A Fraction of What This State Has to Offer

The Nashua Art Club, which has been fundraising all year long, took the long-awaited trip to Missoula this past weekend. We took off from the school Thursday morning toward Helena, for our scheduled tour of the internationally acclaimed Archie Bray Clay Foundation.

The Archie Bray was founded in 1951 with the help of Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio, two ceramicists whose work is still found around the grounds. The Foundation is in what was originally a brick-making factory, remnants of which are still found around the grounds, including a large beehive kiln visitors can explore. Along with being the only clay-making business in Montana (they supply clay to most, if not all, ceramics programs in the state), the Archie Bray hosts many residents throughout the year. One of those residents, Bill Wilkey, was our tour guide. His body of work is made up entirely of hand-thrown pottery. He explained the history of the Bray as well as the current state of the place. The Bray boasts many kilns of all shapes and types, inside and outside, as well as a beautiful gallery, studio spaces for the residents, and a classroom for the public.

Our tour was the first I'd taken there, though I'd been to The Bray many times. The best thing about The Archie Bray is the grounds themselves. While the gate is open, anyone is able to come in and explore. Everywhere around the place, ceramics are littered here and there. Beautiful pieces of artwork are exposed to the elements, including pieces of Autio and Deweese themselves. These left-behind pieces are homage left to The Bray in thanks of the opportunity to spend their time there.

In the bushes, teapots. By the trail (made of ceramic bits), sculptured characters having tea. On an industrial metal box by the loading dock, a small stack of salad plates. Right outside the beehive kiln, a perfect hand-thrown mug.

There is so much at the Archie Bray, our tour guide, Bill, chanted what I believe must be a known phrase among the residents, “If you can't make art at the Bray, there's something wrong with you.”

Of course, any person asks how an artist could possibly leave such beautiful work behind. Many of the pieces would easily sell for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. But, as one of the girls on our trip put it, “I guess you wouldn't want to leave your worst work out here with your name on it.”

It is an exercise in trust. And, what do you know? My group of ten high schoolers didn't steal a thing.

We stayed at The Campus Inn that night, which is an easy walk to the campus over the foot bridge. We took a campus tour the next morning, followed by a tour of the School of Art led by Ed Morrisey, assistant to the director of the School of Art, himself.

Ed showed us the Fine Arts building with its impressive printmaking studio, drawing and painting rooms, photography lab and darkroom, all places where I'd been lucky enough to take classes with some of the best artists in Montana. We also visited the new-to-me fabrication lab, with multiple 3D printers and other high-end technology that lets artists explore with creating in a brand new way.

From there we saw the Art Annex, which houses the ceramics and sculpture studios, and learned about the different kilns the university has. This includes a giant wood fire kiln in the mountains, which, while firing, needs constant care from volunteers from the art department for about a week.

Throughout the tour, and in fact the whole trip, many artists' names came up again and again. Ed answered the phone to Max, and I knew he was talking about the local printmaker and graffiti artist Max Mahn. Ed informed me that Max was making the T-shirts for MAI, the high school-geared art conference that Nashua, Glasgow, and Malta art clubs will all be attending. Max is a friend of mine, and it was fun to tell the students who will be returning to Missoula in a couple weeks that they'll be wearing one of his shirts soon.

Also on this tour, Ed took us into the Gallery of Visual Arts which housed two MFA student's thesis projects: Beth Huhtala and Dave Tarullo. Dave's work was a giant installation of giant crystals made from wire box frames wrapped in aqua plastic wrap. He also had light and sound elements added, creating a lightshow on the walls and the feeling of being within a cave.

In the MMAC, or Montana Museum of Art and Culture, we saw the work of both Rudy Autio and Henry Meloy, both of whom were active in the creation of The Bray.

We spent the rest of the day shopping in downtown Missoula, exploring the shops that stretch along Higgins Avenue, and ate dinner at The Bridge Pizza. Afterward, friend and filmmaking Marshall Granger arranged a compilation of short Montana-made films for us to watch at The Roxy Theater in our very own theater.

Favorites of the students were “Deer Father,” “The Duchess of Suchness,” and “Lester Leaps In.” The latter two starred Missoula actor Jeff Medley.

After the movies we enjoyed Big Dipper Ice Cream, of course, then headed back to the hotel, exhausted.

The next morning found us at The Clay Studio of Missoula, a mid-sized clay operation with a residency program and large public workspace. After a quick tour we took a tile-making class. Pat Erwin, who was gracious enough to drive our bus all weekend, had his birthday on Friday, so we bought him a nice mug from a local artist and sang him happy birthday on the bus.

Across the street from The Clay Studio is the Real Good art gallery, owned by printmaker Jack Metcalf. We made last-minute arrangements to take a quick tour of his small space. Jeff Medley, the actor from the films we'd seen the night before, is very active at Real Good. Jack told us about how he sometimes hires Jeff to play him at art shows, because he gets tired of saying the same things to visitors again and again.

After Real Good we headed to lunch at Burns Street Bistro (delicious!) then the Missoula Art Museum, or MAM. Alison Dillon, a local artist and employee of the museum, gave us a nice tour. We saw the photography of UM alum Holly Anders and 3D artist Abbie Miller.

In all, the trip was a complete success. Thanks so much to the Nashua Lions Club, Glasgow Soroptimist, Wheatgrass Arts and Gallery, The Loaded Toad, Art Club families and every member of this community who has helped so much in support of getting our kids exposed to the arts in Montana.

One golden moment of the trip was at The Archie Bray, when a student turned to me while taking a photo of a sculpture on her phone, saying, “And we thought we had to leave the state to see real art!” Of course not. Somehow Montana's exceptional art community is our best kept secret. It's time to let that secret out.