Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 43 "W OMAN TO WOMAN: FEMALE PORTRAYALS" STARTED AS AN EXHIBITION OF PORTRAI- TURE AT THE PARIS GIBSON SQUARE MU- SEUM OF ART (THE SQUARE) IN GREAT FALLS. ese works illuminate experiences and interpretations of six women artists who belonged to the first part of the 20th century—Fra Dana, Raphael Schweda, Josephine Hale, Mary Trinitas Morin, Val Knight, and Winnifred Dawson. At the time that these women artists were creating work early in their careers, Charlie Russell had risen to fame as a local artist. His log cabin studio and gallery opened to the public in 1930, four years after his death. Twenty blocks away from the studio, MOTHER RAPHAEL SCHWEDA painted in the art tower at the Ursuline school and convent. Schweda (1884-1972) was born in Prussia and entered the Ursuline Order of Catholic Sisters in Montana at Saint Peter's Mission to the Blackfeet, in 1912. She spent most of her adult life at a school for girls that was built by the Ursulines that same year in Great Falls—Mount Angela Academy. She was a classically trained painter who had earned a Masters of Arts degree from Notre Dame. During her years at the Academy she taught both Latin and art while maintaining a private art studio on the 6th floor. FRA DANA (1874-1948) painted from her sunny flat near down- town Great Falls during the same time period. She married in 1896 and had joined with her husband to start a lucrative cattle business in Bighorn County, but Fra Dana refused to be sequestered there. She left the ranch from time to time to further her studies (at- tending the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York School of Art,) and traveled extensively (including trips to Paris, Cuba, Brazil, Egypt.) ough she often worked the ranch beside her husband it was said that she had a prenuptial agreement with a clause devoted to her continued travels and art education. e number of portraits done by Dana emphasizes her connection to popular culture and the people around her. MARY MORIN TRINITAS (1908-1965) attended Catholic school in Missoula and joined the religious order of the Sisters of Providence at the age of 19. She relocated to teach art and French at the new College of Great Falls, which was established by the nuns in the 1930s. Trinitas held a Masters of Art and was well connected to the art scene across the state. She was a founding member of the Montana Arts Association and a familiar figure at the Archie Bray Foundation. Although she is well known for her mixed media, stained glass, and metallurgy, she also painted portraits of women. ough her death was premature at the age of 50, Trinitas' large body of work is provocative and influential. GENEVIVE BETTY DAWSON, WINNIFRED DAWSON LADY IN PINK GLOVES, VAL KNIGHT TEA TIME, MOTHER RAPHAEL SCHWEDA SMOKE SIGNALS, JOSEPHINE HALE Plains Women Artists Post C.M. Russe See the Distinctly Montana archives for more articles about artists www.distinctlymontana.com DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL by KRISTI SCOTT CONTINUED

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