beautiful to our eyes. Burls are like that. And are a metaphor for the beauty formed in us, by our experiences both delightful and sorrowful. Look at the woodworker’s hands in the photo below. So much depth of experience and many flaws here, yet these hands are as beautiful as the hands of a baby (they are Tim’s hands.)

Art of Wood is our annual invitational woodworking show. This year we again invited our three favorite woodworking artists, Tim Carney, Boyd Carson and Tom Robinson. We also welcomed a new young Helena woodworker, John Brogan. His “day job” is unsurprising – he does finish carpentry and trim work as a builder. Yet his passion is furniture and wow – I have to say he’s got it going! The round mirrors are John’s as are the boxes and Pendleton-upholstered bench.

Sometimes an exhibit needs just a little tweak to make it sing. In the case of Art of Wood, I knew exactly the painter I wanted to invite to contribute his forest landscapes: Paul Blumenthal. Paul is an architect by training and an accomplished, self-taught painter with a distinctive expressionist style. His works encompass abstracts inspired by the desert in Israel, forest tracts burned by wildfire, and light-filled Montana landscapes.

The opening reception Friday evening was a blast! We were delighted by the large turnout and everyone who came had fun. The artists were all in attendance and spent their evening entertaining and educating our guests with stories, studio techniques and answering questions. Check out the photos below, from the reception. And make sure you come to our next exhibit opening night — May 12th we open Celebrate the Body 2023, our annual art jewelry and figurative art show. It also happens to be the same night as the Downtown Helena Spring Art Walk, so we KNOW we’ll see you there.

~ Maureen Shaughnessy

Browse the exhibit here

Don’t miss our opening receptions, if you’re anywhere close to Helena. Check out the fun!

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Look Closely: a retrospective of art by Jan Novy

Exhibition Dates: March 4 – 25, 2023

Curator’s Statement

Throughout her career as a graphic designer and visual artist, the late Jan Novy didn’t like to toot her own horn. She was a prolific watercolorist, a meticulous yet playful colorist and a gifted draftsman. Because she was reluctant to show her work, she left behind a little studio in her back garden which was filled with folders, drawers, and boxes of drawings and small paintings along with many annotated color experiments and a big pile of sketchbooks. A mutual friend of Jan’s and mine — Robin Leenhouts — brought me along on a mission to see the swatch pages, scraps and watercolors she had left behind. Jan’s husband, Paul Cartwright was delighted when we suggested hosting a posthumous exhibition of Jan’s drawings and paintings, specifically to highlight her meticulous process and exploration of ideas and colors.

LOOK CLOSELY, a Jan Novy Retrospective is curated in thematic groupings: Neighborhood, Shelters, Windows, Cultivation, Small Patches and Process/Swatch pieces. Titles came from her sketchbooks, annotations and notes. Some pieces are signed and dated, others are tiny corners of larger pages we chose to frame without her signature.

Novy was the kind of artist who carried an idea beyond what most artists would. She would explore an idea like roofs in different mediums, making dozens, even hundreds, of drawings – abstracting the essence of “roof”. In thumbing through her sketchbooks, I was impressed by how deeply she studied writing systems, maps, seeds, grids and patterns. I wouldn’t have that kind of patience.

Nor would I have the patience to draw with the super fine point 0.05mm pen and miniscule three-hair paint brushes she used. I can’t even see some of her lines clearly without a magnifying glass!

Jan had a broad range of interests. She was curious about patterns and fascinated by writing systems. In her sketchbooks she made hundreds of studies of indigenous shelters, gardens, fences, windows, landforms, rocks, walls, riverbeds and rooflines. One large folder holds stunning pencil sketches of hundreds of birds (which we hope to show in our Feathers and Flora exhibit later this summer.)

Paul Cartwright and DD Dowden contributed the matting and framing. Maureen Shaughnessy curated the exhibit. The pieces in this exhibit include framed paintings and drawings as well as unframed (buyers can choose their own preferred framing style) Everything is incredibly affordable and we hope that everyone who knew Jan, or is new to her work, finds something to take home and treasure. Her pieces are not only a window into the artist’s mind and heart — they will inspire us all to look closer at the many tiny beautiful details of everyday life.

~ Maureen Shaughnessy

Shop the exhibit here

1 plus 1 is 1 Gallery Logo

A sampling of what you can see in person at 1+1=1 Gallery during the solo show:

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October Window Exhibit Featured Artists

In the small street-facing gallery window this month is a two-person show by Caroline Davis and Sandi Bransford, both from the Puget Sound in Washington state. Davis brings considerable skill and creativity to her metalsmithing, creating elegant yet affordable and unique jewelry. Bransford uses ceramic, natural objects, paints and patinas to achieve her organic textural figures. Read more about these two artists and see their new work. See something you like while you're strolling by at 11pm or before downtown wakes up? Just scan the QR code in the window and grab it before it's gone!

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Small Window Exhibit Features Paul Guillemette and Michele Landsaat

In the small street-facing gallery window this month is a two-person show by Paul Guillemette and Michele Landsaat. 

Paul Guillemette uses found objects, repurposed pieces of wood and natural objects he finds near his Los Angeles studio. His fabulous, colorful jewelry is popular in the big cities, and we happen to know it's very popular in Helena Montana! Necklaces, earrings, bracelets rings and cuffs ... there is bound to be the perfect piece of body-decor whether you are a diva who wants to command attention, or more subdued and just like to decorate your ears.

Michele Landsaat has shown in several exhibits at 1+1=1 and we hope know you will be as charmed as we are with her fragile-seeming, delicate etchings illustrating profound stories. Her prints are each pulled from an etching press by hand, and made in very limited editions. Michele comes from a background of bookmaking and writing. The stories she creates speak to an underlying and universal vulnerability, yet they are simultaneously whimsical in nature.

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Dawn Endean and Caroline Davis are Featured Window Artists This Month

Seattle Artists Take Over our Large Gallery Window
What a delightful combination we have displayed in this month's street-facing window exhibit! Caroline Davis' contemporary jewelry and Dawn Endean's monoprint/etchings.

Caroline Davis, a jewelry artist from Seattle, is relatively new to 1+1=1 Gallery. She debuted at the gallery during our 2021 BODY exhibit this spring. So many of our visitors were blown away by her gorgeous designs, we made the decision to continue to carry her work year round. Caroline Davis is otherwise known as "CREO." Her work is contemporary, minimalist, gorgeous and carefully crafted with attention to detail. Come in to try on, or just go for it online!

Dawn Endean has been showing with 1+1=1 for several years and has gained in popularity and collectibility in our Montana market during that time. We are featuring her one-off (monprints) of dogs in relatable situations. (Do you have a dog who tried to take a mile when you give him an inch? Do you have a "Good Dog?"  If you are a dog lover, or a printmaking lover, make sure to check out Dawn Endean's work. We also have several of the artist's tiny collages made from printmaking castoffs (something I myself do often) in small white frames. 

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LIGHT: July 17 – August 14, 2021

An Exhibit of Four Artists' Expressions of Light
How Do You Respond to Light?

How are we to understand the ephemeral ways in which light behaves, validating all of life? How might an artist pay proper homage to this vast and vital force? With wax and wood and paint and stitches. Light needs to be contained (but not caged.) Light needs context, it needs an outfit in the right size if we are to interact with it in such personal ways. 1+1=1 Gallery has invited four brilliant artists to respond to the theme of "light" and the resulting exhibition is truly profound. Visit the gallery during this luminous show and see new works by Tim Carney, Linda McCray, Pam Sullivan and Erika James.

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