By Abbie Digel Explorebigsky.com Editor
BIG SKY — The Meadow Village Center in Big Sky
will be bustling with artistic personalities come Feb. 18. The third annual Big Sky Artwalk, sponsored by
Meadow Village Center businesses, will celebrate
Montana artists from noon to 7 p.m. Similar in style to the Christmas Stroll, Meadow Village
businesses will be showcasing artists throughout
the afternoon, while serving drinks and snacks.
A snow bar will be set up and there will be live music at
Big Sky’s newest bistro, Olive B’s. Louise Asbury, an employee of ERA Landmark Real Estate, was on the team of ladies who organized the
Artwalk this year. She contacted more than 100 artists, and received about 30 replies. That’s up from 23 from the last summer’s Artwalk, she said. This event will be the biggest yet, and is a preview to
the hopefully larger two-day event the same group is planning for July 7-8 this summer.
“It’s a great way to connect all the business in the
Meadow Village,” said
JoDean Bing, co-owner
of Blue Ribbon Builders
with her husband,
Doug, and also part of the
organizing committee for the Walk. “The Artwalk in Bozeman
is so fun, we wanted to replicate that idea,” Bing
said.
The event was born and
raised in Big Sky, and is
coordinated and sponsored
by locals. Before the group began organizing
the events, there had
never been an artwalk here.
This is a great opportunity for Big Sky artists to be in the spotlight, Bing says. Ryan Turner, Kene Sperry and Jackie Rainford are some of the locals who will be showing their work.
The Artwalk is especially exciting for the Gallatin River Gallery, which will be showcasing its current
exhibition, “Gold Digger,” by gallery artist Catherine Courtenaye.
Courtenaye of Bozeman is an established artist who
“works with the restrictions of the tight Victorian era
and abstracts those ideas into beautiful color fields,” said Julie Gustafson, owner of GRG. “I did really well these past couple of years.
The walks have always been successful. People come from all over. [This event] is a draw for people from beyond Big Sky, too,” Gustafson said.
GRG is also hosting locals Ariane Coleman, a jewelry
maker, and ceramics artist Jill Zeidler. The committee will provide a walking map showing
host businesses and their resident artist(s). Creighton
Block Gallery is bringing in two notable artists, Gary
Lynn Roberts and Shirle Wempner, both painters. See their work and meet the artists at the Outlaw Partners office.
Contact Cathy Gorman at (406) 580- 2318 or Louise Astbury at (406) 696-0971 for more information.
