Maureen Shirreff
Artists Statement: Since arriving in Montana from Chicago, five years ago, I began an appreciation for Pendleton blankets. I drag my husband to every antique store across the state; I am always on the hunt for that perfect pattern. The incredible color combinations and simple but powerful graphic shapes just command attention. They get me every time. Just like every horse I have known. Horses surround us and comfort us and hold us. So I thought I would like my art to do the same for one of these special animals.
Bio: Maureen Shirreff hails from the “Windy City” of Chicago. She spent 43 years as an art director and creative director for global advertising agencies. The last 30 years saw her leading creative for the Dove Real Beauty campaign. She and her husband decided to answer a longing for a great adventure and Montana was the ticket. These days she still consults but has dusted off her drawing and painting skills and her love of horsebackriding.
Media link: https://www.maureenshirreff.com
Georgine Forgatch
Artist Statement: Being a silk artist I find the history of silk fascinating. Horses were used to carry precious cargo of silk for royalty in past centuries. My concept is using the finest silk netting as a horse blanket with silk trim. The addition of real feathers to adorn both sides of the blanket is my interpretation used as a reflection to the past Asian traditions.
Bio: Exquisite colors of nature combined with the graceful fiber of silk I create elegant fashions. My artistry is the result of an exclusive process carefully developed over many years. My distinctive style is exhibited in each one of my hand-painted garments. My line of original creations include a variety of fine home décor pieces, accessories and unique wedding canopies.
Media Link: www.lasilks.com
Lisa Gibson
Artist Statement: We all need Partners to help us get through this chaotic, but beautiful life. My design was created in collaboration with an artist partner, our daughter Jill. We felt that many of the Celtic Knots that symbolize the notion of harmony, support, foundation, and the interweaving of souls were fitting for the theme of “Painted Partners”. While they aren’t exact renderings of the official knots for the sake of the overall design, the intent and meaning are intact. The colors are symbolic as well - red for the love that binds us as humans and creates partnership, black for the elements of life that can bury us without a partner, and silver for the silver lining that can hopefully be found in it all.
Bio: Lisa Gibson studied design by squinting at values and patterns in many locations throughout her life. Montana has been her classroom for well over half of it. She explored creativity through photography, quilt making and pine needle basketry before learning that painting combines all of the elements she loves - color and design with a hands-on approach. Besides, she is a lousy seamstress. Her home is shared in Lincoln, MT with her family and spoiled house rabbit.
Media Link: https://lisagibsonart.com
Douglas E. Taylor
Artist Statement: Since the first time a human touched the hide of the modern horse, sliding the hand, making a connection that would create a partnership through human history, from plows and swords, pulling, packing, traveling, riding through these few thousands of years. This partnership was more than utilitarian, more than taming the spirit, but being a true partner with each other. The oldest known paintings by human beings on cave walls are human hands, actual hands used as stencils with pigments spray-spitted around the hand with spread fingers. Native American horse cultures were branded with pigments, symbols including the human warrior hand imprinted on the hide, maybe saying this horse was touched by that warrior.
The uniqueness of the horse hoof being imprinted on the earth for thousands of years maybe, says the same thing, “I was here. I ran here. I found the wind here...”. Seeing a horse move across the plains, so began a relationship with the imagination of a person wanting to move like the wind. Working intuitively with tempera paint, moving hoof tracks over the horse with painted handprints in visual relationships that hopefully conform to the body contours of the equine.
Bio: A contemporary Montana artist, inspired by nature has been working in mixed-media and printmaking, receiving recognition and acquired in collections throughout the America. After accomplishing his Master of Fine Art degree, he built a large etching press to produce his very involved layered printmaking.
Media Link: www.douglasetaylor.net
Kaelee Thompson
Artist Statement: My design concept for the Equine Art Extravaganza theme of “Painted Partners” revolves around the sacred geometrical pattern known as the flower and seed of life. I chose this imagery because I feel that it symbolizes the sacred connection and partnership that has been maintained between horse and human in many ways.
I believe there is an art and a science to absolutely everything. Sacred geometry represents the divine relationship between art and science. It is a symbol of connectivity and balance that can only be recognized when one looks beyond the initial surface layer. These are all important concepts within horsemanship, or the partnership between horse and human, as well. The most harmonious horse human dynamics are achieved when approached with a proper balance of creativity and factual methods.
Bio: Hi I’m Kaelee, and I am a Montana based equine artist and horsewoman on a mission! Fine art, as well as the art and science of horsemanship are my callings in this life. My intention is to promote ethical horsemanship and create awareness for equines in need by using my art as a beacon. As a horsemanship instructor, I am dedicated to always deepening my understanding of horses and sharing my knowledge with others to help create harmonious horse human dynamics. As an artist, I intend to honor the beauty and grace that horses bring to the world and to share a message of compassion for these amazing animals. I offer custom horse portraits, as well as other art inspired by equines, nature, and mysticism. To help support the cause, 10% of profits from all art sales goes to equine rescue.
Media Link: www.artfulequus.com
Kate Wasem
Artist Statement: Years ago, I read a newspaper article about an upcoming dressage performance in Missoula. One of the trainers described the partnership between horse and rider thus: the rider is the paintbrush and the horse is the canvas. It left me unsettled, somehow, that statement. It made the horse sound like a passive partner. I prefer the analogy of a color palette - the horse provides the raw materials of muscle and mane, much like the pure hues of color that issue from a paint tube, that the rider wields with his or her skill upon the canvas of the arena or trail. It’s a collaborative effort - of tints and shades, of strength and subtlety - in which each partner imprints itself upon the other.
Bio: Kate Wasem is an artist, illustrator, photographer, baker, and a certified master naturalist in Montana. For most of the last 15 years, she’s worked in neighborhood bakeries across the country, making everything from sourdough baguettes to tiered wedding cakes. Now settled in Polson, Montana, at the southern end of Flathead Lake, her full attention is refocused on cultivating her artistic roots. She’s currently trimming out her future art studio, and writing the first in a series of children’s books based around nature, baking, and critters native to the Rocky Mountain west.
Media Link: www.katewasem.com
