Frontier photography is focus of new Hockaday exhibit

An opening reception for artist Richard Buswell’s exhibit, “What They Left Behind,” will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 18, at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell. Buswell will also talk about his work during the reception. The public is invited.

The exhibit runs April 19 through June 22.

As all great photographers do, Richard Buswell disrupts our normal vision. His photographs of commonplace objects, presented in isolation absent their typical surroundings, interfere with our comprehension, forcing us to look again rather than rely on our unconscious minds to process what we see. His stark, apparently simple images help us penetrate the superficial appearance of objects from Montana’s past to contemplate the multiple, complex meanings that their histories and presence convey. And, perhaps, stir us to consider the things we will leave behind.

“This exhibition presents a new body of work by fourth-generation Montana photographer Richard Buswell,” said Victoria Rowe Berry, director of the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art. “Buswell has been photographing Montana settlement sites, ghost towns and frontier homesteads for over 40 years, and the present collection of photographs displays his evolving relationship with his subject.

“Crisp, intentional, and profoundly beautiful found objects are here for us to discover,” Berry said in a press release. “Although we may not understand what we are looking at, we can enjoy the eloquent abstract vocabulary of Richard Buswell. His art is worthy of opening ourselves to fully experience ‘What They Left Behind.’”

Buswell has exhibited internationally and his work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Library of Congress, Denver Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum and Montana Museum of Art & Culture, to name a few.

“Richard Buswell: What They Left Behind” was organized by the Montana Museum of Art & Culture, University of Montana, Missoula,

The mission of the Hockaday Museum of Art is to enrich the cultural life of our community and region, and preserve the artistic legacy of Montana and Glacier National Park. Located at 124 Second Ave. E. in downtown Kalispell, the Hockaday Museum is housed in a turn-of-the-century Carnegie Library Building that is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.

Daily admission for nonmember adults is $5, seniors,$4, college students, $2, and youth in grades K to 12 are admitted free.