Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art Director finds Great Falls just right – An immersion in the arts

Lynne Spriggs is the new executive director of the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art.

By MARK DOWNEY
Tribune Staff Writer

One night not long ago, Lynne Spriggs left her gray tabby, Rousseau, at her northside Great Falls home and went to walk around Paris Gibson Square.

Outside, streetlights lit the stout, historical sandstone building at 1400 1st Ave. N., which has been restored in recent years.

Inside, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, one of Montana’s premier contemporary art institutions, illuminates art that embraces the issues of our culture.

That juxtaposition of old and new is a good fit for Spriggs, the museum’s new executive director said in a recent interview.

"It’s such a pleasure to work with the contemporary elements that I feel so passionately about in a historical setting," she said.

Spriggs, who is 43 and single, grew up in Kansas City, Mo.

She worked in the film industry on projects that included the feature films "Swimming to Cambodia" and "The Tao of Steve" and the documentaries "Backbone of the World: The Blackfeet," "Native Americans," "The Journey of the Chandler-Pohrt Collection" and "Survive."

She also earned master’s degrees in art history and philosophy and a Ph.D. in Native American art history, all from Columbia University in New York City.

She has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan and Harvard University.

She’s worked as a New York City art gallery director and as an independent consultant for private art collectors.

Since 1997, she was curator of folk art at Atlanta’s respected High Museum of Art.

No stranger to Montana

While much of her life was spent elsewhere, Spriggs has spent plenty of time under the Big Sky.

Starting in 1991, she spent 10 summers on northcentral Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation, the first five doing research for what would be a 350-page doctoral dissertation.

It traces the way ethnic cultural identity is visually represented over time, she said, and attempts to tease out "the threads of continuity."

It includes the exchanges of Indian and white cultures over time, she said.

Spriggs likens culture to a conversation among a group of people. And identifying it is a dynamic process, she said, that is "constantly being redefined by various players."

Connecting with nature

"By the first summer, (Montana) was in my blood," Spriggs said.

She found clarity here, she said, connecting with nature, stepping out of the rat race and connecting with people on the reservation.

Spriggs likes outdoor activities and cooking. In her down time, she makes jewelry and enjoys flying ultralight airplanes.

Great Falls, she said, is just the size town that she wants to live in.

As executive director of the museum, Spriggs said her responsibilities include helping people connect with the institution to engender their support.

The facility, Paris Gibson Square, has undergone substantial renovation in the past five years. That process continues with an outdoor sculpture garden that is flourishing on the museum’s grounds.

That work has been done because the museum has the community’s support, she said.

"We look fabulous," she said, "but it’s the care and feeding that we need to tend to."

The nonprofit’s infrastructure needs attention, she said, noting that its computer system allows only one person to be on the Internet at a time.

Spriggs has yet to work closely with the museum’s board of directors and learn about the directors’ goals.

But she knows now that one of her goals will be to build support and funding for the museum.

Part of reaching that goal involves something no more complicated than helping people understand contemporary art.

"People tend to think there is a right way to experience art and a wrong way to experience art, and that’s not true," she said. "What is true is that the capacity of the human imagination is limitless and that looking at pieces of contemporary art helps us tap into the sources of inspiration."

Contemporary art covers everything from the mundane to the miraculous and the deeply familiar to that which is ultimately unknowable, she said. "It’s about the stuff of life."

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20030914/localnews/259806.html