Time & Location
Saturday, September 9, 2022
9am - 9pm
Closing Reception 6pm - 9pm
At Montana Modern Fine Art
127 Main St. Kalispell, MT
The Kalispell Downtown Association and KALICO Art Center have teamed up to bring you a new event! The Downtown Kalispell Art Challenge. We’re excited about the prospect of promoting Kalispell history with an event to commemorate the painting of more public art.
Artist Clarence Rundell lived in Kalispell in the early part of the 20th century. In 1936, he came into a downtown building and offered Tom Bogart and Arthur Hollensteiner, owners of the Eagle Shoe Store (now Rocky Mountain Outfitters), a chance to get some murals on their walls. They selected a series of Glacier Park landscapes based on photographs from the collection of T.R. Hileman, the official photographer of the Great Northern Railway. In Mr. Rundell’s recounting of the experience, he said, “I painted one mural a day from the photographs. I got $25 a painting.” (In today’s money, that would be around $500.) These remarkably preserved works are the only paintings of Mr. Rundell’s left in the downtown area. In reverence to Clarence Rundell completing a painting a day for ten days, we invited ten selected artists to paint simultaneously during a one day challenge. Artists painted in front of a designated downtown business on August 27th and the completed works will be auctioned during a ten day viewing time at locations downtown.
The Kalispell Downtown Association and KALICO Art Center are excited to present a closing reception on Friday, September 9 at Montana Modern Fine Art 127 Main St. Kalispell from 6:00 – 9:00. Tickets will be available at the door for $30.00. Bidding will stop promptly at 7:30 on September 9. You do not need to be in person to bid on this art. The following link will bring you directly to the bidding site where you can learn a little about each artist and view their painting. All ten paintings created at last Saturday's Art Challenge event are on display in downtown Kalispell! Want to own one of these art pieces? Let the bidding BEGIN! https://app.galabid.com/kdachallenge/items
Find them here:
The Kalispell Grand Hotel – Madison Apple, Lake Josephine
Flowers by Hansen – Tanya Lambrecht, Upper Two Medicine
Glacier Bank – Alyssa Shaw, Scarface Point
Ceres – Marshall Noice, Heaven's Peak
Montavino Winery – Tessa Heck, Upper Kintla Lake
Rocky Mountain Outfitters – Kenneth Yarus, Janet Lake
Sage and Cedar – Kerry Broughton, Trick Falls
The Toggery – Susan Guthrie, Lake MacDonald
Sweet Peaks – Gen Delorme, Flathead Lake
The Kalispell Grand Hotel – Madison Apple, Lake Josephine
Thanks to our many sponsors and downtown businesses for your support.