Maggy Rozycki Hiltner's expansive “Vantage Point” is an idealized landscape of a big blue sky, green grass, and puffy white clouds, with images of natural and manmade disasters stitched into the piece.
The Holter Museum of Art in Helena opens three winter exhibits with a reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18. On display through April 14 are: “Vantage Point” featuring embroidered installation by Red Lodge artist Maggy Rozycki Hiltner; “Looney Tunes,” a playful selection of woodcuts by well-known Missoula artist James Todd; and “Across the Divide,” featuring works by art faculty from the University of Montana and Montana State University.
Vantage Point: Maggy Rozycki Hiltner
Hiltner’s “Vantage Point” – an idealized landscape of a big blue sky, green grass, and puffy white clouds, with images of natural and manmade disasters stitched into her work –originally opened at Mesa Arts Center, then traveled to the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Lawrence Arts Center in Kansas, Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. For the Holter exhibit, the artist is stitching an additional 156 square feet of embroidery to make it site-specific for the Bair Gallery.
Hiltner was born in 1975 and grew up in Pennsylvania. She comes from a family of makers: her mother and grandmothers needlepointed pillows, made quilts, and stitched or knitted their clothes and toys; her father built odd things, cooked outrageous meals, and painted murals in their home.
Now a full-time artist, Hiltner lives with her husband and two daughters in Red Lodge. Her innovative work has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions been published in the U.S. and abroad.
She offers a gallery talk at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, followed by an Embroidery Workshop from 1-5 p.m.
Looney Tunes: James Todd
Several years ago, after James Todd retired from teaching at the University of Montana, his mother delivered a collection of drawings he had made between the ages of 5 and 8 – images he hadn’t seen in over 50 years. The fluid lines of his pencil drawings of American GI’s returning from the war in Europe, knights in armor, and a visit to the dentist greeted the artist across decades and a lifetime of experience.
In “Looney Tunes,” Todd has reinterpreted his childhood drawings through woodcut printing, the medium for which he is perhaps best known today. Each original drawing accompanies a contemporary print that, while based closely on the original forms, embodies the intervening decades by embellishing upon, even reimagining altogether the child’s experience.
Across the Divide: Art Faculty from UM and MSU
This exhibition highlights art faculty from University of Montana and Montana State University. The roster of talented artists and educators includes: Trey Hill, Elizabeth Dove, Julia Galloway, Jennifer Combe, MaryAnn Bonjorni, Kevin Bell, Brad Allen, Cathryn Mallory, Meta Newhouse, Gesine Janzen and Denise Riebe, Bryan Petersen, Ashley Fuchs, Jade Lowder, Michelle Osman, Sara Mast, Josh DeWeese, Jim Zimpel, Ella Watson, Vaughan Judge, Jeffery Conger, Jeremy Hatch, Dean Adams, and Rollin Beamish.
Artist in Residence Michelle Summers
Ceramic artist Michelle Summers has been the Holter’s current artist in residence since August and is working to establish a full time studio practice and business in Helena. She received her B.F.A. in ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her M.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She has been a long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation from 2015-2017 and the Anonymous Potter Fellow at Northern Clay Center in 2015. For more information on her work visit, www.michellemsummers.com/.
For more on Holter exhibits and events, visit holtermuseum.org.