Please join us Thursday, October 4th, 6-9PM for our last Whitefish Gallery Nights of the season!  The Birds And The Bees will feature the flora & fauna photography of Dee Linnell Blank, the life drawings of Masako Dunn & oils by new artist, Luke Oursland.  Fine art, refreshments & most likely a little live music.  For more information call 406-863-ARTS or go to http://www.whitefishgallerynights.org!  Cheers

Dee Linnell Blank, nature photographer, shares her exuberance about the wild lands and native plants of Big Sky country and loves nothing better than hiking Montana’s trails with a camera and tripod.  She carves with a camera.  Instead of letting it include everything in front of it, she seeks out a time and point of view that lets her cut away distractions and clutter, until the spirit and personality of the subject shines.  This may involve lying on the ground moving inches right or left, hiking a mountain ridge traveling miles, setting the alarm for dawn light, or waiting until next season – often all of the above!  Though Dee has worked as a computer programmer and a ski guide, photography is what allows her to combine her life-long interests in art, nature, and science.  A degree in geology helps her delve into many naturalist subjects.  But she chose to concentrate on botany when she found people are more interested in flower images than photos of rocks.  You can see her work in The Walking Man Frame Shop and Gallery, the Hockaday Museum of the Arts, and Montana Outdoors Magazine.  Her photos have been published on Montana Magazine covers and calendars and in Montana’s Pioneer Botanists.  Dee is the author and photographer of the book Montana Wildflowers published by Farcountry Press.

Born and raised in Japan, Masako remembers as far back as four or five years old, dreaming about doing art.  Creativity has been a part of her life ever since.  Surrounded by a family of very artistic people, including her mother, Masako was lovingly nurtured along the way.  Trying everything from graphic design to illustrating children’s books, Masako finally found her niche in pastels…her favorite medium.  Many exhibits later and much recognition in Japan and Hawaii, Masako’s work has been exposed to the world and has driven her success.  Like other Flathead Valley artists, Masako has focused on Montana and its beauty.  Having discovered this part of the world and moving here in the late 1980s, Masako is mesmerized by the changing seasons, the mountains, wildlife and the endless opportunities for capturing the beauty this part of the country has to offer.  This particular series comes from a collection of hundreds of life drawing practices at the FVCC art department’s weekly sessions.

“Painting a still life can be a bit of a Walden Pond experience. Most of the time you’re taking something small and insignificant and spending hours closely studying it, observing it from all angles, and absorbing each minute detail. The exciting part comes when your realize that what you’ve been looking at isn’t as ordinary or insignificant as it would appear at first glance. Ordinary things often have a life and beauty of their own and this is what I hope to show in my work.”    -Luke Oursland