The Holter Museum of Art, a recent Humanities Montana grant recipient, presents Secrets of the Vault, a tantalizing lecture series highlighting important artists and artworks from the Holter’s permanent collection. The Holter’s classification as a museum and not a gallery is due to its permanent collection; many visitors come to enjoy the exhibitions on display, but most of them leave unaware of the hidden world stored behind the vault doors. This series aims to make the collection more accessible and provide in-depth lectures from some of Montana’s leading art and culture experts.

About the Collection:

The Holter Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of approximately 1,700 works. This includes paintings, drawings, prints, glass, sculpture and ceramics. With the 2001-2002 building expansion, the Holter experienced an upgrade of facilities resulting in a secure climate-controlled vault with 735 square feet to properly house the collection and an additional 555 square feet devoted to a collection and research center.

Mission of the Collection:

The collection seeks to embrace the highest quality works by regional artists. The collection augments the Museum’s ability to advocate for the arts by providing a record of modernist and contemporary artistic endeavors. The Holter Museum seeks to add to the scholarship of this region through the use of the collection for research and publication and the formulation of traveling exhibitions. The Holter Museum of Art strives to preserve and protect this collection by providing the best facilities and resources for its maintenance, adhering to accepted professional standards of storage, handling, and exhibition, and providing quality professional conservation to ensure the continuity of the collection.

About Secrets of the Vault:

The Holter has recruited a stellar lineup of artists, art historians, and art lovers to provide lectures for this series. Each speaker is given the chance to explore the collection and select a piece (or a group of pieces) to center their presentation around.

Secrets of the Vault kicked off on July 19, the night of the Summer Art Walk, with a fantastic lecture by Dr. Michele Corriel, who discussed the Montana Modernists movement and The Shut-in Suite by artist Paul Harris. The upcoming Secrets of the Vault lecture will occur on Friday, September 7th, featuring internationally recognized appraiser Timothy Gordon, who will speak about the prints of landscape artist Russell Chatham. The remainder of the lineup includes artist and humanitarian Katie Knight, scholar and teacher Dr. Shane Doyle, Holter Exhibitions Curator Gianna Sherman, Archie Bray Director Rebecca Harvey, and Montana Museum of Art and Culture Director Dr. Rafael Chacόn.

Schedule:

September 7, 2024: Timothy Gordon
September 21, 2024: Katie Knight
September 28, 2024: Dr. Shane Doyle
October 12, 2024: Rebecca Harvey
October 19, 2024: Gianna Sherman
November 9, 2024: Dr. Rafael Chacόn

Each event begins at 5 PM with a casual happy hour, with the lecture commencing at 6 PM. After the lecture finishes, there will be time for questions and mingling. Aside from a cash bar featuring Ten Mile Creek Brewery drinks, each Secrets of the Vault event is completely FREE!

The events will be held in the E.L. Weigand Creativity Center, and the galleries will also be open to attendees and visitors.