Bigfork museum celebrates summer of local female artists

Marnie Forbis, the director of the Bigfork Museum of Art & History, has always wanted to do a women's show.

And this summer, it fell into place.

All three shows this summer at the museum feature women artists. After realizing this, the museum has called this season "Celebrating a Summer of Women."

A total of six women will present their work.

The series started with Sunnie LeBlanc's oil painting exhibit "On the Rocks," which opened June 4 and runs through the end of the month.

It will be followed by "Glacier Park: A Woman's Perceptive" starting July 2, featuring the works of Marsha Davis, Karen Leigh and Jeanette Rehahn.

The series will conclude with "Not Your Grandmother's Needle Art," opening Aug. 10. The final show features work by Paula Johnson and Regina Browne.

The inspiration for a women's show came from the fact that female artists are still not regarded the same way as male artists, Forbis said.

"It has changed a great deal in the last 20 to 30 years. There's more respect," Forbis said. "But people are still surprised when women are doing art that's not from an afternoon watercolor class."

Forbis says she often notices people in the museum talking about a painting saying, "Oh, he really did a really nice job," only to look down and find out the artist was a woman.

She still knows female artists who use their initials to sign their paintings so people don't know they are women.

When people think of great artists, men are typically who come to mind, Forbis said, including artists like Monet and Rembrandt.

She even notices that in her 13 years with the museum it has had more male exhibitors than female, even though she tries to mix it up as much as possible. She's surprised by this and wonders why it is.

"We have a really talented pool of women artists," Forbis said of the Bigfork area.

The museum will hold its annual auction this year at BruMar Estate on June 17. The Jewel of Bigfork Auction will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The live auction will feature a quick finish, where a painting is completed in an hour's time.

This years quick-finish artists will be Rob Akey, Kelly Apgar, Nancy Cawdrey, Mary Kelley, Billy Knoll, Thomas G. Lewis, Toni Whitney and Julie Wulf.

A silent auction featuring items from area businesses and donors will also take place.

A buffet will be served and a no host bar will be available.

New this year will the "Art on the Line- 21" featuring 21 pieces of art valued at $100 or more that will be hung up on a clothes line. Attendees can pay $100 and play rounds of blackjack or "21" to win their choice of one of the 21 works of art.

Tickets are on sale now for $40 per person or $35 per person for museum members. Non-member tickets will be available at the Jug Tree, and member and non-member tickets are available at the museum gift shop or by calling the museum.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit http://bigforkmuseum.org or call 837-6927.