Fifth Annual Missouri Falls Fine Arts Show & Sale March 15 - March 19, 2018

AAM is so excited to celebrate the Fifth year of the Missouri Falls Fine Arts Show & Sale! The show will once again be located in the Ozark Room at The History Museum at 422 2nd Street South in Great Falls, Montana during Western Art Week, March 15-18th. The ambiance of the venue gives an added flair to the already unique art being presented. 

From traditional to the unusual, the show features artwork from 14 local AAM artists and two featured artists whose creativity spans a variety of mediums, styles and techniques. The AAM artists participating in the show this year are: Stoney Burk, Judy Ericksen, Jean Fleming-Mazur, Leslie Kesler, Rebecca Kinane, Chary Majerus, Lynn McLeod, Theresa Oksness, Margi Schindele, Dawn L. Sievers, Nancy Speer and 622 Studio students, Joy Staelens, and Sandy Walker.

The Opening Reception is Thursday, March 15, from 4 - 8 pm. Come meet the artists, enjoy music from Charla Bauman and refreshments. The awards for the Val Knight Scholarships will be given to one senior high school student from C.M.Russell, Great Falls and Paris Gibson Education Center high schools.

With a large selection there is sure to be art pleasing to all! 

Here are the two featured artists!
Janet Christina, a long time AAM member. She was born and raised in Missoula. When she was young her vision was poor, but after getting glasses at eight her world became clear. She started to draw everything, especially flowers and birds. Her high school art teacher exposed her to many art mediums. After high school she worked as a telephone operator and later married her husband who was in the USAF and started a family. After he retired they moved to Great Falls where he was an air traffic controller. In between raising her family Janet created art in several mediums.

She joined the Great Falls Arts Association, now the Art Association of Montana. Janet’s inspirations come from her love of Montana’s outdoors. Her artwork depicts scenes and wildlife from many backpack trips throughout Montana’s wilderness areas. Janet had the opportunity to design the four stained glass windows of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Great Fall. Her designs tell the stories of The Resurrection, Communion, Baptism and The Great Mystery of the Triune God. She reproduced these images into colorful bookmarks. Among her creative endeavors, Janet has designed rubber stamps with a western theme for a stamp company and painted backdrops for area plays. At 82 Janet’s vision has become poor again, however she still remains active with life and her art such as creating unique greeting cards made with feathers, dried flowers, different papers and rubber stamps. “I feel that the Lord has blessed me with the ability to paint what I see and what I remember.”

Sarah Justice is our second featured artist. She was raised in North Carolina and currently resides in Great Falls. In 1998 Sarah started Living with Art Studios, a decorative art business, specializing in wall murals, cabinet and furniture refinishing and decorative wall finishes. After 5 years she started painting landscape with oil paints then showing her work in fine art galleries in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas. Sarah received her BFA degree from Georgia State University in ceramics in 2014 and received her MFA from the University of Montana in May, 2017.

​Sarah found clay to be a medium like no other and one that she is truly passionate about and continues to use to create figurative sculpture. Myths and folklore fuel her creativity, teaching her lessons about life especially of powerful women figures such as Medusa, Athena, and, Andromeda. Her work tells stories of life/death, wisdom, archetypes, and the fine line between pleasure and pain. Sarah is currently the Director of Education at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls, Montana. She teaches artistic workshops in figure drawing and figurative sculpture, as well as maintaining a thriving studio practice and exhibition record. Sarah’s work has been in multiple publications; received substantial grants based on artistic merit; and has won numerous artistic awards.
            
The AAM artists participating in the show this year are: Stoney Burk, Judy Ericksen, Jean Fleming-Mazur, Leslie Kesler, Rebecca Kinane, Chary Majerus, Lynn McLeod, Theresa Oksness, Margi Schindele, Dawn L. Sievers, Nancy Speer and 622 Studio students, Joy Staelens, and Sandy Walker.

We will highlight each artist in the coming weeks. Come back next week!



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