Women of the West is focus Hockaday exhibits and panel discussion
Hockaday Museum of Art opens three new exhibits, hosts panel discussion with Montana artists Tessa Heck, Jessica Glenn, Amy Brakeman Livezey and CoFlourish, a traveling group show. (Courtesy image)
Montana women artists are the focus of three new exhibitions and a panel discussion at the Hockaday Museum of Art.
The exhibits will feature the work of Kalispell muralist Tessa Heck, new work by Missoula and Helena artists Jessica Glenn and Amy Brakeman Livezey and a traveling group exhibition by CoFlourish.
A presentation and panel discussion titled “Her Stories: Women of the West in Art and History,” is planned on the opening day of the exhibitions from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 28. In addition to the three artists, the presentation and panel discussion will include artist and storyteller Valentina LaPier of the Blackfeet Nation, Northwest Montana History Museum Director Margaret Davis and Hockaday Director Alyssa Cordova. There is no cost to attend the presentation and panel discussion thanks to a Humanities Montana grant.
An exhibit preview and reception will follow from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with music by Gabriel Layton of Whitefish Disco Skate. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is $5. Members are free.
Heck’s first solo exhibition, “Tessa Heck: Way Too Fast, Way to Slow,” features large, bold, colorful geometric paintings of Montana landscapes, 3-D wood cutouts as intimate portraits of everyday life and motherhood.
Glenn and Brakeman Livezey are part of a two-person exhibition, “Her Stories, Her West,” which focuses on each artist's reimagined visual biographies of notable women of the West as well as contemporary explorations of traditional depictions of women and work, with images sourced from history and personal experiences in Montana.
CoFlourish is a traveling exhibition of individual and collaborative artwork created by 30 artists during the pandemic and is presented by the nonprofit Western Montana Creative Initiatives and the Open AIR (artist-in-residence) program and sponsored by the Montana Art Gallery Directors’ Association. CoFlourish began in the spring of 2020 in response to the isolation and lost opportunities many artists were experiencing during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Participating Montana artists include: Amanda Bielby, Courtney Blazon, Claire Compton, Elizabeth Costigan, Erin Hawley, Heidi Marie Faessel, Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli, Maggy Hiltner, Jade Lowder, Julianna Lucero, Sandra Marker, Stella Nall, Salisha Old Bull, Tricia Opstad, Carrie Richer, Cassandra Sevigny, Brandon Sward, Zoe Sykora, April Werle, and Taylor White.
The exhibitions will be on display through Dec. 23. General admission to the museum is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for college students. Members and children under 18 are free due to a grant from the Applied Materials Foundation. Admission is also free for military and veterans through Labor Day.