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VESSEL Opens March 22

“VESSEL” opens March 22nd with an opening reception

We are excited and delighted to bring you our second group exhibit of the year titled, VESSEL.

Vessels metaphorical or literal, decorative and functional, ceramic, wood or ink on paper … vases, cups, plates, sculptures, bowls, mugs and some that refuse to be defined. Vessels you will recognize immediately and others you will have to ponder.

Opening night is March 22nd

Please join us Friday evening, March 22, so you can be the first to see our artists’ fabulous interpretations of the vessel theme. Local and regional artists have been hard at work making pieces for months.  We welcome back some of our long-time artists Trudy Skari, John Andrew, Sarah Magar, Maureen Cole and Laurie Shaman, who have each developed a strong following in Helena. We also welcome a handful of artists whom we have introduced recently, and whose work we hope you will grow to love and collect. SarahJess Swann, Andrew Rivera, Molly Rivera, Eliza Weber, Boyd Carson and Becky Street.

Expect to be surprised, delighted and moved by this group of vessels.

Molly Rivera

What: new exhibit, “VESSEL

When: Friday Mar. 22 from 5 to 8pm

Who: Our opening events are for everyone, kids too — and it’s free

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

More Info: Call the gallery 406.431.9931 or email us

 

Artists include:

• Andrew rivera  . Missoula mt
• becky street .  seattle wa
• boyd carson . bozeman mt
• eliza weber . phoenix az
• john andrew .  helena mt
• laurie shaman . chicago il
• maureen cole . helena mt
• molly rivera . missoula mt
• sarah magar  .  sook bc
• sarahjess swann . bozeman mt
• trudy skari . helena mt

Our online catalog for VESSEL goes live on March 26th. 

All artworks featured in VESSEL will be available through our online exhibit catalog beginning the week after the show opens. Watch for a link at the top of our home page here, or to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe to our love notes and we will send you a link in an email that week.

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2nd Annual Wood & Wax Exhibit

postcard front for Wood & Wax exhibit

October 19 – November 24, 2018

It’s Our 5th Anniversary … Come Celebrate with Us!

Our second annual Wood & Wax exhibit opens Friday evening, October 19th and runs through November 24. Seven artists come together in this exquisite group show that features art made from wood and art made from beeswax, pigments and resins.

Who: anyone who likes art, particularly really cool art
What: opening reception to celebrate Wood & Wax exhibit AND our 5th Anniversary
Where: 1+1=1 Gallery at 434 N. Last Chance Gulch, Helena, Montana
When: Friday Oct 19 from 5 to 8pm
Why: cuz you like art, good food, and we like you!

 

Our 5th Anniversary Month — a Perfect Time to Bring Back One of Our Most Exceptional Exhibits: Wood & Wax

Since our beginnings five years ago, we have proudly represented some of the best Montana woodworkers, at 1+1=1 Gallery. Helena artists, Dan McArdle, Tim Carney and John Andrew, are back at the gallery with all new finely crafted carvings, furniture and turned wood vessels. This year we welcome another wood turner, Boyd Carson of Bozeman. This year, we are also introducing encaustic artist, Erika James, from Portland Oregon.

All seven of the artists in Wood & Wax 2018 are talented, mature artists and we are delighted to show their work! Although we show their work year-round at the gallery, seeing it in exhibit and meeting the artists is an experience not to miss!

Curious about encaustic art?

Come to our opening to find out more about encaustic. What it is. How to care for it, how these three artists have explored the wax medium in their unique ways.

Darla Myers of Bozeman Montana, returns to Wood & Wax with a series of sumptuous yet whimsical forest paintings. Myers’ emotive abstracts are distillations of nature’s colors, light and shadows. She spends many hours outdoors, hiking, sketching, camping and walking her dogs. When you see her encaustic images of forest trails, filtered light and seasonal color, you’ll be reminded of some of your favorite Montana places.

Joyce Watts Coolidge, a former fiber artist from Anchorage, Alaska, joins us for a second year with contemporary encaustic and sculptural mixed media pieces. Coolidge uses hundreds of layers of fused wax and pigment with horsehair, handmade paper and wood to evoke stories any of us might imagine. Joyce will be at the opening all the way from Alaska. Please give her a hearty Helena welcome!

Erika James’ dramatic encaustic landscapes are inspired by the fog, rain, gorges, coasts and crusty mountains of her native Oregon. She seems to have an emotional, even profound connection to gigantic earth forms that dwarf humans, yet the wax and pigment medium she uses give an intimate experience when viewed up close in person. Don’t miss seeing Erika’s work in Helena! We are betting you will love it.

Curious about woodworking and wood carving? 

Woodworkers have a saying that they “make sawdust.” Well, I think our woodworkers make “elegance.” Consider the wood objects you live with: wouldn’t your life be more lovely if some of those useful objects were elegantly made by an artist? If your answer is yes, don’t miss this exhibit! 

John Andrew, a long-time Helena resident who has been turning gorgeous bowls from local trees for many years and there are hundreds of folks in our town who are proud to own one of his masterpieces. Many of John’s wood bowls are truly functional though they must be given care. Every bowl John turns is a work of art!

Tim J Carney, one of Helena’s masters of fine furniture design and woodworking is displaying a stunning Cherry and Ebony dining table with chairs; a live–edge walnut bistro table with stools; and other fabulous pieces of live edge exotic and local woods. Tim has the reputation of making the most comfortable chairs in Helena. Come try one – you’ll agree!

Boyd Carson’s sensual turned wood vessels drew me in from my very first sighting. Our newest gallery artist, Boyd is a retired furniture maker and building contractor now living in Bozeman. His sculptural vessels are remarkable art pieces — and each one has a fascinating story. Come hear his stories!

Dan McArdle, an incredibly talented artist, makes gorgeous relief carvings on wood and stains them with dyes. His inspiration comes from the many hours Dan spends outdoors, fishing, mountain biking and back country skiing. Our customers have loved Dan’s ravens, wolves, trout streams and prairie scenes since we began showing them three years ago. You have to see what Dan made this time!

Studio Art Seshes for kids teens and adults

Studio Art Classes and One-on-Ones Start November 2018
My art classes are kinda un-normal:

I am offering some really fun art seshes this year. I am planning to teach teen one-on-ones; women's workshops and kids' studio seshes along with a couple of guest-artist one and two day workshops. These are not your typical "art classes" to learn a technique such as watercolor painting or drawing, although in the process of making, you will learn some great techniques!

I refer to my teaching as "studio creative seshes" and "expressive arts classes" because I go beyond technique. I encourage students of all ages to dive into a subject, explore unusual ways to express themselves and experience the delight of success no matter what you think you are capable of. I believe creativity exists in everyone and it needs to be awakened then nourished by building confidence, making stuff, playing around, contemplating the results with a critical eye, and actually getting down to it and doing. Stop thinking about making art and get doing!

Read more

Electric Bluebirds

Susan Mattson’s pair of bluebirds pull at my heart. After being around these evocative sculptures at the gallery for a few weeks (they are part of our summer sculpture exhibit) I wanted to learn more about bluebirds.

I came across a website all about bluebirds and I learned some things. Best was why we go all goofy about bluebirds. An excerpt: “Their song is enchanting. The velvety undertones are “…so soft and gentle; they sing to no one save themselves. Not loud and boastful like the mocker; not full of chatter like the purple martin. The bluebird song is a kind and personal “I love you” that one must be close and quiet to hear.” (Kenny Kleinpeter) Clyde Todd (1940) said their song, “…like the gentle murmur of a flowing brook in soothing cadence, awakens a sense of well-being and content in each responsive listener.”

Listen:

While the continued existence of bluebirds is threatened by human activities (pesticides, loss of open space) they are positively impacted by our conservation efforts.

Look closely at the bases of Susan’s Electric Bluebirds … a mass of humanity. Yep. That’s us. What is our connection to Nature? To these melodious beautiful beings? To the rest of our natural world? Do we appreciate or take for granted?

More of Susan Mattson’s thought-provoking ceramic art:

 

Susan Mattson is represented in Montana by 1+1=1 Gallery. Shop our online catalog for Susan’s sculptures and let us know if you’d like to live with her sculpture. We’ll make it happen!

SCULPTURE: Inside, Around and Between Ideas

 

“SCULPTURE: Inside, Around and Between Ideas” starts June 29th with an opening reception

Our next show opens June 29th and runs through July 28th. It’s a short exhibit but long on diversity and depth. We asked five Helena artists, as well as an artist from Wyoming and a California artist, to contribute a body of sculptural works to this show. These seven artists explore volume, space and ideas using clay, bronze, wood and mixed-media. And whoah – are we excited to see what’s been coming in!

Artists include:

• Mary Jane Edwards, Sheridan, WY
• Nancy Goughnour, Helena, MT
• Paul Guillemette, Los Angeles, CA
• Betsey Hurd, Helena, MT
• Susan Mattson, Helena, MT
• George McCauley, Helena, MT
• Trudy Skari, Helena, MT

Think Sculpture is Just for Tables and Shelves?

Our 2018 Sculpture show promises to astound and delight you with pieces for your walls, floors, ceilings, shelves or tables. Whether you have a small wall space, a coffee table, hearth, mantle, side tables or shelves in need of a statement piece or a tender, quieter piece, we will have something for everyone. Paul Guillemette’s pieces are free-standing, wall-mounted or hanging from the ceiling. Nancy Goughnour again delights us with all-new wall figures of strong bold women. Trudy Skari’s latest free-standing and wall pieces take her bemusing foxes, bears and rabbits to another level of accomplishment. Mary Jane Edwards’s body of 12 “Caged Memories” provoke thought and curiosity. New polymorphic fabulism figures by Betsey Hurd join her masterful bronze equine sculptures.

A few sneak peeks at some of the artwork in this show:

 

Here’s where you can subscribe to our “love notes” to 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.)

 

 

BODY: 2nd Annual Art Jewelry and Figurative Art Show

BODY 2018: Annual Art Jewelry & Figurative Art Invitational

May 25 – June 23, 2018

Running from May 25 through June 23 this year, BODY will focus on one-of-a-kind art jewelry and unique contemporary figurative artworks (woodcuts, embroidery, oil paintings and ceramic vessels.) Please join us Friday evening, May 25th for an opening reception and to meet the artists.

Figurative art can often affirm us, push our buttons, inspire or disturb 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, Laurie Shaman of Illinois, Kate Fisher of New York, and Elizabeth Hughes Bass of Butte Montana, are the featured figurative artists this year.

Art jewelry sometimes pushes the boundaries of what we may think of as ornament for our bodies. We have invited jewelry artists whose studio jewelry is unique, contemporary or traditional, to be part of the show. Montana and national jewelry artists will be featured. We have art jewelers who work with fabric, felt, ribbon, paper and found objects, botanicals, silver, gold and other precious metals, stones, semi-precious stones, fossils, clay and natural objects, along with vintage and antique buttons and beads. You never know, we might even end up with some jewelry featuring tiny vintage toys. Come see the incredible variety and fabulousness!


Featured Artists in 2018 Annual Art Jewelry & Figurative Art invitational:

Dave Barnes ~ Helena, MT
Elizabeth Hughes Bass  ~ Butte, MT
Lori Blaylock ~ Billings, MT
Kate Fisher ~ Rochester, ny
Paul Guillemette ~ Los Angeles, CA
Lynde Howe ~ Missoula, MT
Shelley Jones ~ Richmond, VA
Judy Kline ~ Helena, MT
Kris Kramer ~ Kalispell, MT
Ouida Touchon ~ Santa Fe, NM
Laurie Shaman ~ Chicago, IL
SaraHJess Swann ~ Bozeman, MT
Bonnie Lambert ~ Helena, MT
Didem Mert ~ Cincinnati, OH
Kristin Wornson ~ minneapolis, MN

Contemporary one-of-a-kind body ornament . Bodies on ceramic vessels . Contemporary embroidered figurative pieces . Accomplished brushwork in oil on panels . Fascinating artists . Scrumptious food . Wine . Lovely company . Elegance all around

 

Check back often or subscribe to our email updates (love notes) to find out more details about this exhibit in the near future.

Hand Plucked Art Exhibit Opens March 2

 

HAND PLUCKED: an exhibit of art selected by your very own friends and neighbors, opens Friday evening, March 2, and runs through April 14, 2018.

When we began planning this exhibit last summer, we knew we wanted to continue our annual tradition which allows us to really step back, take stock, and marvel at the incredible amount of beauty and hard work that has flowed into the gallery over time. Formally referred to as “Best of the Back Room” or “All Artist Winter Review“, this year, we wanted to give it a new twist. We began with a working title– Staff Picks — borrowing from a local independent bookstore that lets staff choose their favorites and give a little explanation of their choice. It’s such a cool way of getting to know the staff on a deeper level and often highlights selections that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. In any case, it creates a cool connection and we are all about cool connections here at 1+1=1. It’s kinda’ our thing.

We didn’t want to limit the plucking to just the six of us; we wanted to include others from our community. Once we started thinking of who to ask help pluck, we became very excited about the concept of getting to know each other through the art we love. If all goes well, we hope to create a new tradition that, each year, our gallery regulars will anticipate with glee. 

So, Hand-Plucked was born. Each “plucker” (as we’ve so lovingly named them) arrived on the scene with their unique taste, personality, lifestyle, decision-making approach and stylistic considerations. The pieces they’ve chosen appeal to them and speak to them in the way only art can. This exhibit will be a gathering of these selections and will, hopefully, speak to you as well about the power of art.

Among the pluckers are: our gallery “staff” Tim and Maureen; Claire who works full-time as our Assistant Gallery Manager; part-time staff Susan Mattson and Marcia Eidel, and, of course, Charlie, whose main job is greeting customers and holding down the floor.

Additionally, this year’s pluckers include those who, in their own way, have been very supportive of our gallery over the past four years. Thank you to Chelsia Rice, Laura George, Andrea Cross Guns, Terri Hamilton, Renee´Kowalski, Akilah Lane and daughters, Zahara and Imara, Tim and Jen Davis, Mike and Colleen Casey, Patty Aaberg, Guylaine Gelinas and Mary Ahmann Hibbard, and Michelle Herrington.

We have so many folks who support 1+1=1 Gallery in so many ways. You attend our receptions and events (even though you’re so busy)! You visit the gallery when it’s quiet, carving out time to deeply ponder and consider the artwork. You volunteer your time. You buy pieces you LOVE. You help us spread the word and bring new people in to see us. You donate funds to help support Sound Gallery or art student scholarships. Trust us when we say, it was not easy to pluck our pluckers. This is a huge reason we want to keep the Hand-Plucked ball rolling, so we can ask a whole new group next year!

Stay tuned and come get a taste of our fresh, hand-plucked art on March 2.

Scenes from past opening nights. Lotta fun. Better than the couch. 😉   

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?

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.

Susan Mattson an art activist

Susan Mattson is perhaps the most considerate person I have met. She deeply considers the ways in which various pieces of the world, herself included, influence and impact each other. Through her sculptures, Susan works out unresolved issues; both interior and exterior. While sculpting and carving, she allows her mind wander freely, reminiscing and following the flow of memories, regrets, projections, relationships.

 

Originally from Bozeman, Montana, Susan has traveled the world, taking a solo bike tour across the country at the age of 25. Every experience she has had, every place she has been, is still very alive within her.  The past is carved into her psyche in a powerful way. She is a vessel of lessons.

Susan carries out her intentions through action. She remodeled a house in Butte to rescue it from demolition. She uses the pulp from her fresh juices to bake scones, because, even pulp can be useful. She works in mental health. Every decision Susan makes is preceded by the question, “what would happen if every person on the planet did this?”

She is a steady and humble activist; her art is a demonstration of her deeply held beliefs.  But, she also has a goofy side.  Let’s just say she’s spent a decent amount of time on testing the limits of the face-swapping app.

Driven by curiosity, Susan researches her subjects exhaustively which translates into unparalleled originality in her pieces. For example, her current piece, Nacho Scapegoat, led her on a quest to discover how goats have taken on the burdens of humans throughout history in many, many ways. Susan never just randomly selects a subject, they all have a story behind them, they are thickly layered with meaning.

Susan is pretty much the MacGyver of art galleries. She’ll improve mopping methods, solve temperature and lighting issues with nothing but a bed sheet and a clothespin and conquer mounting dilemmas in the craftiest of ways.

Something to keep in mind when experiencing Susan’s work: every face is made separately with tiny ceramic and dental tools, then pressed onto the body of the sculpture. This requires massive focus, determination, and patience; every sculpture takes many, many hours.

So, come.  Plant yourself in front of one of Susan’s sculptures. Let it speak to you. Let it lead you down new path, or remind you of another time. Open up, lean in, listen.

 

Current Exhibit – From Earth

Tidepool Bowl by Trudy Skari
FROM EARTH: Clay & Pigment

 

Our next exhibit opens Friday, August 18th and of course, we invite you to join us for an opening night reception from 5 to 8pm. Three ceramic artists join one of our favorite painters with all new works in clay and acrylic paint. All four of these artists have been with us since our first year and we are proud to exhibit their newest work!

With diverse mediums, techniques and styles, the exhibit is curated to connect us with the source of our creative vision – our Earth.

Featured artists are Andrea Cross Guns, Gregg Edelen, Trudy Skari and Susan Mattson. Please join us during the reception to meet the artists and hear brief gallery talks between 5:30 and 6pm. Wine and appetizers will be served after the talks.

Come at 5pm if you have your eye on something and want first dibs! (We will update the website with photos of some of the artworks as we receive them. Contact us if you see something you want.)

Andrea Cross Guns has been working hard in her studio painting into the wee hours. Her background as a teacher, poet, musician and composer play beautifully into the evolution of her newest paintings. I cannot wait to hang this show because it’s been awhile since we’d had new paintings by Andrea. Our walls will be vibrating with expressive color — I’m so excited!

Gregg Edelen will have all-new atmospheric kiln pottery, including some fabulous naked-raku vessels in the exhibit. We have  gorgeous new serving platters, yunomi cups, tea bowls, tumblers, whiskey shots and mugs by Gregg. Tim Carney will have a few traditional Japanese tomobaku boxes available for Gregg’s yunomi’s and tea bowls. You have to see how the cups look in a tomobaku — they make wonderful gifts!

Susan Mattson’s latest work is a further development of her sought-after vessels with torsos or animal heads on top. As she makes the vessels, she forms hundreds of faces on the outside, each feature individually marked with clay tools, and each face the result of a meditative, transformative personal process. The energy she embues in her sculptures is palpable, remarkable and often unanticipated.

Trudy Skari continues to take her ceramic sculptures in new directions and has been branching out into both functional and non-functional sculptural pottery. Trudy has recently begun working with more texture, and will be showing some sculptural platters and bowls reminiscent of tide pools, the forest floor and sumptuous gardens. You will be surprised and delighted to see Trudy’s newest artwork, as well as some of your favorite, expressive Trudy-heads and small sculptures.

Elements of Earth used by the four artists are the common thread in this exhibit.
Clays used for ceramic sculpture or functional pottery come from the Earth, and are transformed by Fire — from something resembling skin, leather, powder and milk — to a durable substance like stone or hard dry river banks.
Clay fields are shaped by water and the sun, cracking over time into surfaces of mystery and fascination. Artists shape clay with hands and tools, with water, fire and pigments into objects of beauty, sensuality and function.
Painters move pigment around on their surface of choice with brushes, knives and fingers. Their pigments made from earth: diatoms, carbon, cadmium, copper, china clay, iron oxide and other minerals and these days, pigments synthesized from minerals like petroleum. Some pigments include clay: China clay, viridian, umber and sienna.
As you look around at the artwork in this exhibit, consider how each artist utilizes earth elements to express their unique voice and take on life.