For the past 8 years, Frame of Mind has reached out to the art community with their annual call to artists for their Juried Art Exposition. This is a celebration of artists of all ages, backgrounds, medias, and styles. This exposition has grown from a few local artists to an international event, with participants from all over the United States, Canada, and even England.

Each year, the work of the artists is judged by 2-3 local, influential artists and community members to not only help these participants grow and learn, but to find the best of the best each year.

Our jurors this year are all from Arts Missoula! The staff of Arts Missoula is thrilled to be the jurors for Frame of Mind’s 8th Annual Juried Art Expo! A small but mighty team of three, Arts Missoula is sustained by the Executive Director Heather Adams, Maddy Gilbert (Marketing and Communications), and Fiona Harris (Membership Coordinator). As the local arts agency, Arts Missoula works to connect art and culture through education, advocacy, and celebration, and we believe in the power of the arts to bring people together and strengthen our community. As an organization we are working with the City of Missoula to create a Cultural Plan for Missoula, which will serve as a roadmap for the identification and preservation of Missoula’s cultural and artistic assets to enhance our community’s vibrancy, create new opportunities, and contribute to the economic development of our arts sector.

Heather Adams – Ms. Adams began her artistic journey in Phoenix, training in dance before earning her BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. An active member of the local arts community, she teaches, directs, choreographs and performs.  She currently serves as Executive Director of Arts Missoula, is on the University of Montana College of Arts and Media Advisory Council, and serves as Montana State Captain for Americans for the Arts, advocating for the arts locally and nationally.

Maddy Gilbert – Maddy is a Western Washington native and a proud graduate of the University of Montana College of Business. With a background in event management, marketing, and social media, she has worked closely with a variety of organizations and community events throughout Missoula and beyond. In her position with Arts Missoula she works closely with artists and arts organizations of all mediums, and currently sits on Making Missoula’s Board of Directors. She is excited and passionate about supporting the art and artists that make Missoula so special and unique.

Fiona Harris – Fiona moved to Missoula after graduating from Quest University Canada with a degree in theatre and women’s and gender studies. She has a background in stage management, community outreach, and event coordination, and works closely with MCT and Bare Bait Dance during their seasons. At Arts Missoula, she coordinates their membership program and works with organizations and artists around Missoula to strengthen and uplift the arts in our community. She believes that the arts are the basis for a strong, connected, and empathetic community and she is honored to be a part of such a vibrant and diverse city.

    Christine Festin

I am a nature/outdoor based artist. I use my love of photography and nature to create art. I photograph and use my images in my cyanotype artwork and also my paintings. I spend a great deal of time in the Adirondacks and the western states of Utah and Montana. My work often reflects animals and places of solitude. The solitude can come from the deep woods or a small town. I have recently started exploring collaging in my work. Mixing mediums has become a big part of my work. I want my work to reflect nature, calm and beauty.

Website: https://cmfphotographyandart.crevado.com/

Instagram: @cmf_photography_and_art

Christine Garrison    

Christine Garrison is an artist and visual arts instructor whose work grows out of a strong sense of place and the quiet, restorative pull of the natural world. Now living in Western Montana, she paints from the influence of wide-open landscapes, slow-moving rivers, and the steady, grounding presence of water—an element that continues to anchor her practice.

“Rivers, tall pines, and mountain peaks shaped my earliest memories and gave me a sense of belonging. Nature has always felt like home, a place of calm, and a reminder to stay present. Through my work, I hope to bring others into that same kind of quiet, rooted space.”

Originally from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, with years spent in Minnesota and New England, her work continues to circle around ideas of belonging, memory, and the ways land and water shape how we understand ourselves.

Website: christinegarrisonart.com

Instagram: @christinegarrisonart

    Dianne Beesley

I am a Montanan with a degree in Biology and Chemistry from Carroll College and am accredited through the College of American Pathologists as a Medical Technologist and a Specialist in Blood Banking. I completed my career as a Director of Laboratory Services in the Denver area.

I began my creative journey in textiles, designing quilts and telling stories through shape and color. I have enjoyed watercolor for 8 years as it enables me to express my feelings of joy and awe for the simple beauty of life.

Instagram: @diannebeesleyart

Elisa Tenborg   

Elisa Tenborg is a contemporary artist working primarily in acrylic paint. Her practice is rooted in a lifelong love of nature and a sensitivity to the unseen forces between inner experience and the world around us.

Guided by organic form and intuitive movement, Elisa creates work that blends emotion, symbolism, and visual rhythm. Rather than depicting the natural world literally, she uses it as a language for exploring connection, transformation, and the feminine spirit. Her paintings are meant to be felt as much as seen, offering viewers a moment of pause, reflection, and quiet wonder.

Website: https://www.elisa-tenborg-art.com/

Instagram: @elisatenborgart

    Emory Padgett

Emory Padgett (Owl Flowers Photography), based in Helena, has displayed work in shops and gallery space in multiple towns in Montana, and has had work published in Montana publications such as Camas Magazine and Word Dog Quarterly. Emory has been doing primarily photography since 2018, but practices other crafts such as woodworking and stained glass.

A photographer drawn to the ethereal and colorful, Emory seeks to convey the beauty of nature and honor its life-giving power through art. Their work—taken across the striking and strange landscapes of Montana—reveals dreamy secrets and moonlit glimpses of the natural world, presented with reverence and wonder. As a carpenter, Emory makes frames of local and salvaged wood to accompany photos, further grounding their work in the natural.

Website: www.owlflowers.com

Instagram: @owl.flowers

Erin E. Johnson   

Erin E. Johnson is a local Missoula based multimedia artist, illustrator, and designer. Originally from Helena Montana, Erin grew up traveling across the High-line living in diverse rural communities along the top of the state’s northern line of railroad towns bordering Canada – later starting college in Eastern Montana (Glendive) and finally finding her way to the mountains of Missoula to study at the University of Montana. These experiences offered her different views into the ways of life a person could experience having under the ‘Big Sky’ State. The one constant through it all, were the wonders of the wildlife and natural wild places surrounding them.

Her work explores the lighthearted interplay of geomorphic graphic structure and imperfect organic shapes in animal and nature inspired forms. She is a colorist that loves to experiment with the effects that different color combinations have on the eye to – entice and enamor onlookers. Her artwork predominantly focuses on wildlife, corgis, and storytelling – drawing on influences from midcentury artists, folklore, mythology, cartoons, graphic novels, and the silly playfulness of childhood nostalgia.

Instagram: @fire.sprung

    Gail Trenfield

As a figurative painter, I am drawn to hidden, surprising forms – especially those that vanish into reflections or shadows. This is integral to my work – which is primarily a way of connecting with the land and water that gives us life.

Now, as we are coming to see how impermanent this beautiful world may be, I have been exploring our love of the land, and our grief at losing it, by capturing transitory moments of light and form.

Often, I paint beautiful old stumps in water, with their shadows and reflections – but I am also working on a series of large and small paintings of the myriad forms that water takes, as well as the way a landscape takes the light.

The paintings I have entered in this show reflect my study of Carravaggio – working towards precise painting, and forms defined by light emerging from rich darks.

Painting has been part of my life since I was a child. As a student, at Indiana University, I worked primarily with abstract forms – but I later found out that a figurative approach is, for me, much more rich and interesting. Color, light, form and space remain central to my work – but there are also the very interesting problems of how to represent what is seen, as well as the possibility of integrating into formal work the odd view and hidden reality.

As I have moved West, my vision has changed. The Midwest provided intimate landscapes and interiors. When I moved to Iowa, space opened up, and I loved to paint the fertile land, divided into fields. In Montana, though, I gave up painting for awhile, because I simply could not process this landscape. Perhaps that is why, although I love to walk in the mountains, I am still drawn to small bits: stumps, reflections, and the surface of water.

Grace Wolcott    

Grace Wolcott is a muti-media artist living in Missoula. She received a BFA in Filmmaking from the University of Montana, but loves making all forms of art and experimenting with and learning new techniques. Common themes she explores in her artwork include the female experience, growing up in this unique place and time, living with a chronic illness, and our connection to technology and nature. Grace has worked at The Roxy Theater for 4 years as a Graphic Designer and Youth Filmmaking Teacher and loves being involved in Missoula’s art community. In her free time, she loves watching movies, baking, and listening to or making music.

Website: whoisgracewolcott.com

Instagram: @GraceInCyberspace

    Jace Laakso

Jace Laakso is a printmaker utilizing a technique called reduction relief carving on linoleum. This provided uses a single block to print several layers of ink. Laakso received a BFA from the University of Montana. He resides in Missoula.

Website: https://www.jacelaakso.com

Jay Jack    

I’m a recently retired engineer who always dreamed of a simpler life, a life dominated by creative endeavors, natural beauty, and time spent outdoors. Today I’m living out that dream on a small ranch near Philipsburg, Montana where I live with my wife (Nan) and our dog (Goldie). My 2-dimensional art (as well as objects I make with Juniper wood) are a reflection of the love and respect I have for the rugged and diverse landscapes of the northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest in general.

Website: https://100wild.shop/

Instagram: @100wildjuniper

    Jennifer Baylis

Jennifer Baylis is a Missoula-based figurative and portrait painter. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Art in 1997 from UCLA with an emphasis on drawing and painting. She then worked as an Education and Public Programs Manager at the Orange County Museum of Art and the Long Beach Museum of Art before moving to Montana. She developed educational programming for children and adults, trained docents, and led tours and art workshops.

She’s had a life-long love for portraiture. She seeks to express nuances of moods, feelings and mind states while hinting at spiritual themes as inspiration flows from her life experience.

She has shown in solo and group shows in California and Missoula and has work in private collections. In November 2022 her solo show, “Sparkles and Gloom,” at Frame of Mind Gallery showcased many of her pandemic era portraits. In March 2024 her solo show “Eye Traps” was featured at Break Espresso. In July and August 2024, her solo show “An Inward Gaze,” was featured at the Confluence Gallery and the ZAAC. She has shown in group shows at Radius Gallery (Holiday Show for 4 years), the ZAAC Mini Show, Frame of Mind’s Annual Juried Exhibition for 4 years, and the Solstice show at the Confluence Center for 3 years.

Jennifer Baylis’s work reflects personal, meaningful human experiences—love, womanhood, grief, spiritual understanding, and the inner journeys she has traversed. The creative process is both grounding and transcendent, allowing her to connect deeply with life’s physicality while moving beyond suffering through acceptance and insight. Her pieces invite us to hold space for contemplation and connection.

Website: jenniferbaylisstudio.com

Instagram: @jenniferbaylis_art

Jesse Owen    

I am an artist living in Missoula, Montana. I was born and raised off the grid in northwest Montana. I grew up without electricity or running water and developed a diverse skill set. I have a strong connection to the natural world. I graduated from Berea College with a studio art degree (emphasis in sculpture). I work for Caste Design as a woodworker/sculptor. I create my own work in my personal studio as well.

Mark making is my non verbal form of communication. I like to make marks that evoke emotion and intrigue the viewer. The monotype format has been my latest medium. Ink scraped on glass and transferred to paper with a rolling pin. I use razor sharp tools to cut the ink on the glass. There is control in the ink application and then a surrender to randomness of the pressing. The images created are simultaneously meaningful and meaningless. Minimal, abstract, monochromatic and evocative are all descriptors that I consider appropriate for my work.

Instagram: @jesseowen19

   Kaelee Thompson

Kaelee Thompson is a Montana based artist creating works inspired by equines, nature, and mysticism. She works in various mediums including graphite, pastel pencils, and mixed media, and enjoys incorporating stylistic linework and geometric patterns in her pieces. Her intention is for her art to share a message of equine welfare awareness, and to evoke a compassionate reverence for equines and the natural and mystical worlds.

Website: https://www.artfulequus.com/

Instagram: @artful_equus

Kaisha Gerhardt

Kaisha Gerhardt is a digital artist exploring the intersection of whimsy and the macabre. With a BFA in Media Arts from the University of Montana, specializing in interactive media and video game design, she creates immersive digital experiences that draw viewers into playful and frequently eerie worlds. Most recently, Kaisha has taken on new role as a graphic designer for Garden City Monument Services, as well as plans on showcasing more artwork in both the physical and digital world.

Website: www.kaishagerhardt.com

Instagram: @kaisha_lil_doodlez

        Karen Fisher

I paint with both oils and watercolors and enjoy the different effects and styles possible with the two very different mediums. I also like using colors that are not always present in the original – and making blue dogs and purple bears seem normal.

Kathleen Wills

Over the years, Kathleen has had the opportunity to travel to many corners of the world and experience different forms of creativity and art. She has been a teacher for decades and that is a constant approach to her own creative expression. Kathleen constantly explores new and varied artists; their unique expressions and techniques are woven into the work she creates. In turn, she shares her knowledge with other artists and students; learning while teaching others. Her philosophy is that an artist doesn’t grow if they fail to practice, expand their knowledge, or explore the unknown. Her hunger for creativity drives her search and personal schooling. Kathleen is constantly reminded there is always something new, different, and exciting to weave into her art. Her style and art is eclectic and she strives to embrace the multiple possibilities for expression. Kathleen strives to master new techniques, styles, pigments, and tools to capture the magical world around us. The masters are her teacher the world if her inspiration.

        Keith VanDePol

Keith retired to Montana some time ago and has been painting in many media for years. He has a Master’s Degree in painting and drawing from Iowa State University.

Primarily using imagery culled from photos saved from life’s experiences, he incorporates practices of painters whose work he admires and combines real imagery with abstracted elements.

Instagram: @keithvandepol

Kent Means

Kent is a mixed media artist that lives and works in Missoula, Montana. Kent was raised in Missoula and has a master’s degree in architecture from Montana State University. Kent has a long history of interest in art and design, was raised in an artistic family, and had many art classes throughout his education. Kent focused on his architecture career over many years and came back to art through painting and drawing in 2023.
Kent is inspired by the natural world, built world, and the human condition. Kent is particularly interested in the interplay between intuition and planned marks, the subconscious vs. designed, nature vs. man-made. His work ranges between full abstract expressionism to referential abstraction. Many of Kent’s paintings have references of his architectural background with line, shape, and structural references.
Over the past several years, Kent has been exploring different mediums, attending workshops and refining his techniques. Kent has primarily been using acrylic on canvas and panels but often incorporates charcoal and other mediums.

Kent’s work has recently been part of the Solstice Show at Torrents Art in Missoula and is currently part of the Mini Show at Zootown Arts.

Kent hopes that the viewers of his work experience a sense of wonder, their own internal meaning, and find beauty.

Instagram: @kentmeansart

        Krystal Wolf

I am a multidisciplinary artist working across textiles, ceramics, collage, and screen printing. My work explores whimsy, color, and the reinterpretation of mythology, bringing ancient symbols and stories into contemporary, tactile forms. I create from a belief that hope, kindness, and beauty are quiet yet powerful acts in heavy times. Through playful imagery and layered materials, my work offers small moments of wonder for those seeking a touch of magic in the everyday.

Instagram: @houseofsmallspells

Ladypajama

Ladypajama is a self made, self taught artist. She explores all mediums and loves mark making, scribbling, and collaging. Her art is more about process than product, feelings over precision. Her work is found sprinkled all over Missoula. She also publishes a monthly zine that is distributed all over the world.

Website: https://linktr.ee/ladypajama

Instagram: @ladypajama

   Linda Cox

 Linda (Lin) was born in Butte, America and has spent most of her life in Montana. As a child, she loved photography, drawing/painting, and reading. Summer days exploring the forests and streams in the Mission Valley cemented a lifelong dedication for wildlife and the environment. Those interests have persisted over her lifetime. During her career in healthcare, art provided a much-needed stress relief for Linda, and retirement has now allowed more time to pursue those passions. Lin’s paint mediums include oil, acrylic, and watercolor; although the looseness and unpredictability of the latter make it her favorite. Linda’s subjects are diverse, but often include animals. With a nod towards the gravity of life, Lin occasionally delights in the absurd and fantastical to bring humor to her art. In “Magicians hat Under a Blue Moon”, Linda hopes to transport the viewer to a mountain meadow where reality is left behind and imagination rules.

Linda Daigle    

These works are all painted on site in and around the greater Missoula MT area. For me it is a very freeing, fun and a great honor to paint in Montana. Received a BFA in Painting and Illustration in the late 80s, raised my daughter and intermittently sought refugee in my painting. As an official “empty nester” I thoroughly enjoy my freedom to paint at will.

Linds Sanders

Backstory: What We Turn Our Backs On
Our back is the shield of our bodies. With thick ribs and sharp vertebrae, our back is the strong barrier we instinctively turn to for protection. Yet, in our individualistic Western society, perseverance is often valued over self-preservation. We’re taught to keep trying, keep working, keep toiling, keep on keeping on. This ideology often leads us to engaging with harmful beliefs, disharmonious relationships, and unattainable goals. Our instincts might urge us to protect our soft bellies and heart, but if we walk away, what are we then? Quitter. Weak. Coward. Failure.

Backstory is a love note to the bravery it takes to be counterculture. This exhibition celebrates the act of turning away, and in doing so, highlights the marvel of turning towards something new.

To create these pieces, I engaged deeply with each subject. I anticipated hearing stories of resolution and happy endings, but instead, I learned of their ongoing struggles. These individuals are currently undertaking the challenging task of turning away and forging new paths into the unknown. This work of turning their backs is a narrative that connects us all, and with integrity, intuition, and kindness, I am confident we’ll all find our footing forward.

Artist Bio:
Linds Sanders (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist working across visual art, photography, poetry, and design. Inspired by both the solitude of nature and the connections with others, her work involves looking closely, listening deeply, and uncovering significance in both grand and subtle moments. She is moved by art that is accessible, leaving viewers with a feeling of “getting it.”

Outside her art, Linds is a counselor in Missoula and owner of Tree Rings Counseling (located in the same building with Arts Missoula!), where she has the privilege of working with remarkable and resilient people. She lives with her doting husband and worships at the four feet of their feline companion.

Website: lindssanders.com

Instagram: @resounding_bell

Lou Laakso

My work reimagines and elevates traditional women’s work-embroidery samplers, quilting and sewing. These practices historically embedded in domesticity and femininity are often labeled as craft. I strive to challenge these perceptions while honoring these rich traditions. My textiles are dyed with tea and rust. The natural oxidation process creates marks and stains that are unpredictable. Hand stitching is central to my process. It allows me to respond to the marks and subtle variations of the fabric.

       Madelaine Millar

Madelaine Millar is an abstract watercolor painter born and raised in Missoula, Montana. She spent five years in Boston, Massachusetts studying journalism, before rediscovering her love of visual art during the pandemic. She began to identify her unique voice when an overlapping bad breakup, unexpected move, major job change, and serious surgical procedure made for a deeply strange 2022. In addition to appearing in such Montana institutions as the Missoula Art Museum and the Holter Museum, her work has been displayed nationwide in such venues as the Center for Contemporary Art in Seattle and the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Massachusetts.

My art documents my journey back to my own nature as an intuitive, feeling animal, after years of trying to repress my way into fulfillment. My process is intuitive and improvisational, working my way back into my own body by meeting every impulse with an attitude of “yes, and”, and the result is often characterized by vibrant colors, tightly woven composition, and layers of watercolor and ink applied over many hours. My paintings are physical remnants reflecting back to me the quality of my art, which I consider to be my relationship with the divine, living world around me. At their best, they aim to spark a second moment of art within a viewer who finds something of their own nature reflected back in the work before them.

Website: soupinthewoods.com

Instagram: @soup.in.the.woods.art

 Marvin Pauls    

The last five years have been very traumatic for me beyond the social complexities of the world, and I found myself overwhelmed and floundering in my art making.

Then one morning I came across a blind contour drawing from the night before. It only covered about half the area of the page, so I rotated the sketchbook and made another blind contour that went “across” the first one to complete the composition.  Came back later and added color where if felt right, being guided by the various shapes and lines of the drawing. This loose play with various media inspired my creative spirit and lead to the images in this show and many more.

      Naomi Thornton

Naomi Thornton is a mixed media artist, grandmother, and psychotherapist living in Missoula. In her art, she explores the juxtaposition of these roles. Naomi finds her passion close to the earth having lived off the grid while raising her three children. She was a longtime director at a local feminist organization working to address issues of poverty and injustice, and currently has a small private practice.

She has exhibited locally in the solo shows “Warrior Women” at the Zootown Arts Community Center and “Healing Our Inner Child” at Butterfly Herbs and juried groups shows at Zootown Arts Community Center, Frame of Mind Gallery, and most recently in “WILD WONDROUS WORLD” at Radius Gallery. She has also exhibited nationally in exbibits by Anthropology of Motherhood, and in the international online shows “Dreamland” and “Home” by Arts to Hearts Project and “Surrounded by Nature” by Art Mums United; in print she has been featured in Phototrouvee Magazine, Issue 7, The Huts, Vol. 4, and Why Collage, Issue 2, Collage Care: The Method Book Two by Laura Kanyer.

In my art, I emphasize the collective power and determination of women globally and historically. I see our connection to the earth as an essential resource for our own health and that of our families and communities. I am very drawn to vintage portrait photography; I see a photograph as a moment in time, a real person with a unique story. My materials are vintage photographs, found images, handmade papers, text from old books, and acrylic paint in a process of deconstructing and reassembling to evoke a textured layering of desires and dreams. The vintage portraits I find are embedded within an historical/cultural context. I work in an intuitive way letting the images “speak” to me as I discover a hidden story about women of that time and locality. As I work on each piece, I write about how I have been impacted by what I have learned working with the image and from the historical research of that photograph. I experience a sense of connection as my story and their stories intertwine to become “our stories”. As a psychotherapist, I have witnessed the incredible resiliency of human beings to heal and reach toward wholeness. In my art, I seek to reflect that part of the human spirit.

The stories that accompany my pieces can be found on my website www.spiritisaboneart.com. I am grateful for the photographers, known and unknown who inspire my work.

Website: www.spiritisaboneart.com

Instagram: @spirit_is_a_bone_art

    Rebecca Steele    

I am a self-taught figurative painter who has been creating work for about a decade. My work explores emotional intensity, intimacy, and, lately, the shifting dynamics of control within relationships: the tension, longing, and ultimately the surrender that life demands.

Experiencing synesthesia, I perceive color as physical sensation and use it to translate feelings into visual form: certain hues register as tension, warmth, touch, or release. Color becomes a language for internal states and emotional expression. A recurring muse often heavily informs the emotional atmosphere of my paintings. Through this lens, I examine power, devotion, vulnerability, and the desire to both hold control and surrender it – the contradictions that make human connection compelling, even addictive.

While my broader body of work often engages sensuality and body image, my recent pieces focus on the psychology of control. Animals appear as resilient, feral alter-egos, reflecting instinct, adaptation, and survival.

I paint to feel, to process, and to give permanent form to emotion. Painting is both expression and preservation — a way to navigate feeling while inviting others into that interior world.

        Rebecca Velde

I paint to learn. I am curious. It is a life long pursuit. I got a great education growing up in Northern Minnesota. Then continued at the University of Iowa, gaining a BFA in art in art history. Montana has been my home for most of my life. Right now I am exploring painting fast and trying to express emotion.

Instagram: @rebeccaveldeart

Ruth Wolf

A Montana native, Ruth E. Wolf was born on a ranch near the Mission mountains in Arlee, Montana. She graduated from Frenchtown High School and went on to pursue a career as a problem-solving Ph.D. Analytical Chemist. Now retired, she devotes her time to watercolor painting and enjoys the transparency of the colors and interesting effects that can be created by the interaction of the pigments with water and other media on the paper. Current works attempt to meld her natural attention to detail with a loose abstract style often used for background washes that highlight the subject.

    Sage Friss

Sage is a Missoula based artist who grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Montana. He’s deeply connected to the world around him and inspired by nature. Spending time watching bugs live their lives has always been a valued activity for him. He’s also inspired by Rembrandt, Hayao Miyazaki, MF DOOM, MC Escher, and Salvador Dali amongst many others.

Capturing specific moments in time is important to his process. His work largely features realistic scenes within imagined realities. He is a self taught artist and is always looking to deepen his skills, whether through new mediums or subject matter.

“Bridging the gap between reality and dreams is one of the most gratifying experiences of artistic pursuit.”

Instagram: @rage1000

  Sharon Davidson

Sharon Davidson is an abstract artist whose main interest is painting intuitively. She chooses her subjects from experiences, but also from concepts. Working with an art therapist since 2016, she collaborates and advocates for the process of art making for mental health.

The art series “On the Bank” and “Walk in the Woods” is about our green spaces in Missoula’s Franklin to the Fort and Southgate Triangle neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are lacking in natural landscapes and the few that are left need the attention of Missoula residents.

      Sheri Nagy

Sheri Nagy was born in Bozeman, Montana and she graduated with honors from Montana State University with a B.A. in Fine Arts.. Sculpture was her main focus for many years and led to the commission to create the monumental bronze eagle sculpture for the Veterans Memorial Park in Renton, Washington. The passion for sculpture influences the way she sees a landscape and transformed her oil painting technique so that she uses a palette knife exclusively to carve out the forms in most of her paintings. Sheri has participated in numerous art shows including the American Artists Professional League, New York, N.Y., the C.M. Russel National Art Show, Great Falls Montana, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Art Show Denver, Colorado. She also participated for the last 7 years in the Glacier Museum’s Plein Air Glacier Paint Out. Sheri lives in Missoula. Montana. She works primarily in her studio, but loves plein air painting outdoors as much as possible.

The natural world has always been a fascination for me and is the inspiration for my work. From my love of animals and their environment came the appreciation of shape and color, the drama of light and shadow and the patterns of nature. In my painting and sculpture I hope to give the viewer a window to the way I see the world and to promote the desire to look again, maybe in a different way.

Website: www.sherinagy.com

Stacey Klocke

Hello, my name is Stacey Klocke. I love Montana history and I thought I would paint on Montana maps where these ghost towns are located. I reside in Lolo, Montana. Grew up in Montana. I have 4 grown kids and 4 fur babies. Love the medium gouache for painting with. I also use acrylic and would love to learn plein air.

    Tracy Hall

Tracy Hall graduated from The University of Montana in 2015 with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She completed an artist residency at the MT Natural History Center in 2021. Her art practice includes illustration, textile art, and bookmaking, and often focuses on deconstructing and recombining textures found in nature to celebrate non-linear ways of making meaning.

Instagram: @tracylinhall

  Tristan Boyar

Tristan Boyar is an artist and printmaker living and working in Missoula, Montana. After graduating from the University of Montana with degrees in Art and German in 2023, Tristan started his own press, The Gastropod Press, as a vessel to further explore printmaking and related processes. Through his work, Tristan seeks to explore the relationship between the built environment and natural ecosystems, where those boundaries blur, and how we as humans fit in to that relationship.

Website: www.thegastropodpress.com

Instagram: @the_gastropod_press

Yunika Lam

My work is an exploration of the delicate balance between the natural world and the deep emotion. Using watercolor, I aim to capture the quiet strength of the wilderness.

I am deeply moved by the intricate details found in nature. By painting scenery and wildlife, I want to represent a sense of resilience and natural wonder that I strive to translate onto paper with realistic accuracy and emotional depth.

My goal is to create a window into the wild that feels both intimate and expansive. I hope viewers feel a sense of calm and connection, remembering to pause and find joy when they encounter my works.

Instagram: @thepaintergallery