Started in 2018, "The mission of the collective is simple: About Art and Artists; this includes supporting each member’s artistic growth, sharing knowledge from experience and showcasing our work together." Montana Contemporary Arts Collective is a group of local artists working together to help promote their work for each other and to grow their artistic presence. 

About the Artists

Katherine Wright | "I arrived in Bozeman in January 2020 to instruct at the Gallatin College Workforce Program, teaching hand-drawn illustration to interior design students. I practiced architecture and architectural illustration for over 30+ years. I was fortunate to then live in Italy for six years, and while there, my focus turned to townscapes, portraits, and landscapes. I see my art as a form of storytelling, using color and tone to translate mood and place. My art draws upon sketching and painting Plein Air, where I sit and sketch what I see. My goal is to draw the viewer in, revealing the subject’s relation to our lives and the environment. My latest works have been an exploration of the incredible near-whisper of the beauty of Montana landscape and people: quiet, reflective, independent, and passionate."

Carrie French | "I paint for the thrill of spontaneity and creating impactful imagery. I find satisfaction in originating abstracted landscapes, emphasizing the elements that intrigue me most; windswept brush on a hillside, the blocky outline of buildings against the blue sky, the bold, graphic look of winding streets. Within each abstraction, I'm looking for a sense of wonder arising from bold imagery I can't quickly label. While growing up in Bozeman, I was fascinated by many things related to my dad's work. He was a builder and I was intrigued by his blueprints for homes -- complicated, full of lines and intersections, squares and rectangles. Early family trips to New York City and Chicago fostered a lifelong fascination with cities; all their glimmering glass, steel, and overwhelming verticality. Looking at my work as a painter, I can see the varied influences -- the natural and built landscapes, the multiple perspectives, and the love of imagery, both industrial and natural."

Monica Gray | "These two collage and acrylic painting works, "Fox with Endless Tail" and "El Moro Monument," utilize the creative methods of plein-air sketching of landscape and live model sketching of the human body to explore symbols of new life and an endless cycle of rebirth. "El Moro Monument" examines the concept of monumental structures and geomorphology. Just as monuments take a long time to decay and return to their earthen essence, our collective memory takes a long time to forgive discrimination and segregation. This scene is from my memory of a person on the beach in Arica, Chile, watching the waves roll in. There are numerous monuments and cliffs called ‘El Moro,’ from Chile to Arizona, yet it is unclear to me whether ‘El Moro’ means wall (muro), death (morir) or brown person (‘moro’ in Spain). The etymological root of 'el moro' is actually from the Latin word "Mauru," for the inhabitants of the ancient Roman province of Mauretania, what is now Algeria and Morocco. "Fox with Endless Tail" is a piece representing life, death and a folkloric animal from Chilean Mapuche legends, called Nguruvilu. It is a water-dwelling, chimerical creature with a tail like a snake that creates whirlpools said to lure people to their deaths. I hope to learn more about these and other legends when I go back to Chile someday. The collage/painting was created near Rocky Creek in Bozeman, with the view of Mt. Baldy, and perhaps I was looked upon by a fox in doing so. Both two works examine how civilization in societies is often built upon apartheid and bigotry. Monuments attempt to quantify the relevance of the land and its history, yet the memory of the land cannot be prepossessed."

Sue Moncada | "Inspiration for my art comes from the unlimited beauty of Montana. I paint the things that bring me joy and make me smile. I delight in taking elements of the natural world, whether a landscape, a bird, a flower or an animal and making them dance with color and movement. My art is representational, impressionistic and sometimes whimsical. Regardless of the subject, it is bright, bold and energetic. While my subjects may vary, my style is consistent. Using only a palette knife to blend and apply the oil paint, I am able to capture the subject matter in a way that resembles a complex mosaic; an impressionistic whole made up of beautiful variegated parts. The result is a contemporary representation of the subject matter that not only pleases the eye but begs to be touched. Montana’s vast and varied scenery provides me with unlimited and ever changing subject matter. The abundance of wildlife, the rich cultural past and the present western aesthetic supply a wide range of material from which to draw. I am truly blessed to live in such a rich and inspirational place. I see the world in living color and try to pass on my vision through my art. My job as an artist may be painting but my passion is sharing the joy."

Valley Peters | "My paintings emerge organically so the process is very much a journey without knowing or planning the destination. I am free to wander in the wilderness so to speak. Embracing a mindset of not knowing allows for emergence of unexpected juxtapositions, shapes, and forms that I would not be able to create with the thinking mind. For me, painting is an exploration of gesture and feeling so I build up layers of paint with mark making and collage. By tearing up old paintings and incorporating them into new pieces, using collage papers I made from printing on a gelli plate, or using scraps of wrapping paper or fabric, I find new ways to recombine elements. After the painting is created, I go back to see what has emerged and then I understand more about what the painting is about…it unfolds over time. The concepts at the core of my art are rooted in a search for authenticity (one of our purposes in this life!) and rejection of the air-brushed, social media- perfect life that our culture encourages us to attain. Our humanity is often found in our brokenness, our vulnerability, and our imperfection. My artwork often includes botanical elements as nature offers the antidote to our highly digitalized, overly curated, and perfection driven society. The wilderness, the wild, while not always explicit in my work, stands in the heart of it. Another key concept in my work is empowerment and celebration of women. My portraits of women seek to embody women’s strength and honor the way we piece ourselves back together again and again in our lives. It is my hope that these portraits remind us to embrace our imperfections, our quirks, and our unique life stories, and to see the beauty that they bring to our lives."

Trevor Nelson | "Trevor Nelson is, in many ways, a Renaissance artist. After completing a degree in architecture at MSU, working in the fields of commercial architecture, community & urban design and design/build contracting in Portland, OR, he returned to his native MT to complete a degree in photography. While here, he also worked in advanced printmaking studios, graphic design and was the Art Director of the college newspaper. From his earliest days with the family Kodak 110 Instamatic, Trevor was a landscape and architectural photographer. However, his current work has refined itself and taken him into an area more akin to abstract expressionism. These abstract, interpreted landscapes are found in the discarded vehicles and abandoned buildings of the American West. Like Michelangelo freeing the figures trapped in the marble, he seeks to expose the beauty hidden in plain sight. Trevor currently lives in Bozeman, MT where he manages the Art, Photo and School Supplies Department of the MSU Bookstore, is a volunteer DJ at KGLT and serves as a board member of S.L.A.M."

Chris Sitton | "Originally from Florida, I started out drawing from an early age, which later helped me when I worked for the State of Florida as an Illustrator. From there, I have broadened my media approach to include painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and jewelry design. Initially self-taught, I have since received a degree in art from MSU. I have enjoyed creating art since childhood and, after moving to Montana, have been recording the beautiful scenery here through various mediums. I typically begin a canvas painting with a bright color which unifies the piece and gives it a sense of excitement. This brings my landscape genre to life. I then layer on color with thin glazes but also incorporate some thicker impasto-like swaths which accent the piece. When I am painting, I endeavor to communicate my unique perspective and innermost emotions through the medium of paint, to transform blank canvases into works that speak to my soul. With each brushstroke, I embark on a journey of self exploration, diving deep into realms of color, texture, and form to create pieces that not only reflect my interpretation of the world. What do I want the viewers to take away after exploring my paintings? I wish to inspire them to resolve to see the land differently, to want to get out into nature themselves and explore, to experience it and long to preserve it."