LOT 1 PATTI WARASHINA

Seattle, WA Kiln Yard, 2016 two-color lithograph on paper, 24.5” x 29” estimated retail: $1,000

Patti Warashina (b. 1940) is an American artist known for her imaginative and eccentric studies of the human figure. Her work, often imbued with subtle irony and humor, offers an escape for viewers from the pressures and frustrations prevalent in society. Known as the queen of Northwest ceramics, Warashina’s work is in the permanent collection of Smithsonian American Art’s Renwick Gallery and in more than twenty museums throughout the US, Asia, England, and Australia.

Lot 2 Barbara Van Cleve

Big Timber, MT Filly Chasing, 1985 silver gelatin print ed. #96, 48” x 38” estimated retail: $5,500

Barbara Van Cleve (b. 1935) began capturing life on her family’s ranch on the eastern slopes of the Crazy Mountains when she was gifted her first “Brownie” camera as a young girl. Her silver gelatin prints and digital photographs capture both the dynamic and quiet moments on the ranch: branding, cattle moving, and roping scenes are interplayed with conversations among ranch hands, grazing horses, and night scenes. Often shooting from horseback, many of Van Cleve’s images embrace accidental and unstructured framing and unexpected angles.

Permanent Collection Artist

Lot 3

Jeneese Hilton

Blackfeet, St. Ignatius, MT

The Surveyors, 2003 mixed medium, 48” x 67” estimated retail: $5,000

The Surveyors incorporates a favored subject of Hiltons, the two ravens from Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn, given the ability to speak by Odin. Her paintings are in many collections, including the Missoula Art Museum, the Museum of Art and Culture at the University of Montana, and the Yellowstone Art Museum. Hilton’s work has been exhibited widely throughout the region and abroad.

Hilton was raised by her grandparents on a ranch near the Canadian border on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. Her work seeks to examine the intricacies enveloped in our constantly growing and changing belief systems, and the conflicts which arise when one set of beliefs collides with another. Her imagery is informed by an extensive understanding of literature, biology, religion, history, philosophy, and psychology, and is shaped by life experiences such as serving in the Peace Corps in Micronesia, Asia, and the South Pacific, as well as practicing art in Missoula, Mexico, Alaska, and Colorado.

Lot 4

Helena, MT

Roundup Barn Grid, 2019 framed, archival inkjet print

24” x 30” estimated retail: $600

Roundup Barn Grid exemplifies Tom Ferris’ careful examination of the Montana landscape. This body of work finds beauty in the infinite small details held within that landscape and encourages viewers to consider the artistry of our daily surroundings.

The photography of Helena native Tom Ferris seeks to capture the beauty found within the natural processes happening all around us, whether it be fabric shredding off a barbed wire fence or the peeling paint on an old barn. Viewing the road as a metaphor for life, Ferris seeks out that which one might see every day and take for granted or not view as pleasurable or hopeful. His photographs are featured in the 2012 book Hand Raised: The Barns of Montana, and capture the beauty preserved within Montana’s barns while also honoring the state’s farm and ranch traditions.

Lot 5 Jodi Lightner

Billings, MT

Blueprint to Rewrite History, 2016 acrylic, ink, and oil on mylar, 72” x 42” estimated retail: $5,500

Integral to the work of Jodi Lightner are the themes of personal identity, memory, and experience, and the inherent way in which they shape one’s understanding of physical structure and place. “Using structural elements to discuss the break down or build up of the ongoing relational patterns and connections I find between others,” she writes, “the environments where we place ourselves, and the living objects around us, provides me with a language that gives meaning to the human fabricated world around me.” Lightner currently teaches painting and drawing as an Assistant Professor at Montana State University- Billings. Her studio practice has included national and international exhibitions, including juried and invitational shows.

Lot 6 Josh Deweese

Bozeman, MT

Large Covered Jar, 2016 woodfired salt/soda glazed stoneware, 27” x 20” x 19” estimated retail: $3,500

DeWeese has exhibited his ceramic works across Montana and internationally. His work is included in numerous public and private collections. Large Covered Jar is a classical work by DeWeese and demonstrates his artistic excellence. In 2022, the Montana Arts Council celebrated his excellence when DeWeese was honored with a Governor’s Arts Award.

Permanent Collection Artist

Josh DeWeese (b. 1963) is a ceramic artist and educator, currently teaching ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman. Prior to teaching in Bozeman, DeWeese served as Resident Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena. The son of Bob and Gennie DeWeese, Josh’s upbringing paved the way for a love of the arts. DeWeese’s work, both in his life and art, reflects an extensive training in ceramics as well as a passion for the beauty inherent within ceramics processing. These processes-- the high temperature, melting, and transformation of the glaze-- shape humanity into each finished piece.

Lot 7

Tracy Linder

Molt, MT Wind, 2022

found bovine bones, 7.5’ x 3’ x 3.5’ estimated retail: $9,000

The work of Tracy Linder is defined by the life she’s lived since birth, rooted in the knowledge and experiences had growing up on a farm in the Yellowstone River Valley in south- central Montana. At a young age, Linder began to learn about the resourcefulness needed to survive, the vulnerability found in an often-harsh environment, and an awareness of the cycles of life and death. Her creative process has become a sort of reiteration of these familiar notions and an exploration of what can be found of them after what is natural ‘dies’ away. Her work and what is created then becomes biographical through presentation, lighting, surface, and detail, commanding a visceral response from the viewer.

Permanent Collection Artist

Lot 8

Willem Volkersz

Bozeman, MT

Paradise Lost, 2023 wood, acrylic/ latex paint, found objects, 22.75” x 35” x 11.25” estimated retail: $9,000

The work of Willem Volkersz (b. 1939) is imbued with an admiration for photography, travel, American roadside culture, Americana, and Folk and Visionary Art, a fascination which was born after Volkersz relocated to the United States from Holland after the devastation of World War II and began traveling through the American West. In his travels, Volkersz would document the billboards and neon signs found across the country, eccentric styles of expression which would later add meaning to the artist’s own work. Colorful lines of neon tubing create forms throughout many of Volkersz’ images, always adding personality and narration to commonly shared experiences.

Permanent Collection Artist