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!

Maureen’s Tips for Starting or Adding to an Art Collection

Growing up, I accompanied my dad on many art-gallery outings in downtown Washington DC and Vancouver, BC.

I smile when I remember the way he would “save time” so we could go to as many galleries as possible in one day. We’d walk into a gallery, and he would decide – in an instant – whether he wanted to spend any time at all, looking at the exhibit. He would say something like “Hmm, nothing here that sends me” and we’d turn around and walk out. Or, he’d be intrigued by a piece way in the back of the gallery and pull me in, saying, “Let’s go look at that painting.”

Every few months, Dad took me to the National Gallery of Art to explore whatever new exhibits they’d mounted. That’s where he taught me to really look – to sit and quietly look – at one piece of art instead of rushing around trying to see everything in one visit. My favorite memory of that time was viewing the five-foot wide painting, “Dead Toreador” by Edouard Manet. We would sit on a bench in the center of that space, and look — for what seemed to my young self — an hour or so.

I learned confidence in my own taste in art from my dad as well as from my constant urge to learn more about art and look at art anywhere I could. It’s what led me to open an art gallery. To have my own studio practice – and teach art to children and adults. I’d like to share that confidence with you – and hope that you also, will invite more art into your life, however you want to make that happen.

So, how does one start or add to an art collection? Find art that feels unique and resonates with you.

This applies to whether you are just starting out as an art buyer or you want to add to your collection. If you’re starting a new collection, you may be wondering how to choose the “right” art. First of all, forget about the right art. There are as many unique preferences, personalities and passions as there are unique human beings living on Earth today. And millions of artists – emerging to experienced – who would be happy to have your support.

How will you know what is good art? Best way is to buy what you love and can afford.

The kind of art you want to hang on your wall (or display on a table) is the kind of art that represents your personal tastes: art that speaks to you personally. You’ll be proud to show it to your friends and family. It makes your home more interesting, vivid, harmonious or calm. It’s art you want to see every day and grow fond of. It’s also art that helps you see the world from a new perspective, that will keep your interest over the years. Start by buying affordable unique art (please, no posters made in China) and add to your collection as your budget grows.

Spend a little time figuring out what kind of art you like. Get familiar with what’s available and decide what art styles and mediums you like.

Check out art books at the library.
Explore online galleries and artists’ exhibit spaces like Artwork Archive Discovery, Saatchi Art, Artsy or 20×200.com (although my recommendation is to support local galleries and see the artwork in person when you’re ready to buy …)
Look at artists’ websites
Find artists on Instagram working in mediums you are curious about (search by tag such as #encaustic painting #printmaking #ceramic sculpture)
Attend openings at art museums and every gallery in your town. In Helena, we have 1+1=1 Gallery, Mountain Sage, Jailhouse Gallery, Omerta Arts, the Holter, JMac’s Pottery, Ghost Art, Archie Bray Gallery, and numerous coffee shops and other venues that display local artist’s work
Don’t forget about Art Walks, First Fridays and other arts events in your city

Look for art that represents one of your personal passions.

Buy art that’ll make your life a little brighter. In other words, buy artworks that resonate with you or speak to you on a personal level.

Create a Diverse Collection: Live with Some Art that Challenges You

Art that makes you see the world in an entirely different way will help you grow as a person. Everything doesn’t have to be easy, comfortable and “pretty.” Don’t worry about what other people might think when they see challenging artworks in your home!

Trust your heart and be confident.

Buy what you love. Don’t let anyone talk you into something you don’t really love — you will be living with your purchase for a long time, I hope.

Is art a good investment?

Be prepared to spend a little more than you have budgeted for to get a piece of art that will increase in value rather than just be pretty decoration on your walls. If you’re considering buying something at a higher value, don’t be afraid to ask if the gallery allows flexible payments. Most do!

Good luck and happy art-hunting!

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.

SNEAK PEEK:

JoanWescottTransformativeOpalizedNecklace

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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” Exhibition Opening Reception

Thank you to every one who came Friday night — in spite of the snow — to celebrate the opening of Jan Novy’s art exhibition. We were truly blown away by the number of Helena folks who showed up. And what a fun party it was! Check out some of the pics from the reception (keep scrolling).

If you’re reading this and you were at the reception Friday night, what did you like best?

Was it gathering with so many friends? Seeing Jan’s artwork? The Swedish Sunrise cocktail? The noise (we certainly couldn’t hear the music, heh)? How about the appetizers? The 100s of smiles and all that laughter? Or just that 1+1=1 was open for an evening event again (after all these months)?

1+1=1 was truly so packed with bodies Friday night, we know there wasn’t much room to see Jan’s delicate paintings and drawings. We hope you come back to look more closely before the show comes down. We’re open Tuesday through Friday 11 to 5 and Saturdays 11 to 4. Call Maureen if you’d like to visit the show at a different time. We are happy to make special arrangements.

“Look Closely: a retrospective of art by Jan Novy” will be on the gallery walls through Saturday, March 25th

We’d love to see you back on a quieter day, looking at her exquisite miniatures, and perhaps buying a piece or two. Even if you’re not in a position to take home one of these lovely little paintings, stop by to marvel at Novy’s sense of scale, detail, order and color. It’s a lovely exhibition!

Shop the Exhibit Online

Thanks to all who purchased a piece of Novy’s artwork. There are still many tiny paintings and drawings available and we’d love to find homes for every single piece! Novy’s framed miniatures make wonderful gifts. They are gorgeous in person – or shop online. We are happy to ship anywhere in the continental US.

Last but not least

Jerry Cooper brought me this cool photograph he’d taken back in 2000 — of Jan and Paul having breakfast at the No Sweat Cafe´ — I love it and think you will too.

Unbelievable Sale on Montana Art

Everything Remaining in the Hermanson Art Collection is on Sale

It was a stunning exhibition and many pieces sold

Last October 2022, we hosted an exhibit to sell a dear friend’s art collection — the Gloria Hermanson Art Collection (read more about her collection and the exhibit here) We found homes for many of the pieces yet there are still some remaining. Gloria’s family would love to sell everything — and so would we!

Now we’d like to sell the rest of the artworks

From March 1 – 31, we will make all remaining artworks from the Hermanson Collection available at a 40% discount. Now is your chance to own a piece of art at an incredible price.

Don’t miss this opportunity to invest in what you love

After March 31st, 2023, we will send everything that’s left of Gloria’s glorious collection home to her family. In the meantime, we would like to find forever homes for as many artworks as possible.

Below is a small selection of the pieces still available. To see more, shop the entire Hermanson Art Collection here

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

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

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Butter Lovers are Special – Butter Check This Out

What is a Butter Board?

It’s a thing. It’s just a fun dip & bread dish that’s less expensive to put together than a charcuterie board. It’s a butter way to fancy up your bread and butter for a party. Butter boards are all the rage right now – google butter boards, or just search for #butterboard on Instagram or Pinterest. As far as I can tell, a butter board was made popular in 2017 by Chef Joshua McFadden in his cookbook, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables.

Here’s How:

Soften a couple sticks of butter (depending on the size of your board) to room temperature, spread it out on the board making ripples and waves in the surface. Drizzle some honey or other fruity, thickened syrup (like blackberry, yumm!) Grate some lemon or orange zest. Scatter edible flower petals, fresh herbs, chili flakes, chunky sea salt, maybe fresh ground pepper. Add pieces of dried or fresh fruit, or crunchy veggies like radish. Anything to disguise the butter, lol. Then, serve with bread. Yummmm!

I feel like I need to make a butter board now. Not just so I can put a gorgeous photo of a decadent food item on this post, but also so I can see what all the fuss is about. We do have a bunch of Tim Carney’s handmade (and truly beautiful) butter boards available during our 9th Annual Holiday Show at 1+1=1. Check them out in our online catalog when it goes live on November 19th. They’re easy to ship and make perfect gifts for the cooks, foodies, party-hosts and chefs in your life.

I’m gonna make one for our Thursday night reception this week – stop by 1+1=1 gallery Thursday evening 5 to 7pm for a closing reception of the Gloria Hermanson Art Collection Exhibit – and taste/see what I come up with. I’ll post photos this weekend. See you!

Fall After School Art Camp for Kids is Underway

It’s Winter, but We’re Still Making Art in our Fall Kids Art Series

It’s a 4-Studio-Sesh After School Kids Art Camp and if you’re a kid who loves art-making, you’re probably having as much fun as camping. Once a week for four weeks is just enough to have a fun taste of some new art mediums and methods. We’ll have a Winter 4-Studio-Sesh After School Kids Art Camp sometime in January and February. Subscribe to the 1+1=1 Classroom email updates to be first to know about the classes when we set the schedule and make live registration links. Subscribe here.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the first two weeks, we explored a new — and almost addictive — printmaking method, then used our prints to make collages. Next we’re making layered paintings using multiple sheets of plexiglass. We’re learning about foreground, background, translucence and transparency, composition and color. We’ll mount the plexi sheets on wood stands so the layers can be viewed through each other. Hard to explain. I’ll post photos as soon as we have those ready to show off! In the meantime, please enjoy some of the prints and collages made by our art students. Ages range from 7 to 12.

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!