Join us Thursday, August 2nd, 6-9PM for our next Whitefish Gallery Nights event, featuring mixed media abstract expressionist, Mark Baumbach, along with selections from the Forest Illusions series by local photographer, Doug Ersson-Hammerberg.  Fine art, refreshments & live music with Chris Morel. For more information, call 406-863-ARTS or log onto http://www.whitefishgallerynights.org.

Mark Baumbach is a working artist, father of four young ones & an all around talented woodworker, house painter & more!!  He resides in Lakeside, MT with his wife, Shannon & children.  Mark’s style combines landscapes with abstract expressionism, mixed media acrylics & plaster.  Layers of medium on wood panel….worked, scratched & sanded until a multi-dimensional surface arises.  He then finishes with his own framework, stained black or brown, allowing the patterns of wood to come through.  His work displays well in simple modern settings, whether residential or commercial, where it is a primary vocal point of the space, but can also add dimension in more rustic settings, as the work captures many of the colors & roughness of reclaimed barnwood or metal….a touch of industrial energy mixed into vast portraits of the land around us.

“I am a self taught photographer specializing in nature based abstracts, wildlife & landscape photography.  I have spent many years in the back country of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Washington, but only in the past few years have I carried a camera with me to capture my journeys.  Often the beauty of nature is overlooked in the search for that ultimate shot.  In my nature based abstracts, I attempt to share with you those subtle views of nature in ways only special settings can capture.  Colors are all natural and as caught in camera in the field.  Forest Illusions is a collection of work using long exposure and planned camera movement combined with the use of natural lighting and coloration of the scene before me.”  -Doug Ersson-Hammerberg