Patrick Zentz
Thanks to the generosity of John and Carol Green of Billing, MT, MAM has acquired an outstanding example of the artwork of avant-garde farmer/rancher/artist Patrick Zentz.
The gift consists of three large “instruments”, Renowind, Puget Sound Table, and Horizon (Songline) Translator, each a sculptural representation of, respectively, a drum, a cello, and a flute. When installed in the museum, these instruments will translate environmental phenomena such as wind, sound, and humidity through sensors installed on the exterior of the building.
While studying biology at Westmont College in California, Zentz realized he was not as interested in studying life forms as he was studying the interactions between life forms. To Zentz, art was the ideal way to explore this vein of thought, and he returned to Montana to study sculpture, earning an MFA from the University of Montana in 1974.
Zentz’s art grew from what art critic Gordon McConnel calls the “great intellect and passionately engaged spirit” he brought to his life as a rancher and farmer. Zentz interpreted the relationship between today’s mechanized farming operation and the land as one where “farmers act on nature with their machines.” He inverts this relationship in his art to explore the ways nature impacts machinery. The creations, which Zentz calls “systems,” look like pieces of equipment used for scientific purposes but are actually controlled by the natural phenomenon surrounding them.
His work has been exhibited from Miami, FL, to Newfoundland, Canada, in a broad array of venues, and has been documented in a long list of magazines and journals, including Newsweek, the Washington Post and Audubon Magazine.
MAM is deeply grateful to the Greens for this unprecedented donation to our permanent collection. MAM depends on the good-heartedness of our community to continue to grow our art collection, which is cared for and held in trust for present and future generations.
NORTHWEST NARRATIVES
Northwest Narratives is a portfolio of prints organized by Boise artist Benjamin Love. The portfolio features twenty artists from Washington , Oregon , and Idaho , along with Missoula artists Elizabeth Dove, James Bailey, and Jim Todd and Bozeman artists Harold Schlotzhauer and Kerry Corcoran. Each artist was invited to create a print demonstrating their philosophy surrounding visual narration, leading to a rich portfolio displaying a wide range of imagery, method, and idea. Representation, abstraction, minimalism, photorealism, expressionism, and collage are just some of the techniques found in this diverse and beautiful portfolio.
Recent Gifts to the Collection from the Estates of Will Farrington and Miriam Sample
Missoula Art Museum is honored to share with you five art works gifted to our Permanent Collection from the estates of two Montana art enthusiasts: Will Farrington and Miriam Sample. MAM's permanent collection would not have reached the 1,000 objects that it consists of today without the generous support of the community through gifts and donations from individuals, estates, and artists, whether a single artwork or a large collection. Will's family gifted Jerry McCauley's Harley "Super Glide" Prototype to the collection, while the estate of Miriam Sample left MAM four works: a pit fired bowl by Paul Slaton, a cast aluminum sculptural work by Clarice Dreyer, a wood relief work by John Buck entitled French Town, and a painting by Harold Schlotzhauer entitled Classical Intrusion. These works are on display in MAM's f 
oyer through March in honor of Will and Miriam as well as all community members who have helped build such a beaut iful collection of art works, held in trust for all generations.
Montana 's own Gennie DeWeese and Walter Hook were the first two artists whose work was acquired for Missoula's contemporary art collection through purchase awards at the 1973 Missoula Festival of the Arts, two years before the establishment of the MAM. Our community recognizes the importance of collecting contemporary visual art for the benefit of future audiences. Across three decades of creative change and growth, the MAM has maintained its commitment to acquiring artworks representative of th e region's unique creative spirit, and will continue to preserve the best of contemporary Montana art.
In 2000 MAM received its first bequest of artworks to the Collection from Joyce Folsom. Inspired by her generosity, MAM established the Joyce Folsom Society to identify and encourage planned givers to the collection, and rest assured, some incredible personal collections will be entering the Collection in the years to come. If you are interested in including MAM's Permanent Collection in your will-or are interested in donating artworks at anytime-please contact Registrar Ted Hughes or Director Laura Millin at 728.0447.
Featured Acquisitions:
Alex Kraft and Hak Kyun Kim
After earning an M.F.A. from The University of Montana in 2006, Kraft spent time a
s an artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray in Helena and then the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. Currently she is an artist-in-residence at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in New Mexico. Kraf
t creates imagined life forms and their environments composed of visceral and bodily systems that explore the physical internal and the sacred internal, the material versus the intangible. Surfaces are brightly colored and multi-textured and the titles convey a Latin-like biological language invented by the artist. In Kraft's pieces, the physicality of form, color, and surface correspond to the emotion, intellect, and instinct within these beings. Ubi uber (top left) is a creature that radiates a life-force of its own, a heart-like beast with an up-thrust neck, teetering on its small legs. Phileal ocinae (right) is a wall-mounted painterly creation suggesting either a cross-section view of some beast, displaying the viscera, or a window into an alien or microscopic environment of floating organisms. Both pieces are fantastical, adventurous works that push the limits of clay manipulation.
Hak Kyun Kim traveled to The University of Montana from Korea, with an education and aestheti
c strongly rooted in industrial design. Kim earned his M.F.A. in 2008 and is currently artist-in-residence at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, KS. In contrast to Kraft's expressionistic beings, Kim returns to the vessel with a quiet simplicity, exploring the edge between function and non-function. Kim's piece After Serving 04 (left), a platter with five cup-like vessels spilling across its surface as if ready for wash up, displays philosophical tension by presenting a sensuously clean and smooth surface, calm color, and the suggestion of utility contrasted by its slightly asymmetrical forms and an askew arrangement of objects. Masterful craftsmanship and conceptualization invite the viewer to experience harmony between idea and form, emotion and surface. The vessel becomes the content, interplay between Kim's aesthetic philosophy and highly skilled clay handling.
For more information: Alex Kraft: http://alexkraftart.com/home.html
Hak kyun Kim: www.lawrenceartscenter.com/faculty.html
