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2017 Small Works Holiday Gift Show

The opening reception of our last exhibit of the year is always a festive party
and a great opportunity to do your holiday shopping — or just get ideas the first night.
Come back anytime before Christmas to check off your gift list.

What are Small Works? Why Shop Small? Why Art?

  • Small works are sometimes small or sometimes just simpler than the artist’s usual work.
  • Small works are affordable.
  • Small works don’t always fit in your pocket but sometimes they do.
  • Small works make very cool gifts for someone you love. Cuz small works are original. Art. Not made in China.
  • Small works are made by your friends, your neighbors, people you know and folks you really need to meet.
  • Buying small works to give as a gift — or for your own self — well that just an admirable thing to do.
  • When you buy handmade original art from a local artist, you are helping someone from our community make a living doing what they love to do.
  • Our gallery is dedicated to making opportunities for artists of all experience levels, so they can thrive and therefore work their magic on all of us.
Consider doing your gift shopping this holiday season at small locally owned businesses that support artists. Can you imagine your city without Art?
Porcelain Cup by Sarah Magar
Loving Birds Chine Colle´collage by Ouida Touchon

Artists featured in our Small Works show include: Tina Albro, John Andrew, Elizabeth Hughes BAss, Lori Blaylock, Tim Carney, Patty Ceglio, Maureen Cole, April Coppini, Gregg Edelen, Nancy Goughnour, Paul Guillemette, Betsey Hurd, Judy Kline, Kris Kramer, Bonnie Lambert, Robin Leenhouts, Sarah Magar, Cristina Simona Marion, Susan Mattson, Dan McArdle, George McCauley, Carol Montgomery, Darla Myers, Page Kelly Piccolo, Poo Putsch, Laurie Shaman, Maureen Shaughnessy, Gabe Shaughnessy, Trudy Skari and Ouida Touchon

 

Just for the Holidays:

Extended Saturday hours: our usual winter gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 11 to 6pm and Saturdays 10 to 5pm. We will be open on Saturdays from November 18th through December 23rd from 10 to 7, for your shopping convenience.

Kids Ornament-Making Sesh:  From 1 to 4pm on December 16th, drop off your kids (ages 6 to 9) at the studio in the back of 1+1=1 Gallery, to make their own creative unusual ornaments. Gives you a little time to do some downtown shopping. Younger kids must have a parent with them.  Donations gladly accepted to pay for supplies. 

Festive Winter Concert by Three Form, jazz trio comprised of Ann Tappan, Rob Kohler and Mj Williams. December 10th. Refreshments and socializing from 7 to 7:30. Music starts at 7:30 til 9pm. Come early to get a seat. Limited seating. Free will donations to pay the musicians are encouraged.

Trudy Skari, minimalist at heart

Trudy Skari is one of those rare people you meet who naturally balances the complexities and simplicities of life. A minimalist at heart, she focuses attentively on only a few things at a time in order to truly appreciate all they have to offer.

Embracing her strong Estonian background, Trudy derives rich meaning and imagery from dreams and the landscape around her. Very early on, she learned to tend to her own needs, overcome obstacles, and use what she had at hand to thrive. It was a basic and simple upbringing. Creativity has always played a key role in how Trudy positions herself in the world.

Trudy owned her first book at the age of 5, The Lonely Doll, by Dare Wright. It sparked her fascination with relationships between humans and animals and offered a new way to tell a story. The music of Allan Sherman really developed Trudy’s humor and wit which is still very alive and evident in her sculptures.

From the moment she visited her first clay studio, Trudy was captivated by the immediacy of translating an image in her mind to a physical form in front of her eyes. From there, she fashioned a former ice-house into her own studio/bunker on a farm where art was not valued, settled in behind 18 inch thick concrete walls to carve out time to create.

A champion of resourcefulness, Trudy is known to use clay scraps that most ceramicists would discard. When sculpting, you might find her sipping cold lemonade and listening to Tango music. Trudy doesn’t like to get too hung up on details.  The vision is there, it wants out, she just opens the door and allows her pieces to emerge in a natural way.

Come to the gallery and view Trudy’s incredible sculptures.  They are full of texture and pizazz; just begging to be held, touched, looked in the eye. One of them may even ask to come home with you, you just never know.

 

BODY 2017: Art Jewelry and Figurative Art Invitational

BODY: Annual Art Jewelry & Figurative Art Invitational

July 7th – August 15th, 2017

 

Running from July 7 through August 15, BODY focuses on one of a kind artist-made jewelry and unique figurative woodcuts and ceramic vessels. Please join us Friday evening, July 7th for an opening reception and to meet the artists.

Art jewelry pushes the boundaries of what we may think of as ornament for our bodies. We have invited jewelry artists whose work is one of a kind, contemporary or traditional, to be part of the show. Montana, national and international jewelry artists will be featured.

Figurative art can often push our buttons, disturb us or affirm us. Figurative artists challenge us with their reflections on gender and human bodies, to think about ourselves with awareness, tenderness, acceptance and even forgiveness. Ouida Touchon of New Mexico and Laurie Shaman of Illinois are the featured figurative artists this year.

Models

Contemporary one-of-a-kind body ornament

Large figurative woodblock prints

Bodies on ceramic vessels

Fascinating artists

Scrumptious food

Wine

Lovely company

Elegance all around

July 7th 5 to 8pm: it’s the weekend after the 4th of July — you know you’re gonna wanna!

featured artists in First Annual Art Jewelry & Figurative Art invitational:

Ouida Touchon

Laurie Shaman

Margaret Regan

Bonnie Lambert

Lori Blaylock

Kris Kramer

Shelley Jones

Dave Barnes

Virginia Nicolucci

Judy Kline

Kat Allen

Paul Guillemette

Pyper Hugos

Suzy Fabian

 

Downtown Helena Spring Art Walk May 5th

Looking for something fun, social — and cultured — to do this weekend?

Look no further than Downtown Helena, Montana on Friday May 5th! Last Chance Gulch and side streets, along with the Great Northern part of town will be hoppin’ with special art shows, friends and neighbors, music, food, beverages, discounts and activities. Spread your night out and visit as many or as few venues as you like. Bring the kiddos. Bring a date! Bring your best friend and soak up the culture.

Most of the businesses downtown will be open late on Friday night from 5 to 9pm and will feature at least one local artist displaying their artworks. Some have groups of artists, like the Archie Bray at Montana Book & Toy company or the Clay Arts Guild at Mosaic Architecture on the 400 block. Helena’s Spring Art Walk is a great way to find out who’s making art in our town, get together with friends and family for a fun few hours.

1+1=1 Gallery will feature one of our favorite artists, Dan McArdle

Dan will demonstrate his unique carving technique in the Front Gallery. Come see how he uses his easel-table-contraption to carve large flat relief sculptures.  and the Back Gallery will have art by the other talented artists represented by 1+1.

SOME OF DAN’S DETAILS

SPECIAL SNEAK PEEK

We just received a package of fabulous new porcelain cups from Sarah Magar who is living on Vancouver Island, BC. She has been one of our most popular artists since we opened the gallery and we know you’re going to love her latest artwork. She has continued to grow and evolve her style and these are the best ever!

We only have 9 cups by Sarah. Come early in the evening if you want to take one home. They’ll go fast.

There is always great food and drink during 1+1=1 events. See you Friday evening!

1+1=1 Gallery
434 North Last Chance Gulch.

Teen Art Wanderings this Summer

 

By request of some of my older art students, I am trying something new this summer. It’s a series of plein-air drawing and painting classes for teens on eight Mondays. We’ll focus on learning to draw from life and nature, by observing carefully and practicing basic and more advanced skills.

The series is limited to just four girls. Each will get lots of attention and we can all go on our adventures in one car.
teen art wanderings course details:
  1. Ages: for girls ages 13 and 14
  2. Dates: June 12 – Aug 21 (with breaks) — see schedule below
  3. Time/Day: Mondays 11am to 4pm gives us time to drive to our adventures, have a picnic lunch and plenty of time to make art.
  4. Course is 8 sessions throughout the summer. Students must complete at least 6 sessions to keep the art kit at the end of the summer, and have the opportunity to participate in the Young Voices Art Exhibit during the school year.
  5. Tuition & supplies: $320. Includes beverages and snacks. Students bring own brown bag lunch. Scholarships available. Please ask.
  6. Transportation: students will be dropped off and picked up at 1+1=1 Gallery and will be transported by Maureen to wherever we are going that day.
Each of the 8 weeks we’ll go to a different place to draw or paint outdoors (unless it’s raining or snowing) click the pics below for details on that week’s fun:
In the Studio and Downtown Helena. Composition, Color and Drawing Basics. Lunch at the Parrot. (Start in the studio with overview of basics and mark-making. Then to the walking mall to practice what we learned. Lunch will be late, so make sure your girls have a healthy snack before they arrive.)
June 19 Boulder River: River & Mountain Landscapes. Drawing and mark-making with graphite sticks and ink pens. Picnic lunch at the river then spend our last hour soaking at Boulder Hotsprings.
June 26 Carousel and Reeder’s Alley: We’ll paint with watercolor pencils as well as ink pens and pastels. Picnic lunch then stop at Big Dipper for treats
July 10 Ten Mile Creek: Farmland, Botany Closeups & Skies using pencils and watercolors. Picnic lunch. If it’s hot we can dip in the creek!
July 17 Crystal Creek: Wildflowers, Flowing Water & Mountains. We’ll use pastels and watercolors. Flowers should be gorgeous this week! Picnic lunch and short hike.
Aug 7 Canyon Ferry Lake: Wetlands & Weather. Guest artist Kallie Audet will join us to show some of her acrylic painting techniques. Picnic lunch, plus treats at the Townsend A&W
Aug 14 Elkhorn Ghost Town: Artifacts & Buildings. Students may choose a medium they’ve used earlier this summer. Picnic lunch.
Aug 21 In-studio using reference photos to paint and draw with students’ choice of mediums.
Students get to keep their kit when they complete the course. We hope they become life-long creatives and art-lovers. We’ll make plans for the exhibit too!
What we’ll do:

Sketching, painting and a bit of photography

Things we’ll draw and paint:

Landscapes and close-ups; rivers, mountains, trees and grass; people, bugs and birds; natural scenes and city scenes; wildflowers and seedpods

mediums we’ll try:

Watercolors, water-soluble pencils, pastels, graphite and pencils, ink pens, mixed-media, acrylic paint, charcoal and collage.

Bonus Fun Thing:

This year will be our Third Annual Young Voices Art Exhibit at 1+1=1 Gallery (sometime during the school year.) All four of my teen adventurer-artists will be able to participate in the preparation for the exhibit, at no charge. (Students’ families pay for inexpensive frames.)

Sunday Art Sesh Schedule and Topics

It's that time of year when I wrap up my kids summer art classes and start our women's creativity and art sessions.

We've had such huge interest in the adult classes that I decided to offer them twice a month instead of just once monthly. So, on the first and second Sunday of each month, starting September 11, you have a fabulous opportunity to stretch your creative muscles in a small (6 student) class that's guaranteed to knock your socks off and inspire you.

This year our Sunday Art Sesh classes are in short series or two, three or four. Please sign up for all of the classes in a series to get the most out of your time. For example, the self portrait series is very in-depth (and transformative) and if you miss one, you'll miss a big chunk of the experience. Read on for the whole schedule ...

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Thoughtful Self Portraits by Kids Creativity Sesh Students

Lily Self Portrait

Self portraits are a form of creative, artistic expression that dates back to the first mud-paintings on cave walls, and from classical painters and sculptors to contemporary artists. Most artists don’t create self portraits to sell. But it is an incredibly useful way to practice the arts of introspection, observance, self-knowledge and self-expression. For kids ages 9 to 13, introspection isn’t something they admit to doing regularly. I expected my students to be challenged, maybe uncomfortable, certainly pushed outside their comfort zones. They did some beautiful expressive work and I am sooo proud of them. Two students who could not attend today’s sesh will do this same project in one on ones with me later.

Watch for announcements and invitations to the 2nd Annual Young Voices exhibit opening November 8th where you will be able to see their artwork in person and meet the artists.

Jaz Self Portrait

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Today in our Kds Creativity Sesh we learned about self portraits and created two types of portraits.

First we watched a slideshow/collection of self portraits by artists both well known and unknown, including some by other students. Then we looked at some of the more unusual or creative self portraits and talked about why artists make self portraits and what they might be trying to express about themselves.

I gave my students an assignment to take lots of photos of themselves ( using a digital remote and an iPad on a stand) with the end result of 8 different emotional portraits. They chose their favorites to work with.

Next, the kids used either Photoshop or a mobile app to distill the color portraits to a black and white, posterized, sketch-ized or comic-ized image. We printed those on Bristol paper, glued them to very large sketch Bristol and they added paint and papers to create self portraits.

The students used some of the remaining expressive self-portrait photos to learn about enhancing the emotion of an image by the way one chooses to process the photo.  Some of their photographic results are above.

Also, please check out some of their mixed-media self portraits below and let them know through comments, how you respond to their endeavors. Thank you!

Jaz expressing anger, yelling, self

Ema Delight

 

Lily Oh No!

 

Adia Serious and Scientific

Some of the photo-enhanced selfies: 



MaureenShaughnessyMonoprintDetail

May 6th First Friday

MaureenShaughnessyMonoprintDetail
Downtown Helena parties every first Friday of the month

Here we are again getting ready for another First Friday in downtown Helena. For almost two years now, all of us downtown locally owned businesses have been staying open and offering fun events every First Friday of the month. In the beginning, few people ventured downtown to browse the businesses that were open later in the evening, mostly because they didn’t know about it. Now that word has spread about this fun evening activity, we have more and more people coming to the gallery and I’m sure, stopping by the other businesses.

This month’s First Friday is May 6th. What’s special at 1+1=1 Gallery?

I’m going to do an art demonstration in my studio (in the back of the gallery) for anyone interested in seeing one of the printmaking processes I used in the current exhibit, One-Off. In addition to the demo, we’ll have cookies and punch — and of course, you can come see the fabulous artwork in the gallery after your working hours.

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April’s First Friday No Foolin

Sarah Magar New Cups

Please Join us for a Festive April 1st

April’s First Friday is tonight and we want you to celebrate with us, the return of Montana’s Spring-ish weather. Friday, April 1 from 5 to 9pm. Live music somewhere in the middle of the evening.

Historic Downtown Helena gets together the first Friday of each month and stays open late for the enjoyment and convenience of community members.

It’s always a great date idea. Businesses are open from 5 to 9pm, and many have refreshments, special sales and other events. The Holter has their Corks N’ Canvas event; the Turman Larison Contemporary has an art opening this time; Cindy Hanson has the best (!) new fresh flowers in her shop this week. Downtown restaurants are always open when you’re ready for a full meal or dessert. Lots of art galleries. Lots of fun. Come discover shops you rarely or never visit!

At 1+1=1 Gallery, we almost always have live music and special food, wine and other beverages. This month we’re serving a Pinot Grigio and a Red Blend paired with Triple Cream Camembert and Irish Dubliner Special Sharp cheeses … chewy baguettes and whole grain crackers. We also have non-alcohol beverages.

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March First Friday All About Earthy Irish culture

FirstFridayIrishMusic

Please join us at 1+1=1 Gallery for an evening of Irish food and music from the 18th century by Queen City Consort

Date Night Idea

Drop in between 5:30 and 7pm and stay for a few minutes or as long as you’d like to listen to this fine group and enjoy some great Irish-inspired food and drink! It’s a great idea for date night — many downtown businesses are open, including restaurants, galleries and boutiques, for your fun and convenience. First Fridays have been going on in downtown Helena for over a year and are gaining popularity and momentum. You can even paint your own painting at Corks n Canvas at the Holter Museum of Art after you come by the shops on the 400 block.

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