New Zealand exhibits showcase Montana diversity – Montana art in New Zealand

Where are the women? Ms. Jones wrote last June, wondering why Geoff Sutton would send an exhibit to Ireland comprising works by eight white men, one woman and one Native American and call it a "Montana" show.

By SHERRY JONES of the Missoulian

http://missoulian.com/articles/2004/03/26/entertainer/ent07.txt

Mr. Sutton saw red when the article came out, but what do you know? He went out and found enough female artists to outnumber the men in an exhibit of made-in-Montana contemporary art opening March 30 in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

What’s more, UM’s Montana World Trade Center http://mwtc.org/ , sponsoring the event, is also sending a separate show, "The Arts of Montana’s First People," comprising works by 19 Indian artists from eight different tribes. Curator of this exhibit is Corwin Clairmont, a prominent artist in the state and a teacher at Salish-Kootenai College.

Mr. Sutton, a former gallery owner under contract with the trade center, declined a request for an interview. Ms. Jones did, however, speak with Fraser McLeay, the trade center manager heading up the New Zealand effort.

Diversity, says Mr. McLeay, was always the goal of the center, even with the Ireland show. But the people Sutton worked with at the Bank of Ireland played a big role in choosing art and artists for that exhibit, and those people apparently just happened to favor works by white male artists.

"We were at least partially driven, in terms of the art we could take over, by the bank of Ireland," McLeay says.

Other criteria for that show, Mr. Sutton told Ms. Jones last year: Artists such as Monte Dolack and Russell Chatman who produce paper products (postcards, posters, etc.) had a better chance of going because the trade center could sell their commercial goods on the same trip. Also, Mr. Sutton said, he tended to favor artists he’d represented as owner of Sutton West Gallery.

That Ireland show, by the way, was very successful, McLeay says.

"We had lots of very, very positive feedback. Almost all the artists sold material" – almost $75,000 worth, in all – "and some have got ongoing sales as a result of developing relationships with galleries and individuals."

That exhibit may travel to other European countries next year, he says.

As for the New Zealand exhibit, McLeay’s office is still busy organizing a tour, hoping to get the show into galleries and museums in Wellington and other locales, he says. The initial show opens in the Te Manawa museum in Palmerston North, Missoula’s sister city.

Indian dancers will perform at the March 30 opening, McLeay says.

Meanwhile, the folks at the Missoula Cultural Council are all a-tither over their role as "cultural ambassadors" to our sister city.

"This is the chance for Missoula to emphasize that we are an international city," Cultural Council Director Mark Martin says.

Martin and Mayor Mike Kadas were set to depart today for New Zealand, where they planned to bring items such as made-in-Montana crafts, books by Missoula authors, a catalog of past exhibits at the Art Museum of Missoula, Festival of the Book paraphernalia and International Wildlife Film Festival films and posters.

But the Big Event happens on the field, in the first Missoula-Palmerston North croquet match. Martin and Kadas are set to compete against Palmerston North’s mayor and the head of its Sister City Committee "in deadly combat," Martin says.

"We’re just thinking how we can psych them out and sabotage their mallets."

Sherry Jones is one of two arts and entertainment reporters at the Missoulian.

Montana art in New Zealand

Artists sending work to New Zealand for "Montana Art: A Contemporary Overview of Current Trends"

Larry Zabel, Bozeman
Nancy Erickson, Missoula
Monte Dolack, Missoula
Patricia Robinson-Grant, Swan Lake
Barry Hood, Helena
Stephanie Frostad, Missoula
Dona Erickson, Billings
Louise Lamontagne, St. Ignatius
Keith Graham, Missoula
Sheila Miles, Missoula
George Ybarra, Missoula
Marion Lavery, Missoula
The Arts of Montana’s First People
Kevin Red Star, Crow
Jackie Parsons, Blackfeet
Denielle Valandra, Blackfeet
Jay Laber, Blackfeet
Gary Plant, Salish
Glenn Aragon, Shoban
Corwin Clairmont, Salish and Kootenai
Bently Spang, Cheyenne
Dwight Billedeaux, Blackfeet
Linda King, Salish and Kootenai
Racheal Bowers, Salish
Wanda Phillips, Salish
Ernie Pepion, Blackfeet
Robert Gopher, Chippewa Cree
Al Chandler, Gros Ventre
Deanne Morris, Blackfeet
John Well-Off-Man, Chippewa Cree
Dancers: Louie Plant, Salish
Lena Young Running Crane, Salish and Kootenai