Read an overview of our Public Art Program here.
Our latest sculpture, nicknamed “Wolfie” is a playful bronze by Montana born artist Brad Rude that tells the tale of a wolf on his own quest. Looking ahead on her journey, the wolf strides forward with the aid of two vintage red wheels and a walking stick. Ears up, erect, with a slightly tilted head she appears to hear or see something. Richly layered colored patina and animated texture of the animal’s coat finishes the sculpture in a most magical way. The wolf captures the spirit of each of us as we look forward to our next adventure.
Brad Rude is a storyteller who portrays animals in situations that mimic our own lives. Rude often explores ideas about movement and sees movement as the foundation for the Journey of Life. He uses analogies and metaphors to help viewers identify with the various animal characters and see themselves, perhaps saying, I've been there before or I wish I could do that. He also chooses non-animal images to help compose his stories. Wheels, rocks, sticks, and towers are often used because they are familiar, and known throughout the world, and do not get stuck in a specific culture or time period. These universal images, combined with animal images, keep the work timeless and relevant to future generations. Art in public spaces must interact with such a diverse group of people, and therefore demands that the artist create the most accessible piece possible. Rude’s sculptures are positive and hopeful and enjoyed by people of all ages.
Read More here - “Students create stories and poetry and prose about Big Sky’s next public art project”
Imagined by the Arts Council and fabricated by Crucible Design Studios , this sculptural bench provides a relaxing spot to enjoy watching Gibbous shift in the wind, accompanied by a stunning donor appreciation sign. Crafted from 350 pieces of richlite, a sustainable composite material, the bench’s undulating form was inspired by the mountains and culture of Big Sky. This collaboration is hopefully the first of many in making an 'adopt a bench' program. Please reach out to Jesine Munson jesine@bigskyarts.org if you're interested in a bench!
We welcomed Big Sky’s first large-scale mural in the Little Coyote/Lone Peak Hwy Pedestrian Tunnel by
Stella Nall ‘Bisháakinnesh’, a Montana based multidisciplinary artist and a First Descendant of Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe. Stella utilizes a wide range of materials and techniques, including beadwork, painting, illustration, wood carving, ceramics, printmaking and poetry. Her distinctive visual language is characterized by vibrant colors, intricate mark-making and a sense of whimsical reverence.
Her work lives in both public and private spaces. Her murals, full of joyful, place-based narratives, can be found across Montana. Her work has been acquired to national permanent collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.), the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM), and the Montana Museum of Art and Culture (Missoula, MT).
This mural celebrates the amazing landscape of Big Sky and the surrounding areas, the community that lives here, and the wildlife that we share it with. The imagery you see was generated by community feedback on the following prompt; “Think about the landscape/environment of Big Sky and the wonderful plants and wildlife that live here. If you could imagine a make-believe ‘Big Sky Being’, what would it be like?
Read a few of the community responses below;
“An elk or moose kinda creature that holds the sun in its antlers (summer-long days) and then when it drops its antlers it also drops the sun (winter-short days). Or maybe vice versa with the moon since they drop their antlers in the spring. Or maybe a wee huckleberry colored hummingbird. Maybe they hang out with other summer berry colored hummingbirds. They have a lot of wings instead of just two so they can move even faster!”
“Pink punk Pika! Being wild! Super cute and tough n stuff bc they have a soft heart. Likes baking and when not playing in their punk band shares tea or coffee with Buffalo, Bun, and blue Butterfly friends.”
“A deer with horns like bighorns and claws like bears. It is a deer who can protect itself.”
“A big shaggy mountain goat named Myrtle. She likes flowers, hiking and sunsets. She is friends with a mountain chickadee named Melvin who likes to perch on her horns while they adventure around the mountains of Big Sky.”
“I think of something that is a giant flying with feathery wings and they would lay in the clouds and eat them and it rains when they're sad, it would be friendly with all the birds and people and ski in the mountains when it's cloudy.”
“A version of a porcupine!! Like a really tall one with long leggies.”
“A creature that is able to navigate the terrain, stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It would be friends with all the other animals and just eat plants. Maybe it would just eat invasive species and somehow not spread their seeds? It’d be very cute and large. Maybe looks kinda like a bear, but isn’t scary and likes being friends with humans. Like a really nice dog and a bear mixed together.”
10 Haikus written by local students displayed on plaques at Big Sky's local trailheads
Big Sky Haikus is a project presented by Lone Peak High School student Astrid McGuire. This public art installation is designed to bring students and locals together to convey what the Big Sky community and area means to them.
Locations
1. Southfork
2. Uplands
3. Hummocks
4. Uplands/Hummocks trail kiosk
5. Little Willow Way start of trail sign
6. "Little Willow Way to Black Diamond Trail" sign
7. Small Crail Ranch sign at beginning of trail
8. Spruce cone sign at beginning of trail (showing town center one way and firelight condos the other)
9. Spruce Cone sign behind firelight condos
10. Sign on trail leading to Ousel Falls (about halfway from town center to ousel)
Lightning welcomes visitors to the BASE Community Center and serves as a breathtaking memorial to Anne Buchanan and others lost too soon. Much like the art Anne collected, Lightning is notable for its striking composition, complex details and dazzling color palate. Made of painted stainless steel, it compels visitors to come closer to observe and celebrate the vibrancy of art and life. Created by Linda Fleming, whose work hints at the co-existence of the mundane and the cosmological where two realities simultaneously exist including the possibility that the past is also present. The structures are diagrams of thought that provide a glimpse of the strangeness beyond the everyday world; opening a place where thought becomes tangible, history leaves a trace, and information exhales form. Material can never fully communicate thought, which makes these elaborate constructions more poignant in their attempt than they would ever be in their articulateness.
Winter’s original form was created with driftwood collected from the Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Madison rivers by the world-renowned and local artist, Deborah Butterfield. Through a process of bronze casting and expert application of patinas, the wood was burnt away to leave behind a fascinating bronze sculpture strong enough to endure Montana winters. Butterfield’s horses grace outdoor locations across the country, and Big Sky is honored to have the first outdoor Butterfield in the state. This installation in our community honors one of our state’s most accomplished artists and provides a spectacular anchor for all our public art efforts. Butterfield’s artwork is on display in public spaces, museums and private collections around the world, including New York’s Whitney Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art; and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..
As part of the Arts Council’s “Pony Up!” campaign to raise funds for the $400,000 project, the organization solicited entries from local businesses and schools with possible names for the sculpture. Nearly 200 ideas were submitted and the final selection was made by the artist herself. Click here for the full article on the installation.
Watch an inspiring video about the artist here: Deborah Butterfield: Dialogue with an Artist.
Belgrade-based sculptor, Jim Dolan, has spent his career fulfilling a pledge he made as a student: to dedicate his life to Montana. With over 170 works of public art, his naturalistic bronze and steel wildlife sculptures appear right at home in Big Sky’s landscape. Blending in with his natural surroundings, it is easy to mistake the Bull Elk, made of fabricated steel, for the real thing as you approach the Uplands and Hummocks trails. The sculpture was a generous donation to the Arts Council by Lindy Adelmann, in memory of her husband Doug.
In 2024, ACBS partnered with Grow Wild to create a pollinator garden surrounding the Moose Pair, enriching our community through artistic expression and educating the public about the importance of pollinators and providing essential habitat for these threatened creatures. The pollinator garden serves as an inspiration for all Big Sky residents to create their own pollinator havens. By incorporating native plants into our landscaping, we can all contribute to a healthier ecosystem and a thriving community for these vital insects. We hope that this is the first garden of many creating a pollinator pathway through our public art program.
Big Sky Blooms: Celebrating Art and Nature at the Ousel Falls Pollinator Garden Ribbon Cutting!
Jim Dolan’s Ram may be Big Sky’s oldest piece of Public Art. Prior to his new home near the corner of Ousel Falls Road and Lone Mountain Trail, the Ram resided at the entrance of the River Rock Hotel for nearly 30 years. Overgrown and hidden by aspens, the Ram was “re-homed” to a location where more people could enjoy him.
In the fall of 2018 we installed Waldazo, by Bozeman artist Kirsten Kainz, Waldazo’s distinctly western silhouette welcomes visitors to the Big Sky Town Center. Step closer and the artwork reveals something wonderfully unexpected: what reads as an iconic symbol of the prairie from afar is actually a dense, whimsical assembly of found objects. Made of reclaimed materials, Waldazo, was the pen name of the poet and teacher, Steve Johnson, whose garage was the source of the materials. His daughter Katharine Johnson donated the items – countless artifacts used with love by her family for many years. Read her moving account here. Equal parts monument and treasure hunt, Waldazo rewards the curious.
Click here for an article about Kainz and her work.
Big Sky’s first kinetic sculpture takes its name from the moon scycle and is set into motion by the slightest breeze. Made from anodized aluminum and stainless steel and finished in a bright orange automotive paint, its circular forms and fluid movement evoke the moon shifting between half and fully illuminated. The sculpture’s openings frame shifting views of Big Sky’s iconic Lone Mountain. Artist Pedro S. de Movellán is considered one of the world’s most well known kinetic sculptors alive today.
Installed in 2019, Continuity is the Arts Council’s first abstract installation. The carved California Black Granite, organic shape, and viewing portal work in unison with the surrounding architecture and landscape. Robert Winslow is a versatile contemporary artist whose career is defined by a diversity of mediums that continue to push boundaries and leave a lasting impact.
Montana artist and master builder Zak Zakovi blends stone, steel, and earth-based materials into large-scale sculptures that invite viewers to experience art as a living part of the environment. At 13 feet high and over 2000 pounds, Menhir is a formidable installation of steel and stone. Originally installed at the roundabout in 2006, Menhir has seen Big Sky literally grow around it. Now it has settled in its new home, in a pocket park with a stunning view of Lone Peak, outside of BASE Community Center on the NE corner of Simkins Drive and Aspen Leaf.
A loving memorial to Big Sky’s Mitch and Janet Simkins, the bronze Memorial Fountain is an intersection of artistry and functionality. Mitch Billis’s cleverly designed fountain dispenses water to people and their pets. This sculpture can be found near the playground in the Town Center Plaza. The location suits the artist, whose work is often inspired by the wonderful perspective of children.