Exhibit features, educates about Western icon

Curator Denny Kellogg hopes residents will walk away with more than just an appreciation for bison-inspired art at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History's new exhibit opening today, April 1.

He plans to make sure they learn something.

"The show has a lot of substance instead of just looking at art," Kellogg said.

After a show at the museum feel through, director Marnie Forbis thought of Kellogg, who managed to pull it together, with the assistance of local galleries, in about a month.

He decided on calling his show "The American Bison in Montana Art & Culture," featuring art of all mediums as well as artifacts associated with bison.

"I think it's the icon of the west," Kellogg said. "(The bison) is depicted more often than all other animals, except for maybe the horse, but those were introduced by man and don't have the same timeless association."

If attendees of the show look closely, they'll learn about the history of bison and see examples and original artifacts regarding Piskin use in hunting, the legendary Buffalo Stone and the Sundance ritual.

The featured piece of the exhibit is "Buffalo Jump," a wood carving with polychrome and bas-relief by Mike Swims Under depicting the last of the Piskins, buttes or cliffs Native Americans used to run buffalo over as part of the hunt. This practice stopped after a vision in the 1820s that the practice was wasteful now that the tribes had horses.

Kellogg describes himself as an art collector and amateur historian. Many of the pieces on display are from his own personal collection.

The exhibit includes pieces by local artists Elmer Sprunger and son Jerry, including the piece Elmer was working on at the time of his death in 2007. The skyline and landscape of the piece, since named "Ghost Bison," were completed, but the bison remained sketched in and unfinished. The work is on display on Elmer's easel with his chair and some of his painting equipment nearby.

A variety of sculptures, paintings, skins and black and white photography among other items are also included in the exhibit, several of which came from local galleries and artists.

A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 1 at the museum in downtown Bigfork. Artists as well as Kellogg and representatives of the Montana Bison Association, which is sponsoring the exhibit, will be present.

The Montana Bison Association is also offering up items for the exhibit, including literature on eating and producing bison commercially.

"From the consumer standpoint, it's a myth that the meat is really gamy," said Chris Sullivan, current president of the association. "You really can't tell it from lean beef."

Attendees of Thursday's reception will get a chance to test that out for themselves. Huckleberry bison meatballs will be available for sample.

For more information, visit the museum's Web site at www.big forkmuseum.org.