Arts & Entertainment
Musician Spotlight: Wes Urbaniak
Published
3 years agoon
Posted By
AdminFolk musician follows non-traditional path to playing and creating instruments
By Julia Barton EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
BIG SKY – Wes Urbaniak grew up with limited access to instruments, but his early fascination for music led him to find creative ways of pursuing his passion.
Urbaniak spent winters as a child in the remote far north of North Dakota’s Turtle Mountains, a place he described as strange, both geographically and otherwise. After hunkering down for winters, Urbaniak and his family were somewhat nomadic travelers in the warmer months.
“In the summertime, we were like half-gypsy travelers,” Urbaniak said. “That’s how the people I lived with made their money for the winter.”
These travels were a far cry from the isolation of winter, Urbaniak went on to explain, immersing him fully in many different groups of people and cultures over the course of the summer.
Somewhere along his journey, Urbaniak had a babysitter with a piano in her house. Although this was the first instrument he had access to, he was only allowed to play quiet enough that his sitter couldn’t hear him. Urbaniak taped a stethoscope to the soundboard of the piano, allowing him to hear soft strokes on the keys while keeping the house virtually silent.
“I would play quietly… writing these little songs, and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a songwriter,” Urbaniak said.
The piano was soon replaced in Urbaniak’s world by a guitar that was missing two strings, which he played that way for a year before being able to upgrade to a full, six string guitar.
Now well-versed in an array of stringed instruments—all of which can be played at full volume and possess the proper amount of strings—Urbaniak has settled in Big Sky, making and perfmoning music both as a solo artist and as part of his band, Wes Urbaniak and the Mountain Folk.
Urbaniak’s music is deeply rooted in the mountains, with the folk genre acting as a throughline between the different styles supplied by the variety of instruments he integrates into his body of work. The musician broke his fair share of instruments, and did his best to repair them in whatever way possible, ultimately unveiling the possibility of building them from scratch on his own.
“I probably built seven guitars until I had a functional one,” Urbaniak said. “But I have always been dedicated to this idea of not knowing and doing it anyway.”
When he’s not playing music, Urbaniak now bides his time working as the general manager for ACRE Kitchen in Big Sky or handcrafting stringed instruments. “I always had this weird feeling about using wood and cutting down our forests,” Urbaniak said of making instruments, which ultimately led him to recycling the wood of 100-year-old pianos into his creations.
Urbaniak will be playing around the Big Sky and Bozeman area this summer, including at the Big Sky Farmers Market on July 21, and as part of the Friday Afternoon Club at Blue Buddha on July 2.
Upcoming Events
april, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
more
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.
Sundays, April 14, 21 and 28, 2024
Noon until 6PM.
$170.
Time
14 (Sunday) 12:00 pm - 28 (Sunday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome to come, if you don’t know who to bring come alone this is a great mixer event! This is an event hosted by Big Sky OUT as we work to provide queer safe spaces throughout the community.
Time
(Sunday) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location
Cowboy Coffee
25 Town Center Ave. Big Sky, MT 59716