Ongoing Exhibitions
LEE STEEN: A MONTANA ORIGINAL
LEE STEEN
Outsider Artist
Permanent Display
View the permanent installation of art from the museum collection by Montana artist Lee Steen.
Whether or not one accepts Lee Steen's categorization as an Outsider Artist, it is undeniable that his sculptures possess a magical quality that defies precise definition. Removed from their natural habitat and placed in a gallery, the stick figures that once graced Montana roadsides still vividly evoke the magic of their creator's world.
THREE THOUSAND AND COUNTING
JEAN PRICE
Permanent Display
To commemorate the sacrifices made by U.S. troops in Iraq, Great Falls artist Jean L. Price has created an ongoing memorial installation at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art. Each American soldier who has lost his or her life in the war is represented by a dog tag created out of aluminum tooling foil that includes name, rank and age. Montana soldiers who have fallen are represented with copper and brass. As more casualties occur, the sculpture grows. In this heart-breakingly beautiful tribute, Price provides the viewer with a visual display of the human cost of war.
The Square re-dedicated the installation (originally entitled Two Thousand and Counting) on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007; at which time, Jean expanded and enlarged the installation to reflect the growing toll of war on our nation's servicemen and women.
View the online brochure for this exhibition.
Jean Price passed away on March 25, 2019 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Jean was an avid collector of art throughout her life. Upon her passing, her estate graciously donated her collection of artwork to the museum to be added to the museum’s permanent collection. This collection of artwork consisted of artwork from a variety of different artists as well as Jean herself. Jean was a long time supporter of the Arts and Paris Gibson Square. Everyone here will remember her fondly and greatly.
RUINS I-IV
TERRY KARSON
Dufresne and Cobb Foundations Gallery
Permanent Display
Terry Karson’s “Ruins” exemplify the beautiful possibilities of working with post consumer waste. Grandiose in size and equally so in impact, each of the six columns titled Ruins I-VI are meticulously created from cardboard packaging. Each tile is cut from scrap cardboard waste that Karson saved from the landfill and repurposed for his exhibitions. The works are sanded and waxed, leaving viewers with an abstracted color field alluding to the past advertisement. The tiles are then affixed in precise rows to the plywood columns which measure 2 x 2 x 9 feet.
