News you can use

Two Bears' make their home at museum

"Two Bears," a show of the works of Havre artists Jim Pasma and Tom Otterness, takes up residency at the H. Earl Clack Museum Tuesday through Aug. 23.

The show will open with a wine-and-cheese reception from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the museum, located in the Heritage Center, 306 Third Ave.

The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The show will feature two sculptures of bears with very different personalities as well as several other sculptures, paintings and drawings. The bears were made about the same time, 1996-97, Pasma's near the end of his life and Otterness when his daughter was 5. This will be the first time the Pasma bear, a bronze called "Confrontation," has been seen in public, courtesy of his nephew, Gary Mueller, and Otterness. Otterness became an admirer of Pasma's work several years ago through Mueller.

Pasma was a well-known artist from 1933 to 1999 and was self-taught He was born in Helena, but was raised on a Havre ranch. He had shows of his work in Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina and California. Three of his dioramas are in the permanent collection at the H. Earl Clack Museum. Many of his pieces are in private collections. Though much of his work has a Western theme, he also made political, historical and wildlife art, and achieved recognition as a dioramist. Active in politics, he was elected state Senate secretary in 1967, and was an advocate of women's participation in politics. He created several sculptures of famous women.

Otterness was born in 1952 in Wichita, Kan., and studied at the Art Students League in New York City. He now lives in both Havre and New York City with his wife and daughter. He has been in shows in the United States and Europe and has work in several museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney in New York City.

He is best known for his public art. Some of his recent installations are in Bellingham, Wash., at Western Washington University and at the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore. He also entered a work last year in Utica's "What The Hay" sculpture contest. His most recent public work will be installed at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, Wash., in October.

For more information, contact Emily Mayer at the Clack Museum at 265-4000.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/05/2024 02:57