In the Gallery
Jan Richter’s My Own Private Montana opened on Friday, September 2nd, during Art Walk. It will be up through September, available to view during our open hours (Thursday through Sunday, Noon to 4PM,) during public events, or by appointment.
A few words about Jan and this exhibition:
“As a child, Czech photographer Jan Richter fell in love with the American West. On his first visit to the US he drove across 27 states, but Montana had the greatest impact on his work.
His new collection, “My Own Private Montana” celebrates the state’s enigmatic overlap of past and present, with a particular focus on Missoula and Butte.”
When working with Jan, it was immediately clear that Montana is a lifelong love of his, with Butte being one of the places he calls his western home. During the opening for his exhibition, Jan played some of his favorite folk and western songs with Missoula musician, Aaron Jennings.
Richter, on the right, playing his acoustic guitar that he bought several years ago at Double Lazy S Guitars. Richter and Jennings, left, played requests for our Art Walk guests.
Happenings this weekend
This Friday, September 10th, Aaron Parrett will be signing and speaking about his new book, Montana Americana Music. Doors open at 6pm- Parrett will be signing books until 7pm, at which point the reading will begin.
Here’s a little about Parrett’s book, from Arcadia Publishing/The History Press:
Montana’s relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri river that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern day loner-folk of Joey Running Crane and Cameron Boster, the Treasure State inspires the production of top-notch country music. In the 1950s, bands like the Snake River Outlaws fostered a longstanding love of hillbilly honky-tonk, and in 1970s the Mission Mountain Wood Band added a homegrown flavor of their own. Contemporary acts like The Lil’ Smokies and songwriter Martha Scanlan promise a vibrant future for the local sound. Author and musician Aaron Parrett explores this history to show what it means to boot stomp in Big Sky Country.
And some info about Aaron:
Aaron Parrett started writing songs in 1995 while living on Barber Street in Athens, Georgia, while he was enrolled in graduate school in Comparative Literature. The Sinners, his first CD, came out in 1996 to great critical acclaim. A year later he teamed up with Jason Anderson, Jon Mills, and John Neff to record a second showcase of his songs called The Judge and the Jury: The Legend of Jim Collins, released in 2000 on the Pizzle label. He and Jason recorded a second Judge and Jury album in 2002, called Left of the Mason Dixon Line, which also featured some fine pedal steel work by John Neff.
Meanwhile, Aaron started writing stuff other than songs-an academic tome on traveling to the moon, various essays, and a dozen short stories that have appeared in places like The Massachusetts Review, Open Spaces, Wild Blue Yonder, The Wisconsin Review, and Janus Head. Some of these stories are available for your reading pleasure elsewhere on this website.
Nowadays, teaching at the local college in Great Falls, Montana keeps him pretty busy, but he plays out regularly throughout the state, and gives readings when invited.
Happenings in the near future
- Next Saturday, September 17, we will be hosting an event with the Covellite International Film Festival, and the last tour of the day will be at 2pm.
- The following Saturday, September 24th, we will be closed all day for a wedding.
Who’s Writing?
Michelle Louis is a Butte native, spending most of her life between Butte and southeastern Colorado. An uptown resident, Michelle has worked on community events like the Empty Bowls Project and the Original Nightmare Haunted Attraction, and is the current Director of Artist Hospitality for the Montana Folk Festival. In the past year, Michelle has worked as an instructor at the Clay Studio of Missoula while studying Art Education and Ceramics at the University of Montana. In August, Michelle returned to Butte from Missoula to join the Root and the Bloom Collective and Historic Clark Chateau, and continue to work in the arts.
Michelle will be posting regularly to the Chateau blog this fall and winter.
