Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 44 Another artist who made her home on the plains during this time period was JOSEPHINE HALE (1878-1961.) Hale was the youngest of 11 bilingual children (French/English) whose family had immigrated to South Dakota from Canada. She moved to Montana at age 20 and became a teacher and was widowed by age 26. Hale did not let challenges hamper her dreams and defied limitations placed on women years. She volunteered during WWI to serve as a Red Cross nurse in France and supported herself by renting the family ranch near Ulm. She boarded family members in town, travelled extensively and painted with fervor throughout her life. One of her impressionistic pieces was selected as part of the 1936 Salon in Paris. VAL KNIGHT (1905-1990) was a progressive modernist painter who was integrated into the art community of the northern plains over several decades. Largely self-taught, she was a founding member of a local women artists' co-op and taught art lessons to local students. Knight's creations in oil, encaustic, watercolor, and clay are a testament of her versatil- ity and tenacity. Many private collectors in the area boast a Val Knight figurine, sculpture, or painting in her particular color pallet. ough often painting in the abstract, she was also commissioned for portraits. Knight painted into her late 80s and over 50 works were recently gathered for a retrospec- tive exhibition at e Square in 2015. Another self-taught painter, WINNIFRED DAWSON (1915- 1965,) was appointed superintendent of the Fine Arts build- ing at the Montana State Fair. e Fair moved to Great Falls from Helena in 1939 and Dawson was at the forefront of an annual art exhibition that provided a stage for local artists. e ranch wife was a talented artist who was well known for her portraiture and invited to display her own work nationally. She led the charge for women in the arts locally through her leadership role at the State Fair. e works of these women artists mostly hang in museum vaults and on private walls. Dana's and Hale's works are held in the University of Montana's permanent collection at the Montanan Museum of Art & Culture (MMAC,) Sister Trini- tas' are housed in a small gallery devoted to her on the campus of the University of Providence while Mother Schweda's holy murals are still celebrated in local churches and at the Ursuline Centre. e late Winnifred Dawson recently had a painting selected as the annual accession into the Montana State Fair's permanent collection and Val Knight's works are mainly collected by her family and friends, though a recent gift by John and Mait Board of Helena added 25 works to e Square's Permanent Collection. By teaching, serving, and creating, these women artists interacted with and impacted the art community post-Charlie Russell. ough the majority of their works include portraits, landscapes, and still-lives, their portraits are especially signifi- cant as they give us a glimpse into the ways in which women saw one another at the time. Hale, Trinitas, Schweda, Dana, Knight, and Dawson are artists whose works provide a deeper understanding of how women experienced and expressed their surroundings, physical and social. eir work reveals life on the plains very different from Charlie Russell's celebrated works. Learn more about exhibitions at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls at www.the-square.org. SISTER LUCIA, MARY MORIN TRINITAS BIRDCAGE, FRA DANA RED DRESS, SUE BOVEY

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