Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 7 34 tools, run a printing press, and participate in any projects that he had going. My mother was an amazing knitter and spinner who loved natural dyes. She was named one of Montana's Living Treasures for her skills. Although I never learned to knit very well, she did pass on to me her love of textiles. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL OCCURRENCES IN YOUR LIFE AS AN ARTIST? I have four wonderful children, and the years that I spent doing art during their childhoods were formative. I learned to use whatever bits of time I had free to work, and to fit whatever I was making into odd corners of the house. Also they were lots of fun to do art with. Since they grew up, my husband has started to work overseas, and we have lived in China for several years, and spent time in Hungary and Vietnam. e folk art of those countries is fascinating, and I have tried to learn everything I could about the local traditional crafts in the countries we have stayed in, and I have been so inspired by those, especially as many of those crafts are disappearing quickly in the modern world. YOUR APPROACH TO PAINTING HAS TAKEN YOU INTO DIFFERENT DIREC- TIONS…MASKS, SCULP- TURES, DOLLS, EVEN HATS. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE CONNECTION AND YOUR INTEREST IN THESE DIF- FERENT ART FORMS? Making dolls for my children started me in the direction of making figures, which developed into the small sculptures that I make using beads, fabric, wood, and found objects, then adding environments around the figures, and also into making tiny dolls to use as jewelry and decorations. e idea of making masks came from a benefit auction in Missoula some years ago, called e Bra Show, in aid of breast cancer research. Artists were asked to make or decorate a bra to be auctioned, and I made a mask with a beach scene featuring a tiny doll in a bikini, and Small Town Horses (top) Spirit Animals (middle) Happy Rabbit (bottom) WInter Landscape

• Cover