First Friday exhibition at The Loft by Ivette Kjelsrud.

I love Montana’s Nature. Its serenity and splendor reignited my creativity, which had been dormant for many years. I arrived in Montana in the fall of 2010 to visit an old friend, just another stop in a wonderful year of backpacking from the southernmost tip of the American continent, all the way through South and Central America, before heading back home. Little did I know at the time that this place would turn out to be Home, and more than finding a husband in Montana, I would find my calling, or my calling would find me. In hindsight everything makes perfect sense, as if the Artist in me was waiting for the right place and atmosphere to be unleashed.

This exhibition is dedicated to that muse, Nature. There are a few recurrent themes in my art: The Sea, Butterflies and trees, which represent my permanent longing for exploration and distance shores. The trees represent stability that I sometimes seem to lack, due to my adventurous nature. I’m a dreamer, and that is the essence of my art.
My artwork comes from a passion for photography, which taught me to observe and look at the world differently. Most of my paintings are named after songs, music being another great passion of mine, unfortunately one which I have no talent for. Nevertheless I can associate almost anything with a song. Creating art for me is like a microcosm of life: Some days the paintings paint themselves and it seems that I’m only watching as the colors jump right into place in perfect harmony, short, sweet, perfect. Other days it takes more effort until I see results, and some days, which are quite frustrating, no matter how much effort I put into it, it just doesn’t seem to come out right and the more I try the worse it gets. So either I walk away and try another day or… end up painting the canvas white and start over.

I was born in Colombia and raised in Guatemala and Israel. I moved to Montana in 2010, after spending a year living in England, 3 years in Italy and a year backpacking across South and Central America, to be reunited with a long-lost love. We got married in 2011. I am basically self-taught, although born to a very artistic family. My favorite pastime growing up was drawing, painting and sculpting and I began studies towards a BA in Fine Arts at the University of Haifa in 1996, however I felt formal art studies were stifling my creativity and I left after one year, not to hold a brush again for the next 15 years. I later returned to the University of Haifa and acquired a BA in Geography and Environmental studies. In the following years I worked as a shipbroker and in marketing in a biotech company, pursuing my other skills. In 2006 I moved to Europe. Most of the next fouryears were spent outdoors, camping, cycling, canoeing and traveling, with two major trips to Africa and China. I earned my living teaching languages and developed a passion for photography and the art and architecture of Italy.

Not feeling I had accomplished myself career-wise and lacking direction, I decided to follow a lifelong dream, and in January 2010 I set off to travel by myself back to the place I was born. I bused my way up from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina all the way up to Guatemala. That trip, through a strange twist of fate, brought me to Montana in the fall of 2010. I’m always creating something, although currently concentrating on acrylic paintings, I work in a variety of styles and mediums, which represent my taste for diversity, and like to use repurposed and found objects in my work. Nothing goes to waste; I see artistic potential in almost everything! I hope my art gives viewers a glimpse into my world and to the world as seen through my eyes.

~ Ivette
Cell: (406)241-8908 ● Email: ivette55@gmail.com ● Website: www.iveznaturalart.com

ARTIST BIO: Barry Thompson

Barry Thompson is a Artist and Art Director who lives and works in Missoula. He studied painting at the University of Montana; closely working with Mato, Don Bunse, and Mary Ann Bonjourni. In 2000, he received his MFA in the Media Arts at the U of M, where he has continued to teach as an adjunct professor.

Barry Thompson is also Founder of Barndance Inc., a creative motion design studio based out of Missoula. Barndance produces compelling visual designs for videos, independent films, documentaries, and entertainment. Barry recently finished work on First Ascent; a six part adventure television series produced by Sender films and sponsored by National Geographic. Working as the Creative Art Director, he designed the show’s overall look and feel, produced all animations, and crafted the final color finishing for the series. He has worked on many documentaries, including the award-winning independent film, I AM (2011) directed by Tom Shadyac, as well as,Red Gold (2007) directed by Travis Rummel and Ben Knight. He has also received numerous Mountain Film Awards for his work with Sender Films including; Banff Film Festival, International Mountaineering Film Festival, Graz International Film Festival, and Telluride Mountain Film Festival.

ARTIST BIO: Jason Gutzmer

Jason Gutzmer is a father, a husband, a traveler, but is best known as an educator and visual artist. Visual because most of the what he does you can look at, from a broad range of cinematography for both fiction and nonfiction, to painting constructions, performance art, public art installations to digital art and design. Jason’s enthusiasm for creating culture, art, and teaching have led him from the Rockies to the Amazon, where he taught classes and led workshops in diverse realms of art.

After receiving a BFA in Fine Arts and working in everything from dance to photography, but better known as a painter he left to work as an educator and performance artist in Latin America. In 1996 in Nicaragua he ended up holding a bounce for a documentary film and he was hooked. There in Latin America he began working in documentary films which after seven years led him back to academia to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts in Digital Cinema in Media Arts. In addition to working on many films as director of photography and producing much of his own work including a feature length nonfiction movie shot in 2006 in Brazil he also enjoys teaching courses at the University of Montana in Missoula in Experimental Documentary, Video Production, Digital Editing, and Digital Art and Design.

Jason’s credo… “get out of the box!”

Join us at The Loft for Sanity Doodles Unleashed! by Beth Jaffe. Enjoy abstract fun with water color and mixed media. Explore the soul nourishing realm of calm where dreams dance to life in color and balance. Or just rest and occupy the present as you witness one artist’s version of sanity in the land of chaos. Sanity Doodles are for everyone with pieces priced for wallets of all tastes and sizes.

Sanity Doodles Unleashed!

This First Friday Art show featuring Beth Jaffe’s abstract works in a range of color palettes and mixed media demonstrates Beth’s dynamic flow of energy translations. Art fans from all walks of life relish the joy and care skillfully exhibited in these pieces.

Beth studied art as well as natural resources at Cornell University and since her arrival in Missoula sixteen years ago, she has been helping others find their inner artist. Celebrating the creation of art as a form of mental health and well being has been Beth’s primary goal next to supporting her family in all their various endeavors. As a mother of three active boys and partner to one of Missoula’s busy City Council members, Beth makes room for her art practice in unusual places. Her studio is currently below ground under the Wood Fusion workshop at 1001 S. 4th St. West. However, in the right weather you can find her in a small blue school bus converted by the Salish Kooteni College to use as a mobile computer lab. Beth says, “making art whenever and wherever I can is my own little act of nonviolent protest to the chaos of life. I doodle. It keeps me sane.”

Here’s one definition for Beth’s style: bold strokes among meandering paths highlighted by unique color combinations dancing to life. Sanity Doodles are meditation maps, spiritual landscapes, and visual streams of consciousness, but above all they are fun accessible works priced for wallets of all tastes and sizes.

– Beth Jaffe Artist 406.880.3052 bethjaffe.com

“… Let the beauty we love
be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways
to kneel and kiss the ground. ”
— Rumi

I am fortunate to live in a place where I am surrounded by ‘the beauty I love’ (Arlee, Montana), and expressing that love in my work is a way of giving thanks.

I am also available for collaborative projects and on-location portraiture. Some of the projects I’ve been privileged to work on include photographing sustainable farmers at work, artists at work in their studios, and dance theater.

I’m pleased to be one of the founding members of Killdeer Artisans Guild, centered in Arlee, Montana, and including artists from the surrounding area.

You can learn more about the Guild, see their artwork at their home gallery (Hangin’ Art Gallery), and see more of my personal work at:
http://www.killdeer.hanginartgallery.com/
http://hanginartgallery.com

River Song Photography is a member of the Sustainable Business Council
http://www.sustainablebusinesscouncil.org

Summer Little:    Before I could ever read or write I was drawing pictures.   Art has been a part of who I am for as long as I can remember.   father is an amazing artist, so I’ve been blessed with artistic inspiration and resources my whole life.  Though my style and skill has continually progressed throughout the years, I don’t quite yet feel that I’ve found my ‘niche’…but am getting closer.  To me these pieces represent my experimentation with formal and contextual elements, expressed through my abstract style. These works are best characterized as a compilation of texture, color, shape, movement, line and imagination.

Michaela Davis:  Art has always been my favorite subject, which has led me to explore many mediums over the years: carving, basket-weaving, decoupage, journaling, scrapbooking, beading, collage, knitting, photography, and mosaics. In college I even experimented with digital media including Illustrator, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro. I finally discovered the visceral quality I’d been searching for when I began oil painting after I broke my knee in the spring of 2009.

I dreamed of pursuing a career in art, but my family had always made it clear that they did not consider it a viable career. I ended up in psychology because it fulfilled my interest in the way different people perceive and interpret the world around us. My interest in perception and interpretation led to my current art paradigm.  My current work focuses on an idea I’ve termed “Visual Texture.” My goal with Visual Texture is for the viewer to be able to FEEL the texture of the piece simply by looking at it.

Ashley Bosse: I have always loved art and creative expression, I have been creating art and crafting for as long as I can remember. In high school some days the only reason I even made it to school was so I could progress on or complete the work I was doing in art class. Art has always been a less expensive form of therapy for me with projects reflecting the mindsets I am in at the time.  I am fascinated with color and color progression, visually watching one color change to the next. I enjoy working with popular cultural images.  My current work focuses on the sculptural quality of the human skull and how underneath we are all fundamentally the same and adorning the same “canvas” in different ways.

“Beauty is the sensation of pleasure on the mind of the seer”
Robert Henri

I have long been interested in exploring the relationship of perception, emotion and spirit, and how these are filtered through our human connections and experiences to be distilled into creative activity. Artist-theorist Max Bill believed that art was the medium that makes thought visible. As a result, I have learned to not only look outward as I paint, but to also look inwardly at the mind/heart processes as the joy is expressed in line and color and texture.

It is a fascinating journey from the beginning of the seed of discovery to a not-yet-determined final flower. The traveling of the journey is the important thing…and not the product of that journey. Art is not a thing but an act… an act of passion. Creation is a verb ..you must be in motion for it to happen. I hope that through my work, it will be evident what my life has been, what it is, and, in the end it is the prediction of where I am going. Please join me on that journey of joy!

Joan Mason

Breakfast At The Loft

Need to have a morning meeting? why not host it at the loft. On your way, stop by any of the great local bakeries downtown Missoula, including Bagels on Broadway or Le Petit Outre & Breads and pick up some fresh baked pastries. Use our coffee pot to brew some fresh coffee for your guests, or heat up some filtered water in our electric tea kettle for those tea drinkers. Looking for a real pick me up, offer your guests a cappicino or a latte from our instant hot beverage system. Meeting of any size from 2 to a dozen can easily be accommodated in our conference room or in a more casual fashion on the front portion on the leather couches.