Exhibitions & Events

Through its rotating exhibitions program, the MMAC regularly displays works from its Permanent Collection, curates traveling exhibitions, and showcases important regional, national, and international artists. See the Events page for programs associated with these shows. The museum hosts free tours of these exhibitions. Interested in a docent-led tour of our current show? Contact our Program Coordinator at (406)-243-2019 or email museum@umontana.edu. We're happy to schedule a tour during regular hours for any group of 5 to 10 people.

In addition to exhibitions currently on display we are working hard on our upcoming exhibitions!

Phil Korell, “Character Sketch of Sego Ridge,” 1974, pen and ink on paper.

Nick Eggenhoffer, “Cowboy Surrendering,” no date, dry brush, MMAC: Stan and Donna Goodbar Collection (Photo by Eileen Rafferty).

Tiffany Globe, Speyer collection.

Ornithological print, aquila chrysaetus, print on paper, Lee Silliman Collection.

olympicsposter1

Ludwig Hohlwein 1936,

Olympic Skiing Poster for Tyskland Germany.

Richard S. Buswell, "Seeds in a Corral" 2008,
duotone photograph, courtesy of the artist

Current Exhibitions

An Authentic Voice: The Architecture and Art of Phil Korell

For over 60 years, Montana architect Phil Korell has created buildings of exceptional beauty and integrity of design. Raised on a ranch outside Utica and educated at the University of Washington in traditional methods of design, Korell learned how to shape buildings in harmony with Montana’s distinctive Western landscapes and traditional culture. Korell created some of the state’s most distinctive buildings in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

The exhibition features photographs, drawings and plans for Korell’s signature buildings, as well as examples of his fine art drawings and paintings.

Please join us for the opening reception, April 15, 5:30pm-7:30pm at the Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center at UM.

April 15 – June 25, 2022 in the Paxson Gallery of UM’s Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center.

Stay tuned for the online virtual tour!

Recent Exhibitions

Imagining the West: Selections from the Stan and Donna Goodbar Collection of Western Art

The MMAC recently received a significant art collection of 125 Western works of art from Stan and Donna Goodbar in 2021. This collection reveals how artists interpreted the west during the 20th century. MMAC is proud to present a selection of these works featuring artists who made a living primarily as illustrators, both shaping and reinforcing quintessential myths about the West’s important archetypes, its settlers, cowboys and Indigenous inhabitants.

The exhibition highlights artists who demonstrated the illustrative traditions of Western art and includes celebrated Montana artists Ace Powell, Elizabeth Lochrie, John Clarke, Jo De Yong, C.M. Russell, and O.C. Seltzer among others. The collection also contains works from artists of other western states such as California's Edward Borein, Will James and Olaf Wieghorst and modernists Frances Senska and Peter Voulkos.

For more information and the full press release follow this link.

February 4 to May 27, 2022 at the Meloy Gallery

The MMAC opened two exhibitions with avian themes in the fall of 2021. The first, "Avis Marvelous: Ornithology in 19th Century Art and Science" opened on Friday, September 24, and ran through January 8, 2022 in the Paxson Gallery of UM’s Performing Arts and Radio/TV Center.

This exhibition, about one of the most popular and fertile areas of study in the 19th century, explored the convergent interests of artists and scientists. It combined prints from the Lee Silliman Collection and specimens from the University of Montana’s Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum.

“This exhibition presents the ways artists and scientists analyzed, documented, and celebrated avian life in the 19th century and explores the various strategies employed by artists and scholars of the natural sciences to create visual representations for works of art, publications and other printed works. It also recreates museum displays meant to educate and enlighten the public about bird life in the Americas,” said H. Rafael Chacón, the museum director.

A second exhibition, "The Speyer Collection of Contemporary Art,” opened on October 15 and ran until January 8, 2022 in the MMAC’s Meloy Gallery in the PARTV Center.

Helena-based collector Tim Speyer is sharing a selection of works of art from his collection focused on human interactions with birds. According to MMAC director Chacón, “Speyer’s collection reveals a penchant for the surreal, enigmatic, and poetic among contemporary artists from around the world. Much of the work is figurative and focused on the complex ways humans share this planet with our fellow creatures.”

Educational programming included a lecture by collector Lee Silliman on September 28 and a panel discussion with artists Barbara Michelman and Bishop Storrs, authors Marc Beaudin and Charles Finn, and biologists Angela Hornsby and Zac Cheviron on October 21. Both events can be found at the MCAT webpage at the following links:

https://cloud.castus.tv/vod/missoula/video/61a506b8806374000939b27d?page=HOME

https://cloud.castus.tv/vod/missoula/video/6182987ab7db540009ab4e3a?page=HOME

Movement: Graphics and the Olympic Games

Since their creation in 1896, the modern Olympic games have become an important cultural phenomenon in our world. The games are an attempt to revive the ancient values of athleticism, sportsmanship and peaceful competition within a united global community. The graphic arts, primarily in the form of colorful posters, have been a prominent way of broadcasting those values and promoting the individual games hosted by nation states over the last 125 years.

This exhibition brings together 35 compelling posters on loan from the collection of Paul Thomas representing the exciting history of the Olympic games and th epower of the graphic arts to articulate important social movements. In addition to revealing the evolution of graphic design, these posters also highlight the importance of global events and the development of mass culture across the 20th and 21st centuries.

The MMAC wishes to thank Paul Thomas for the loan of these works. We also greatly appreciate the efforts of Curatorial Intern Ashley Rickman and UM Student Gallery Attendants Kain Brauneis, Hannah Davis and Ronin Hoffman for assisting in the installation of the exhibition. Additionally, we thank Humanities Montana, the Montana Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and a private donor whose generous financial contributions have made this exhibition possible.

Visit out Virtual Visits page for a Virtual Docent Tour to "Movement: Graphics and the Olympic Games" at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture. The exhibition catalog and other publications are available at MMAC and can be ordered online.

Richard S. Buswell: Fifty Years of Photography

The Montana Museum of Art and Culture features “Richard S. Buswell: Fifty Years of Photography” from May 28 through Aug. 28 in the Paxson Gallery of UM’s Performing Arts and Radio/TV Center.

For over five decades, Richard S. Buswell has photographed Montana’s ghost towns and homesteads. This 50-year retrospective exhibition reveals the wide range and variety of his photographs. Beautifully crafted, always thought-provoking and sometimes unnerving, Buswell’s photographs of abandoned places, buildings and artifacts demonstrate his powers of observation and his affection for his home state.

“The exhibition, Buswell’s sixth solo show at MMAC, brings together 72 duotone photographs that span his long and productive artistic career,” said MMAC Director H. Rafael Chacón.