Brenda Pavlovich
Brenda Pavlovich first cultivated an interest in welding at her father’s side. As an electrician, Stan Gayer used welding as a useful tool for fixing broken appliances but Brenda saw it as an art form. In high school, she pursued her interest and enrolled in a metals class. Working with metal presented a number of challenges, but that’s what made it so intriguing. For instance, “To work with metal, you have to expose yourself to some danger. You can get burned, cut, squished; it’s just not as forgiving,” Brenda explained. Not only was the material challenging, but as a girl in usually all male classes, Brenda was up against gender stereotypes. Unintimidated by her classmates, Brenda excelled in high school and went on to open her own business, Iron Maiden Welding. Brenda’s love for iron lies in the material’s versatility. Brenda recycles scrap metal and parts from old farm equipment and turns them into works of art. A beautiful example is a rooster with gears for eyes and a pitchfork tail. Brenda also appreciates the material’s durability, “I like the idea that when I make something, it’s forever. It will be here long after I’m gone.” Brenda’s creations, including metal sea creatures, geckos, turtles and garden flowers have been especially popular with the local community. |
Collin Letts
Collin is a metal artist and founder of Solidus Metal Works here in Bozeman. He is currently employed by Northwest Arts Casting as a welder and patineur.
Collin attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado where he received a B.A. in Fine Arts and a minor in Environmental Studies. His new work includes belt buckles, pendants, artistic steel tables and planters that have become quite popular in the community. |
Kirk Belding
Kirk is a resident of Virginia City, Montana. He loves to experiment with different clays, techniques shapes and glazes. His primary glazes include a signature "crackle" glaze, and also his unique salt fired pottery.
Each piece is loaded into the kiln and then unexpected things happen due to the way the salt and fire interact. Kirk states, "I touch each piece of pottery an average of 20 times from clay to finish. I would like each of my pieces to have a whimsical personality, both in use and on the shelf." |
Pete Stecher
"My artistic expression, from the combination of stone and steel, has arrived after a lifetime of work in a variety of mediums and disciplines. I draw from the power and scale of the rugged landscape of Montana, one of my creative sources.
I am captivated by the journeys and stories of stones; from glacial erratic, river carved stones, to man’s pull of steel from the earth. Some of my work incorporates a fusion of modern and ancient, tribal elements drawing on man’s ancient connection to the earth. My design process is primarily mental. I leave room for the evolution and growth of each creation. The mediums of steel and stone conform to my vision through great effort, bending beneath my hammer and emerging with my chisel. Working at my great grandfather’s anvil or hammering on stone, I exert a great deal of force on the medium, while allowing the process to be spontaneous. " |
Claudia Poser
I was born in Germany to a mother who was passionate about art history and travel, so I became intimate with art and museums at an early age. I grew up steeped in modernism and Scandinavian design. When I decided to change careers in 1989, after ten years as a polymer scientist, I first turned to writing and for
relaxation began to study ceramics at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, where I became a studio artistin 1995. The tension between order and emotion, the rational and the organic intrigues me. I find beauty in both natural and manufactured details. |
Jennie Blair
Jennie has been throwing pottery for over 12 years. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire and moved to Whitefish after graduating with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in 2000.
Influenced by the beauty and balance of nature, she incorporates natural wood and allows raw surfaces to reveal the organic qualities of clay. All of her pottery is high fire stoneware or porcelain, and food safe. Each piece has an earthy and unique feeling, comfortable to hold as you enjoy the goodness it contains. |
Ann Justin (Lalamilo)
“Lalamilo” was started by two cousins, Anna Hosbein de Aliaga and Ann Justin. Lalamilo is the name of their shared ancestral home in Hawaii.
From her 18th century hacienda, Anna Hosbein produces knitwear for various designers, employing over 300 Bolivian women to knit and crochet her sweaters. Ann Justin lines in Bozeman, MT, with her family. Before having children, Ann made costumes for Broadway, and she now uses her pattern-making skills and love for the crafts of clothing, to design knitwear. All of the clothing is hand knit or crocheted of alpaca or fine pima cotton. |
Tami Knappenberger
Connie Anderson
Mary Keefer
Mary grew up in a large family on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her love of nature was nourished by long hikes in the woods surrounding the farm and her father’s respect for conservation.
“As an artist, I am a follower of my intuition, so my paintings are often playful or mysterious imaginary landscapes.” For over 30 years Mary has explored her love of land resulting in very original paintings. She uses a combination of acrylic paints, charcoal, watercolor crayons, ink and other media. |