Christopher Otto is a Painter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania living in Whitefish, Montana. He
completed his Certificate and Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Christopher works as a Carpenter and Ranchhand to sustain both his studio pursuits and an
immersive life of fishing, foraging, and camping in Montana's wild landscape. His work seeks to
recreate the space of experiencing new visual phenomena in nature and presents paintings as
surrogate.

Growing up in Missoula Montana, Mark’s fascination with creating art began when he was a young child and spent much of his free time drawing. He joined the military at age 20 and is a veteran of the US Marine Corps. After his service Mark returned to Missoula where he attained his BFA degree at the University of Montana in 2006.

During this time Mark met his wife Shannon, also an artist, who graduated in the same program. Mark treasures his family life and being a husband and father above all. Aside from pursuing his art career, Mark has been in business as a professional painter and finisher for the past 12 years, which has influenced his artwork in various ways including material use, textures and methods.

Mark’s painting process is fueled by intuition and a playful explorative nature, and it combines raw technique and nonobjective imagery, often resembling forms found in urban and rural landscapes. His most recent works will be on display at The Walking Man Gallery in Whitefish for the month of July.

Olivia Stark was born in Kalispell Montana in 1964 and is a mixed media artist and painter. She began a Fine Arts degree in the late 90’s while raising her 4 children. She included a major in psychology and a minor in dance during her time at the University of Montana in the early 2000’s. Her current work is expressive, fresh with movement and color.

Nancy Seiler received her Visual Communications degree from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1981. As a Golden Working Artist for Golden Artist Colors she presents lectures, demonstrations and workshops in acrylics, watercolors, and oils in Southern California and Montana. She has taught classical botanical illustration and nature journaling since 2003. Her work is represented by Frame of Reference Fine Art in Whitefish and Bigfork Montana.​​​

Nancy Seiler

Charity Flowers is a multifaceted artist and educator with a passion for merging artistic expression with education. Holding a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the Academy of Art University, Charity Flowers has cultivated a deep understanding of artistic principles and technical proficiency.

Currently serving as an adjunct professor at Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC), Charity Flowers continues to inspire and mentor the next generation of artists. Through dynamic and engaging teaching methods, Flowers shares not only the
technical aspects of art but also the profound connection between artistic expression and personal growth.

Drawing from the essence of place and land, Flowers delves into the rich tapestry of memories that define our roots. It is within these landscapes of recollection that Flowers finds the catalyst for a deeper exploration of self and identity.​​

www.cflowersart.com

Rob grew up on the Montana prairies and in the Montana mountains. He spent youthful summers working steel gangs, trail crews and harvesting wheat, and hiking Glacier National Park. He paints his native Montana to elevate and preserve her magnificence.

He is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and was the Director of Creative Services for Tonka Toys. Rob paints full-time from his studio in Whitefish, Montana and participates regularly in
invitational, juried and plein air events throughout the country. His work is displayed in galleries across Montana and appears in private, public, and corporate collections
throughout the Unites States. He is a member of the prestigious Montana Painters Alliance. His work has been published in Western Art Collector, The Big Sky Journal,
Distinctly Montana and The Whitefish Review.​​​

Rob Akey Fine Art

I am not a detail kind of person.  So, it stands to reason that I paint in a impressionistic way.  When I paint, I see the energy of the land and the emotion it elicits from in me.  Oil is my primary medium. As one who took up the paint brush in my fifties, it is a reminder that one's creative soul is just waiting to blossom.  Stumptown Art Studio fosters that recognition in everyone who comes through the door. 

I am a native Montana girl growing up by the flathead lake in Polson. After raising 2 boys and closing a big salon business that I started with 26 years of operation, the opportunity for me to study and work towards
developing a lifelong interest in art became available. I started to attend FVCC classes with Susan Guthrie for oil painting. Also, I have attended drawing, watercolor, and pastel workshops. I have been attending class
once a year for the last 8 years at FVCC. There are so many talented artists in Montana, and I have enjoyed taking multiple classes with Rachel Warner, Montana’s top tonalist. I have attended classes taught by Rob Akey, Karen Leigh, Rodger Rink, Mark Ogle and Richie Carter
just to name a few wonderful local artists.
My love of art has been a passion for most of my life. Growing up in Polson. Living my life in western Montana has been so enriched with the beauty of nature. We live with the big Rocky Mountains and glacier
national park right out my back door. I’ve spent years hiking, backpacking, fishing and skiing with my two sons, my husband and my grandchildren. Those are special moments enjoying the wonders I live in. Back packing into the Bob Marshall, glacier Park and the Mission
mountains have been some of my fondest memories. I have hiked over 700 miles of marked trails in Glacier Park plus climbed a few high mountain peaks

"There was nothing and now there's something"

Originally from New York, Donna utilizes an abstract and painterly style.  Drawing equally from the streets of Manhattan and the wilds of Montana, the works are a dynamic interplay of texture and movement.  Her paintings are a blend of bold color choices and expressive brushwork, evoking a sense of introspection and contemplation, inviting viewers to consider the intersection of inner emotions and external environments. Hers is a profound visual narrative that continues to evolve with each new canvas.

www.donnahgans.com

Susan Arthur Guthrie (Kalispell Montana): Susan Arthur Guthrie embraces the traditional methods of the Old Masters such as Joaquin Sorolla and JMW Turner along with Tonal painters such as George Inness. Guthrie is a native of Montana. She is a seasoned Art Educator and currently teaches full time at FVCC. She earned a Master’s in Studio with New York University with temporary residency in Venice, Italy and Berlin, Germany. She also studied Art History at the Studio Arts College International, Florence, Italy.  She is a recognized teacher among Who Who’s Among Teachers and was Art Educator of the Year for the state of Montana Art Education Association. She has studied with Master Watercolorist, Joseph Zbukvic, and South African Master Oil Painter, Ryno Swart. Her solo exhibition traveled throughout Montana and the western U.S. through the Montana Gallery Director’s Association. Her works have been featured in Florence and Venice, and Berlin.

Susan Guthrie Fine Art

In the summer of 1998, a fellow artist and instructor, Tom Semple invited me to paint outdoors.
Our site featured the Creston farmland set against the Mission Mountain. The fields at our feet stretched for miles with the occasional farmhouse and barn dotting the valley floor. I was hooked and have been painting ever since. March of the following year, I was artist in residence in Patagonia Arizona. The mornings were
cooler than anticipated with light snow and I found myself watercoloring indoors before setting out with the easel and oil paints. Other artists’ residencies include Venice, Italy; New Mexico; Glacier National Park.
I can’t remember exactly when I began ceramic classes at Flathead Valley Community College but it is another avenue of expression I have been studying and continue to do so. A sampling of that work can be found at Persimmon Gallery in Columbia Falls

Shawna Moore is a contemporary American painter known for her subtle explorations of color. Her paintings are the product of an ongoing investigation into the nature of abstraction and the medium of painting itself.

"I make the kinds of artwork that I like to look at. When visiting galleries and museums, I am intrigued by art that I can’t quite figure out how it was made or how the artist came to such a simple and pure expression. That's what I aim for, technical prowess and a momentary capture of the sublime aspects of nature and my life as a thinking, feeling, creative person.

The challenge is to grow and evolve as an artist. My focus is painting, not just encaustic painting. Acknowledging the significance of growth and reinvention, I am looking at questions around sustaining a successful and evolving artistic practice."

Shawna Moore Art 

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Gina is a contemporary artist. Her paintings reflect her deep care and connection to the earth.
She inspires us to look deeply, feel the textures, and remember our connections to all things.
Whether you are walking along a path, sitting deep in a forest, gazing over a meadow towards a mountain range far beyond, or stumbling upon an orchid hidden in the undergrowth, you are invited to awaken to a sense of wonder.

Jennifer Li grew up in Mill Valley, California, but her family spent summers in Montana at a ranch near Augusta. After majoring in literature and philosophy at Bennington and Sarah Lawrence Colleges, she lived, studied, and painted in New York City for nearly twenty years before returning to Montana in 1998.

Li’s unusually meticulous oil painting technique is grounded in the varnish mediums of the Dutch Golden Age. The New York Times has described her work as "straightforwardly beautiful" with "an element of the weird". Her work has been noted for its color and luminosity, its imaginative and evocative content, and for the high quality of her technique.

​

Li studied painting for twelve years at the Art Students League of New York under distinguished realist painters Harvey Dinnerstein and Frank Mason. She teaches oil painting privately and at FVCC. She welcomes inquiries from clients interested in commissioning portraiture.

Ever since early childhood, Shannon had the dream to be both a mother and an artist. She pursued her passion for art through studies in various locations, including a year spent in Italy. In 2006 Shannon completed her BFA at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was there that she met her husband Mark and they were soon married and began their family. 

Motherhood is something Shannon cherishes and finds to be so incredibly fulfilling.  Painting in the midst of motherhood is challenging and Shannon underwent a period of growth and transformation before finding the way to balance the two passions. 

For Shannon, art making is meditative. Deep in her process, she focuses on beauty and finds peace, restoration, and hope. Her ultimate goal is to pass that on to others through her artworks. 

Sunnie LeBlanc graduated from Boston University with both a BS and MS degree. She is a member of the Outdoor Painters Society (OPS), a signature member of
the Fort Worth 15 (FW15), and has painted in plein air competitions in Texas, Montana and New England. She has had a solo show “On the Rocks” at the Bigfork
Museum of Art as well as at the Fort Worth Art Center.

In 2022, Sunnie LeBlanc and Marnell Brown had an exhibition at the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center, Art in
the Time of Covid. LeBlanc was selected for the Painted Violins Project for the Fort Worth, Texas Symphony in both 2009, 2011 and 2015.
When not painting, Sunnie is a docent Emeritus at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas and at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell,
Montana. Her work may also be seen at the Fort Worth Art Center, Bigfork Art and Cultural Center, The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth and the Hockaday Art Museum

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey began her painting career in the 1970s, working predominantly in watercolor.
Later, Nancy discovered the color and vibrancy of pain5ng with French dyes on crepe de chine silk fabric
and quickly adapted her years of water media to express her current work. Cawdrey is applauded for
crea5ng her signature western mo5f pain5ngs, vibrant florals, and commanding wildlife masterworks.
Her work can be found in collec5ons around the world, beau5fully custom framed in museum-quality
materials.  Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey (nancycawdrey.com)

My paintings are mythologies about the landscape. Each piece is a study of the stories and places that have shaped our sense of Americana. They are salt of the earth accounts of what happened in forgotten corners of the wilderness. My process mirrors the dichotomies I experience in nature: aggression with restraint, ruggedness with specificity.

I build up surfaces slowly over time, rapidly cover them over, and dig back in to the earthen materials. Through this I mimic and impose both seasonal changes and the weathering process unto each piece.​

www.graceisabellartist.com

Known for her colorful, whimsical, interpretations of pets, places and more, Linda’s work draws connoisseurs and collectors of all ages in both the public and private arena. Acrylic and mixed media pieces grace homes and businesses internationally. Her proudest achievement is three larger than life pet portraits (5’ x 5’) installed at DuPont/Nemours Children’s' Hospital in Delaware.

Part of what gives Linda’s paintings life, color and vibrancy is the inspiration for her work. Both winter and summer she is in the mountains soaking up the fresh air and taking a childlike delight in every animal she meets along the way. Like the trails in Glacier National Park or the ski runs on Whitefish Resort at Big Mountain, each painting is a trail from blank canvas to a riot of color!

Linda Hendrickson (studio4linda.com)

Neil Persons is a Whitefish-grown artist who enjoys
working with acrylics and digital art to express his
creativity, which is inspired by the surrounding
mountains and filled with childhood memories.
His father, Clifford, helps build the Custom Juniper
Frames for his Artwork.
Neil is enjoying his artistic adventure and hopes his
paintings bring a smile to your face and a chuckle
to your mind

I am a Montana native who began her painting journey in 2016 by enrolling in Charity Flowers’ drawing class at Flathead Valley Community College. The next year I returned to FVCC to learn the old-master’s technique for oil painting taught by Susan Guthrie. I have returned to Susan’s classes every year since, honing my skills and finding a very
supportive art community in the process. Since the summer of 2020 I have added painting once a week with renowned oil painter Sunnie LeBlanc. I have also attended in-person workshops with Tonalist Rachel Warner and landscape painter Roger Rink as well as online instructor, Paint Coach Chris Fornataro.
As a child I dreamed of being an artist but it was deemed a poor career choice so I never pursued it. When I retired decades later I took my first steps to realize that
childhood dream. I chose oil painting for my medium because of the rich, vibrant, colors and the steady process of bringing the painting into being.
My favorite thing about painting is the place I go to mentally when actually putting paint to canvas. All the colors! Once I discovered that world it became an important part of my life. It gives me focus and and the pleasure of accomplishment .
In 2024 I was graciously invited to present some of my work at Ceres Bakery/gallery in downtown Kalispell. My first sale was an amazing experience. Other paintings sold as well but I will never forget that first one. What a feeling!
I am excited and honored to participate in the Whitefish Paint Out & Art Auction.

I've been an artist and educator for more than 15 years and have been lucky enough to have traveled my whole life over our vast amazing country, inspiring countless artists before me. I enjoy using many different mediums and substrates, creating and sometimes deconstructing layers to build surreal and abstract landscapes. I typically use explosive colors and attempt to invoke a spirited emotion within a finished piece.

A motto that I live by is "Art is for the People". An idea that I have been playing with is creating more travel friendly fine art to suit the needs of fellow travel enthusiasts and this ever-connected world we live in. Art not only allows us to show our individuality but connects us just the same. 

I am thankful for Stumptown Art Studio, the town of Whitefish, Whitefish Mountain Resort and the other artists taking part in the Whitefish Paint Out!

Michele’s award-winning artwork has shown in both group and solo gallery exhibitions as well as regional,
national and international juried exhibitions and Museum Auctions. Usibelli has won numerous awards, including the Silver Medal Award at the prestigious Salmagundi Club, NYC and the UCI Institute and Museum of
California Art Award. She is honored to have her work in the permanent collections at the Brinton Museum,
University of Alaska Fairbanks/Museum of the North and the State of Hawaii permanent collection. Michele has
followed her passion to teach, conducting ongoing workshops and art demonstrations throughout the US and internationally. Michele has worked extremely hard to be the best artist she can be and is continually pushing
her boundaries. She is proficient in oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache and pastel and is comfortable painting all
subject matter. Her next goal is to learn how to sculpt. She has proven to be a popular juror. Her artwork can be
found in public and private collections throughout the world. Michele is a proud member of, and has exhibited
with, the following organizations: Oil Painters of America/Signature Member, American Impressionist
Society/Signature Member, Women Artists of the West/Signature Member, California Art Club/Artist Member, Salmagundi Club/NYC, American Women Artists-Signature Member and Laguna Plein Air Painters Association-Signature Member. Michele's work is regularly showcased in the most respected art publications. Michele is an elected Oil Painters of America Board Member and sits on the Plein-air Magazine Advisory Council

​I have been creating art for as long as I can remember. I find inspiration in all kinds of things, for me art is an escape from day to day things and gives my mind a break from reality. I love to paint and do pretty much anything that creates beauty not limited to one medium, but if i had to choose one it would be watercolor!  Watercolor is like no other medium. It morphs on the paper in a way that is somewhat uncontrollable and chaotic, but so beautiful. I love using bright colors and unusual subjects. Being an artist, we look at the world in a different way seeing colors that other people don’t see or the way that we create to make the world a more beautiful place.   The world would be a very boring place without us artist to create things that aw people. So I will continue to make art for the rest of my life for people to see and enjoy.

Falina Sinopah Lintner is a local emerging artist born and raised between East Glacier Park, Whitefish, and the public lands of Montana. She is most recognized for reproductions of her studio collection found as retail reproductions around Glacier National Park. Much of her portfolio is filled with field and studio landscapes  in oil paints drawn from her life of exploration of Glacier National Park and other wilderness areas. She was raised with hiking and climbing as a way of life and general panacea. In addition, she worked and lived most of a decade off-grid in Polebridge, Montana further developing her love of a deliberate simple life actively tied to nature.​​​​

Glacier National Park Fine Art l falinasinopahartworks.com l Montana