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Iris Model
Iris
MODEL
Iris Model grew up in post-war Berlin. She has always lived in big cities, from Berlin, London and Paris, to New York, where she moved in 1964 to “experience America firsthand.” Model is a wealth of knowledge; she speaks slowly but with intent. She started her career in New York working with Rudi Gernreich, a famous fashion designer. She co-managed his showroom and, in the process, fell in love with New York. Her career was propelled when she became part of the small founding team for Clinique Lab Inc, a now international skin care and makeup company. Over thirty years after moving to the United States, Model went to Big Sky to ski, and liked it so much she came back the next summer to hike. She would eventually buy a home in the valley. In 2001 she opened the Indian Uprising Gallery in Bozeman. It was a gallery that sought to “provide a showcase for known and emerging contemporary native artists to receive wider public recognition.” Her love for traditional Native artwork came from, as Model describes it, “a tiny little gallery in the Emerson.” It was new to her, but it was fascinating and fresh. “It turned out, as I learned, that those were pictographic works. And very traditional to Native American Tribes, in terms of their communication.” She was a customer at first, and eventually applied her marketing and branding background from New York to offer to the owner her services as a partner. “With little knowledge and a great deal of enthusiasm,” Model eventually ran the gallery on her own. Submerging herself in Native American culture and learning from the very artists she showcased everything she could. In addition to the Indian Uprising Gallery, Model supports and serves The Museum of the Rockies, Story Mill Community Park, and the Heart of the Valley. In 2014 she received an Honorary Alumni Award from the College of Art and Architecture at MSU. In her free time, Model is interested in conservation, education, and philanthropy.
