STEPHEN GLUECKERT:

DRIVEN

Stephen Glueckert:

Driven

September 22 -December 31, 2011

Paris Gibson Square Museum of ArtGreat Falls, Montana

PROJECT FUNDING BY

This project received additional support from the Montana Arts Council, a state agency funded by the State of Montana and the National

Endowment for the Arts, museum members and thecitizens of Cascade County.

Exhibition curated by and catalog designed by Bob Durdenwith assistance from Corey Gross and Aaron Kueffler

Cover: Galileo, 1999Back Cover: Whirling Willendorf, 1999

Copyright © 2011 Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, Montana. all rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission.

All images of Stephen Glueckert’s artwork are courtesy of the artist. Copyright © 2011 Stephen Glueckert, All rights reserved

(Fig. 1) Hitchhiker on the Hi-Line, 2010

(Fig.2) Qwerty, 2002

Introduction

Bob Durden, Former Curator of Art

Driven has been a labor of love by all those involved in its presentation. What originally began as a modestly scaled exhibition of drawings evolved into a more complete survey of Stephen Glueckert’s artwork. It is with great pleasure that The Square brings Steve’s work to the museum where he once served as Curator of Education. His long association with and enthusiasm for Great Falls and the larger traditions of Montana art and experience will be evident when viewing the exhibition and reading the following essays.

Having grown up, studied and eventually spent a career in Montana, Stephen has experienced the breadth of Montana’s great art traditions while developing his own unique artistic vision. As a curator and contemporary artist, Stephen has had the opportunity to know and glean insight from the leading Modernists in the state and present their work at the Missoula Art Museum. As a native of Missoula, Montana, and a former resident of Great Falls, he also knows the power of the region’s art historical past as well as being an avid fan of Montana history. These facts are critical to appreciating the artist’s work, which is often rich in Montana and local lore as demonstrated in such works as The Citadel, (Fig. 14) The Dog Man of Alzada (Fig. 3) and many of his observational drawings. Having stated that, it would be a mistake to think of Stephen as tied solely to these traditions and to a specific identity of place. Like many artists, he cannot be labeled so easily and though he is a prolific drawer of narrative works, he is equally compelled by conceptual ideas that are represented in his mechanically driven sculptures and drawing machines. These works go beyond a notion of place and deal in the realm of cognition and perception.

The nature of art making and interpretation is subjective, and a personal response to artistic representation comes with positive and negative reactions. We at The Square are mindful of this reality but realize that when people experience visual expressions venturing beyond established traditions, they have the opportunity to expand

their imaginations and experience the world from different perspectives. It is our hope that witnessing work by Montana’s own Stephen Glueckert will do just that.

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The nature

of art making

and interpretation

is subjective, and

a personal response to

artistic representation

comes with positive

and negative reactions.

(Fig.3) Dogman of Alzada, 1996

Driven Home: The Artist’s Perspective

Stephen Glueckert

It has been through a dialogue with Bob Durden, former Curator of Art at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art that this exhibition has evolved. This dialogue has included candid review of work and images, correspondence, a studio visit and editorial discipline. Together we arrived upon an exhibition approach that we were both comfortable with. I personally cannot imagine endeavoring to curate an exhibition of works created by an artist who has spent most of his life being a curator for other artist’s works. In such a case, there is bound to be strong opinions, control issues and inevitably a blind spot about the nature of one’s own creativity. I appreciate the patience and professionalism that Bob has demonstrated in nurturing this exhibition. The works included in this exhibition at The Square are separated into three distinct groupings and serves as a survey of my working approach.

The first grouping reflects my work environment and includes my drawing table, some early participatory works, a piece from the collection of Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, a stack of handmade books and a video station. This grouping of works is intended to give insight into my work environment.

The second grouping of work is an on-going exploration of Drawing Tools and Machines. The Drawing Machines were initially created in response to the contemporary art world’s popular acceptance of minimalist working methods and styles. The history and philosophy of minimalism really gained a foothold in the 1930s and 40s and international attention in the 50s and 60s. However, in the 1970s, 80s and 90s minimalism’s popularity waned and lost favor in academia. I am fascinated by the fact that many artists today in the West are creating minimalist works. I decided to create a body of work that bridges my sculptural work, with this direction in contemporary aesthetic thinking. In reality, minimalism, formalism, and what some artist’s today call reductivism is the same that it has been since the 1930s and 40s. Art practice has ebb and flow, and often what is seen as passé by one artist will be looked upon anew

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by another as an area yet to be exhausted. The great lesson in our time seems to encourage us to respect the dignity of the creative process, no matter who, what, where and when.

Finally, the third arrangement is reflective of my connection to the region, and of stories both real and imagined that are rooted in growing up in Montana. The drawings have never been shown and include memories of the state fair, of working on farms, climbing the smelter, of heroic characters, historic events, real teachers from the school of hard knocks and legendary phenomena that we don’t quite understand such as crop circles and cattle mutilations. These drawings, both real and imagined, came from somewhere and often if not from reality then from discussions and engaged storytellers in the fields and on the streets in our communities.

Finally, the drawings are all produced with drawn borders and are unframed. This is a practice which I developed while living and working in Papua, New Guinea. In that country, there is really no way to frame artworks, or even find a glass or frame shop, so I drew the borders to allow people to handle the drawings, imitating a frame and giving the patron the option of matting out the borders or not. By push pinning the corners, I discovered the pins would blend into the clutter on the borders that had become a frame without interfering with the image. In any case the patron purchasing the work would have the option of just matting it out. The borders hide all finger prints and provide just enough rigidity to comfortably allow handling.

I draw daily and usually have different bodies of work going all at the same time. Sometimes addressing content specifically, sometimes addressing mechanisms and sometimes addressing composition. This particular body of work was completed in 2010 and has never been shown. While I am primarily known as a sculptor, personally, I cannot imagine not drawing, something which has become increasingly important to me over the years.

(Fig.4) Baseball Book (detail), 2004

Driven by Nature and Experience

Bob Durden, Former Curator of Art

To fully appreciate the work of any artist, one must understand the context in which it was created, the artist’s life/cultural experience and, more quizzically, the cognitive and perceptual framework in which the work was created. The first two circumstances are more easily identified as they can be examined in relationship to the historical record, which includes the artist’s own words. As Ernest Van Alpen suggests, a work of art is not only historically based—contextualized by the culture in which it is created—but it is transformative, building a dialogue between the viewer and the object based solely upon what is observable.1 This point of view recognizes that each viewer brings his or her own experiences and knowledge to viewing and interpreting art. Examining work from a cognitive/perceptual framework is tricky and can be misleading if wrongful assumptions are made. What can we know honestly know about the artist’s intent or perception? The historical record can be skewed and the artist isn’t always present to describe what is intended. What can we truly glean from cognitive models to gain further understanding? Even though he world of brain study continues to evolve, the science continues to be debated and is led mostly by anecdotal evidence and clinical observations of brain injury sufferers. What is known/assumed about cognition and perception continues to change the way in which we consider how creativity is charged by the artist’s environment and individual organic abilities. The mysteries of cognition that elude science are exemplified in contemporary art forms that stray from widely accepted traditional or academic models, increasing the excitement and wonder of encountering wildly expressive or innovative art forms.

To understand what drives Stephen Glueckert as an artist, it is helpful to know that he was born in Missoula, Montana and moved to Great Falls, Montana when he was nine. He spent much time working alongside his father maintaining machinery in the family laundry business. What we cannot fully appreciate is why young Stephen found this activity so

(Fig.5) Cattle Mutilation, 2009-2010

compelling, especially in his formative years when most youth are concentrating on simpler mechanical observations and functions.2 Also it is helpful to know that Stephen grew up in a culture surrounded by wonderful country music, not like the crossover country of today, but of Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and their generation of songwriters. The lyrical stories in that music coupled with the environment of a relatively urban and authentic “Western” experience growing up in Montana might further our understanding of Stephen’s own compulsion to convey every day, real experiences. And if you are fortunate enough to meet Stephen in an authentic lounge, country tavern or other amenable social gathering, he may be encouraged to perform one of those gritty tunes in a most appreciable manner.

Encountering the work of Stephen Glueckert is akin to reading good fiction. He leads the viewer to an anticipated outcome without giving the story away in the initial reading/viewing. Though much of his work is narrative and based upon direct observation, gleaned through firsthand accounts or invented as a conversation between himself and the subject, his work provides a dramatic visual telling that feels familiar, charged with something unexpected and open-ended. Stephen is a wonderful visual story teller who sees artfulness in often seemingly mundane experiences, not unlike the lyrics of those early country songs that continue to inspire him. Through his narrative drawings, he reminds us of the subtle or sublime moments we experience everyday that are often overlooked while we search for “grander” moments in

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(Fig.6) Baseball Book (detail), 2004

our life. But the truth is that these collective everyday encounters are a larger part of how we perceive the world than the monumental second and third-hand observations that come to our attention throughout the day. For Stephen, there is no hierarchy in subject matter. Portraying a baseball game is as appropriate as re-conceiving how the game of chess is played or imagining the assassination of gangland leaders in the 1930s, being struck by lightning or UFO sightings. In his drawings of these subjects the narratives are clear, but the viewer will fill in the blanks about what comes next. Stephen is equally compelled by these narratives as he is by conceptualizing and inventing mechanized sculptures and wonderfully wry drawing machines created from abundantly handy implements, transforming them into the machinery of art making.

Stephen’s predilection to inquiry through art was honed in academia, though his chosen modes for visual expression convey the ease with which he interacts with others in his daily life—void of pretense. He observes his surroundings seeking out subtle gestures and moments of clarity as an “everyman.” His narrative drawings are drawn from the essential moments of his observations—tempered by memory and intuition—and exclude extraneous detail, ornamentation or showmanship. The level of “realness” or lack of it is intentional. As Howard Garner suggests, the artist’s choice of “schema” is based on cognition, perception and a choice to either follow established convention or create a new method for representing visual ideas.3 In his chosen modality, Stephen seems desirous to communicate to all viewers, regardless of their knowledge of or sophistication about art, choosing a representational model that possesses a modest visual entry point from which the viewer can derive meaning. This is especially interesting when one considers his approach to sculpture, which is on occasion loaded with tactilely seductive detritus and ephemera relevant to the central idea. In these works he subscribes to a “more is more” philosophy. Regardless of the viewer’s relationship to the context of the work, its transformative power is quixotic, ironic and whimsical.

Like sculptors such as John Buck, David Nash and David Smith, Stephen Glueckert also utilizes

drawing as a way to map out sculptural ideas. His drawings are as satisfying as the objects they represent. The mechanical/logical and the conceptual/intellectual elements in the drawings combine to create an interesting mental phenomenon for the viewer. These drawings operate both as object and as icon and in them the viewer observes the artist’s mind at work/play in proving out the viability, functionality and design of three-dimensional objects. Further, the observer enters his or her own imagination about how the 2-dimensional form will play out in real life. “Are seeing and knowing—the qualitative distinction between perception and conception—completely different, mediated by different types of brain circuitry perhaps, or is there a gray area in between?”4 In a sense, these drawings place the viewer in the artist’s frame of mind of “seeing and knowing,” unaware of the organic transformation occurring in their own imagination, regardless of the gray matter.

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(Fig. 7) Lightening Strike, 2009-2010

(Fig.8) One Man Band, 2009

Considering One Man Band (fig. 8) the drawing is a system of instructions with which Stephen works out scale, mechanical detail and movement, illustrating how he conceives the sculptural idea and intends to bring it to life. In viewing the work, we make a leap in our own imagination and perceive how the representation will appear in reality—including what sound it might make, what space it will occupy and how it will make us feel. In a sense, these drawings negate the need to make the object. However, if the idea is compelling enough, Stephen creates the object and allows the viewer to move from observation to participation, animating it with a physical interaction that personalizes the experience. As he states: “…the cam, the crank, and motion has provided me with an avenue to position the viewer exactly where I would like them to be to, experience my work, and a luxury of striving to offer a unified message when they stand there.”5

This idea of positioning (the preferred view) is not unusual in sculpture; however, it is not typically so absolutely directed by the artist, bringing

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the participant literally to arms length from his often playful point of view. Stephen Glueckert’s sculptures recall objects seen in penny arcades: pinball machines, fortune tellers, arm-wrestlers and other mechanical devices that captured the imaginations of youth prior to the digital/electronic age where the idea of interaction or participation is much more passive and less physical. The fun in those early devices was that they disguised the machinery and we imagined what made them work. Gear ratios, belts, pulley and servos, rather than software, processing chips and joysticks stirred the imagination. Other sculptures in Stephen’s oeuvre recall inventive tramp art, whirly-gigs and puppet theaters.

Like Stephen’s drawings, the sculptures have a sense of modesty that is expressed through his application of methods and materials. Sophisticated joinery and carving methods and expensive materials have little place in this artist’s world. Like his stated influences Joseph Cornell, Ed Kienholz and Marcel Duchamp, Stephen draws upon the abundance of found objects to construct his work and often these objects become central to the intellectual idea in play, such as the hand-operated drill that

(Fig.9) Emancipator (Whirling Lincoln), 2007

(Fig. 10) Whirling Willendorf, 1999

(Fig. 11) Rat Race X, 1996

(Fig.12) Rat Race Series (Joseph), 2004

becomes the mechanism that operates The Emancipator and Whirling Willendorf. The literal act of spinning an effigy of such historical icons is rife with wit and shares the enigmatic quality of Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, 1913. The notion of spinning a revered U.S. President or an iconic fertility object smacks of political and art world heresy, making the work simultaneously irreverent and whimsical and in effect creating “visual dissonance”6 (or, in this case visual irony). In works such as these, Stephen Glueckert seems to continue the question posed by Duchamp; what is art or what is worthy of art making. Unlike Duchamp, Stephen’s sculptures are not indifferent to the hierarchy of art, in all things he celebrates the predecessors who paved the way to this time and opened the doors to accessibility. No rules apply and no subject is taboo or beneath examination—again, the mundane subject or observation shares equal footing with that which might be deemed splendid.

However witty, whimsical or blithe Stephen’s work may seem to be; often there is a serious underlying satirical intent. The sculptures and drawings often convey a commentary on the darker nature of humanity as seen in work such as Rat Race X (fig. 11) By turning the crank, the participant sets the two rats in motion in a race to print out money. The metaphor is obvious, but a secondary commentary on racial dynamics exists in the work as well, a theme reiterated in Rat Race (Joseph) (fig. 12) that hits particularly close to home in the West.

With Roadside Installation Kit (fig. 13) Stephen Glueckert addresses other intellectual and emotional concerns. The transformative quality of this work truly relies on the viewer’s experience with the cruciform and its use as a roadside marker for highway fatalities but the inclusion of the flashlight conveys an uneasy message about the timing of placing these markers, suggesting an element of skullduggery, youthful mischief or perhaps simply suggesting that many roadside fatalities happen at night. Additionally, Stephen’s markers are not the pristine white crosses that one sees on roadways and they are larger as well. To fully understand the artist’s intent, one would need to participate and read the installation instructions that are enclosed in the envelope attached to the inside lid of the

love your family

have faith

“seize your bliss”

keep things simple

have grand dreams

look ahead

treasure friendships

Instruction included in Roadside Installation Kit

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(Fig. 13) Roadside Installation Kit, 2004

hinged crate—once again Stephen positions the viewer where he wants them to be to better understand his meaning. Though a bit darker then other previous examples, Stephen creates a work that must be put into action. When resting in the gallery, the work becomes an artifact of an actual experience. Further, the suggestion is that this kit can be put in play anywhere and at anytime of the day. Again Stephen breaks down the hierarchy of art, removing its context from a gallery, museum or a collector’s home and compels the observer to take art to the streets. This idea is complex and like Duchamp and others, Stephen is concerned with crashing the line between art and life, or as Nelson Goodman stated: “Just as an object may be a symbol—for instance, a sample—at certain times and under certain circumstance and not in others, so an object may be a work of art at some times and not in others.”7

Stephen Glueckert’s profession as an art curator also informs many ideas such as the Roadside Installation Kit. Being immersed in the profession of art presentation and interpretation is loaded

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with many paradoxes and challenges for a working artist. Among these is the movement of artwork from one spot on the planet to another, from one context to another and ironically from pristine places to shipping containers. In this realization comes a relevant pretext that the objects of the art and the boxes to which they are temporarily relegated are part and parcel of the art/life experience that they belong to, making the crate more than a temporary cabinet of curiosities. This theme is evidenced in other work such as All Along, In the Hot Sun and Look before You Leap. In these examples, Stephen jabs at the notion of pedestals, another symbol of art hierarchy, by creating a pedestal that doubles as a functioning crate, replete with scuffs and scrapes—a negation of the pristine object and in defiance of his usual role as a caretaker of cultural artifacts who is charged with dutifully protecting objets d’art from human, tactile experience. This is a wonderfully wry joke in the context of a museum installation of the artist’s work, in which other curators are charged to protect Stephen’s work from oily fingers and breakage, realizing the artist’s true desire is for people to touch and interact with his creations.

1. Van Alphen, Ernst. Art in Mind: How Contemporary Images Shape Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.

2. Aamodt, Sandra and Sam Wang. Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2008.

3. Gardner, Howard. Art Mind & Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity. New York: Basic Books, 1982.

4. Ramachandran, V.S. and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1998.

5. From an email sent by Stephen Glueckert to Bob Durden, August 17, 2011.

6. Solso, Robert L. Cognition and the Visual Arts. Cambridge, London: MIT Press, 1994.

7. Goodman, Nelson. Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968.

(Fig. 14) The Citadel, 1993

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Exhibition ChecklistAll objects courtesy of the artist except where noted

Mungas/Volk GalleryT.S. Elliot: Wasteland Chair, 1995, mixed media, 19 x 19 x 35Rat Race Series (Joseph), 2004, mixed media and found objects, 16 x 28 x 14”Qwerty, 2002, mixed media, 13.5 x 13.5 x 40Excavation Series: Dig It–Oscar, 2002, mixed media and found objects, 24 x 28 x 74”Roadside Installation Kit, 2004, mixed media and found objects, 14 x 20 x 48, courtesy of Corbin Ross, Missoula, Montana11 Things to Remember, 2002, mixed media and found objects, 24 x 24 x 76, courtesy of Kim Reineking, Missoula, MontanaDrawing Machines, c. 2005, video, running time 20 minutesPlane, 2005, video, running time 20 minutesThe Citadel, 1993, pinball machine with copy of Bodmer’s Citadel Rock painted on background, bones, snakeskin and other found objects, 54 x 32 x 10”, from the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art’s permanent collectionBaseball Book, 2004, mixed media on paper, 14 x 20 x 48”Handmade Book Series, 2004, mixed media on paper, 14 x 20 x 48Stacked booksCat Woman of Ismay, 1996, mixed media, 30 x 24 x 50Dogman of Alzada, 1996, mixed media,32 x 16 x 42 a. Dogman of Alzada drawing hung adjacent to sculpture, Xerox and ink, 1996,12 x 24 Rat Race X, 1996, mixed media and found objects, 10 x 20 x 36Vietnam Vet/ Young Republican Goes to Washington 1999, mixed media, 12 x 16 x 16Rowers, 2009, mixed media on paper, 24 x 36”One-man Band, 2009, mixed media on paper, 24 x 36”

Thayer GalleryDrawings and drawing machines documented in Drawing Machines video

Single Pencil, 2001, mixed media, 8 x 8 x10 Drawing #1 nd, pencil, 6 x 6 , 14 x 14 framedFour Pencil, 2001, mixed media, 8 x 11 x 10 Drawing #2 nd, pencil, 4 x 6, 14 x 14 framedOval/One Pencil, 2001, mixed media, 10 x 19 x 6 Drawing #3 nd, pencil, 6 x 6, 14 x 14 framedSeismic-Six Pencil, 2001, mixed media, 16 x 10 x 6 Drawing # 4 nd, pencil, 6 x 6, 14 x 14 framedLawnmower , 2001, mixed media, 15 x 12 x 10 Drawing # 5 nd, pencil, 6 x 6, 14 x 14 framedFive Roller, 2001, mixed media, 10 x 12 x 15

Drawing #6 nd, powdered pigment, 4 x 6, 14 x 14 framedJack Rabbit, 2001, mixed media, 6 x 12 x 16 Drawing #7 nd, pencil, 4 x 6, 14 x 14 framedHandle Operated Twenty-Tip, 2001, mixed media, 29 x 25 x 29 Drawing #8 nd, pencil, size vary, 6 x 6 framed, 14 x 14 framedWhirling Dirvish , 2001, mixed media, 6 x 10 x 16 Drawing # 9, nd, pencil, 4 x 4, 14 x 14 framedHand Tool , 2001, mixed media, 24 x 20 x 6 Drawing # 10, nd, pencil, drawings vary 8 x 10, 14 x 14 framedTri-Twist , 2001, mixed media, 8 x 16 x 29 Drawing # 11 nd, pencil, 4 x 6, 14 x 14 framedRocker Table Twenty-Tip , 2001, mixed media, 20 x 22 x 24 Drawing #12 nd, pencil, 8 x 10, 14 x 14 framedMulti-Tip with Turntable , 2001, mixed media, 12 x 16 x 8 Drawing #13 nd, pencil;/charcoal 6 x 6, 14 x 14 framedCrank Operated Twenty-Two Tip , 2001, mixed media, 12 x 14 x 16 Drawing # 14 nd, pencil, 6 x 6, 14 x 14 framed

6 drawing tools with drawingsBroom , 2011, mixed media, 18 x 9 x 60 Broom, drawing pencil 18 x 24Cone , 2011, mixed media, 9 x 9 x 32 Cone, drawing pencil, 18 x 20Trowel , 2009, mixed media, 6 x 6 x 12 Trowel, drawing pencil, 18 x 24Wheel with Pencils , 2009, mixed media, 12 x 39 x 32 Wheel with Pencils drawing pencil, 18 x 24Door Knobs , 2011, mixed media, 8 x 10 x 22 Door Knobs, drawing pencil, 16 x 18Saw , 2011, mixed media, 4 x 6 x 22 Saw, drawing pencil, 16 x 24

4 Drawing machines with accompanying drawingsPacific White, 2008 mixed media, 4 x 6 x 9 Pacific White, drawing 10 x 12Remington, 2008, mixed media 8 x 16 x 10 Remington drawing, 10 x 12For Good Little Boys & Girls , 2008, mixed media, 12 x 14 x 10 For Good Little Boys & Girls, drawing, 10 x 12Made in Japan, 2008, mixed media, 4 x 6 x 9 Made in Japan , drawing 10 x 12

Rothschiller Gallery36 Drawings completed 2009-2010, charcoal, graphite and china marker, 24 x 36” each

State Fair: Meanie or Weanie?State Fair: World’s Largest BovineState Fair: BurlesqueState Fair: Kosmic KypeState Fair: House of MirrorsState Fair: Madame FlorinaState Fair: Pete Playing Circle DropState Fair: Pick-PocketClimbing the StackClimbing the AnacondaHenry Canal BrandingBob and Carol’s Trailer FireBoy Stomping AntsGraffitiSun River FloodHitchhiker on the Hi-LineSt. George, UtahCattle Mutilation in LewistownCattle MutilationUFO in Judith GapCrop CircleLocustsThe Burial of Kennewick ManElmer MikusDecapitation of Wax HitlerClass WarD.B. CooperD. B. Cooper JumpsDirk Crossing BroadwayMilking A RattlerLightening StrikeDa ButcherBoy Off CrutchesWorkman with Deer FliesRed the PreacherOne-armed Fisherman

SculpturesWhirling Willendorf, 1999, mixed media & found objects,9 x 12 x 20”The Priest, 1993, mixed media & found objects, 14 x 22 x 12”All Along, 1999, mixed media & found objects, 12 x 16 x 10”, base measures 12 x 16 x 20”In the Hot Sun, 2000, mixed media & found objects,12 x 16 x 12”, base measures 12 x 16 x 24”Look Before Ya Leap, 2000, mixed media & found objects, 11 x 18 x 19”, base measures 11 x 18 x 42”Emancipator (Whirling Lincoln), 2007, mixed media & found objects, 12 x 12 x 16”Galileo, 1999, mixed media & found objects, 17 x 17 x 20”Liberator 2007, mixed media & found objects, 12 x 12 x 16

           

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1400 First Avenue North Great Falls, MT 59401 406.727.8255 www.the-square.org info@the-square.org

Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is dedicated to fulfilling the artistic needs of the general public. This is accomplished through:

• Fostering accessibility and understanding of modern, contemporary and self-taught art; • Collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting art that actively engages a diverse and growing audience; • Providing educational programming that inspires artistic expression and understanding; • Expanding public knowledge of, interest in and support for the arts and artists of the region; • Serving as a cultural center, and continuing the preservation of the historically significant Paris Gibson Square building.

Approved April 29, 2008 by the Board of Trustees

Museum Board of Trustees Rebecca Bogden-Richards, PresidentMichelle Klundt, Vice President / TreasurerJulie Easton, SecretaryJacque Finnicum, Member-at-LargeEd Leppien, Past PresidentChristina BarskyMicheal DaileyAnita FisherLael HumbleTrina KnocheWhitney OlsonHeather PalermoJennifer PospisilBrenda RubinoSuzan Seery

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Kim Thiel-Schaaf, Director of Operations and Grant DevelopmentCorey Gross, Interim Curator of Art, Registrar

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