New museum exhibit showcases fruits of the Flathead

Art is growing at the Bigfork Museum of Art and History.

The museum last week launched “The Fruitful Flathead Valley,” an exhibit celebrating the variety of fruit grown in the Flathead Valley. Last year’s exhibit featuring works of Flathead Lake cherries was so successful that the museum staff decided to expand that theme to locally grown fruit, director Marnie Forbiss said.

The exhibit, which runs through May 25, features a range of artwork, from amateurs to professionals. “Everybody gets a chance here,” says Lael Gray, a Bigfork artist who is displaying a painting called  “Appyloosa” in the exhibit.

While last year’s exhibit featuring cherries is over, several pieces of historic photography remain in the upstairs portion of the museum. The photos are a snapshot of Bigfork’s early days, from storekeepers on Electric Avenue to cherry harvesting on Flathead Lake.

The museum is regaining its foothold after a museum board shakeup last year, the 35th anniversary of the center. Board members resigned en masse after an uproar over firing Forbiss, but the board is now positive and moving forward with a renewed enthusiasm, said Forbiss, who was reinstated.

She has worked at the museum 17 years. The museum has a staff of 45 volunteers. It makes its money by selling artwork in the gallery, through an annual auction, as well as charging for memberships.

Forbiss said the museum finances are on track, but she’s hoping for a solid summer season. The museum does not receive any tax revenue, as some Flathead Valley museums do. “We’re not sitting on a pile of money,” she  said. “We’re always running that fine edge of being ok, and not being ok (financially.) In 2006 the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center changed its name to the Bigfork Museum of Art and History.

The museum was dealt a financial blow in the recession of 2008. “That took the wind out of our sails,” Forbiss said, “and we’re trying to get that back.”

With the museum offering rotating exhibits, as well as showcasing local history, Forbiss said she thinks the museum complements Bigfork’s other artistic and cultural offerings. “We hope it has the presence of giving the town a vital, and changing art exhibit, and the history angle of showing what Bigfork was and what it will be,” Forbiss said. “For 35 years the museum has been an integral part of the downtown art scene.”

The museum receives about 10,000 visitors a year. “For a smalltown museum, that’s really good,” Forbiss said.

SAVE THE DATES

The Bigfork Museum of Art and History annual auction fund-raiser is June 14 at Brookies Cookies in Bigfork. Last Fridays of the month feature downtown galleries and the museum staying open until 8 p.m.