Yellowstone Art Museum Opens Butterfield Exhibit

Equine Muse: Deborah Butterfield opens at Yellowstone Art Museum, 401 North 27th Street, January 15 and will be up through June 20.

For more than 30 years, Montana artist Deborah Butterfield has interpreted her equine muse in a plethora of materials, scales, postures, and moods. This exhibition highlights three sculptures by Butterfield from the YAM’s permanent collection, and invites the viewer to experience three different constructivist approaches to her subject.

Brown Horse Thought, the largest work in the exhibition, is an unusual, full-scale double portrait that is a recent gift from the artist.

Derby Horse, a rarely seen, near half-size work, appears to be made of found materials, as is often the case with Butterfield’s work. Instead, the work is made of patinated bronze.

The final work, Leona, is a rather rare, near half-size work that is made from mud and straw over a steel armature. Exhibited here for the first time, Leona is among the last artworks donated to YAM by YAM’s late, great patron, Miriam Sample.

In the YAM lobby is a fourth sculpture by Butterfield, the popular Ferdinand.

Wild West and Tranquil Seas will be on view in the Murdock Gallery until April 2010. Private collector William I. Koch shares 11 choice selections from his private collection with Montana audiences.

The PostSecret exhibit ends January 17. When community activist Frank Warren put out a blanket invitation to anyone to send him an anonymous postcard revealing a secret that was true and had never been uttered before, he had no idea what would result.

Five years and over 300,000 postcards later, this incredible and profound outpouring has been the raw material for several books and this traveling exhibition. The YAM is hosting its own adjunct postcard exhibits: one that visitors can participate in that will include secrets posted directly to the YAM and another featuring the work of Santa Fe-based mail artist Gen Hayashida.

YAM invites visitors to come and see these wonderful works of art, which are celebratory, elegiac, tender, and confident.

The YAM is the region’s largest contemporary art museum offering changing exhibitions, education, café, and a 7,300-piece permanent collection. The Yellowstone Art Museum hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday noon – 5 p.m. Extended hours on Thursdays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Members visit free, $5 adults, $3 students with valid ID, $3 children 6 – 18, under 6 free, $10 family (2 adults and 3 children max) $4 discount price (please inquire at 256-6804).