Havre native returns to hometown for annual art association Show and Sale

Havre native and Missoula resident Garrette Brough of Big Sky Bones will hold a small presentation and question and answer segment at this year's Havre Art Association's 49th annual Havre Art Association Show and Sale, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church.

"It's a great opportunity and I'm happy doing it," he said.

Brough is the featured artist in this year's show, traveling from Missoula back to his hometown to display his unique skull carving artistic pieces.

"It's not for everyone," he said.

He added that he is hoping to get some constructive criticism and feedback on his work, but wants to try to keep things casual.

He said one of the hardest things about his unique artwork, is explaining to people what it is. In the past he has told a few of his past employers about his artistic work and, he said, they tended to be a little freaked out.

Brough was born and raised in Havre, graduating from Havre High School in 2010, he said. For a short time, he added, he attended Montana State University-Northern, before transferring to the University of Montana in Missoula, graduating with a bachelor's degree in art in 2017.

He said that he always had a love for art, adding that his mother still has a picture he drew on a sticky-note when he was 2 years old. But he attributes most of his first interest in art to his older sisters, who were, while he was growing up, really big into art.

"Seeing them doing it, just kind of pushed me to do it ... it always kind of stuck," he said.

In high school, he also took AP art classes which led him to wanting to pursue it in college, he said. While he was in college, he said, skull carving kind of just fell into his lap. He said he was on the internet, he was looking at another artists work and stumbled across some artistic works on skulls. Brough said it got him interested and made him want to try it for himself.

One year, he got his chance, after a ranching friend in Havre found a skull and gave it to him, Brough said. He added that he is mostly self-taught, finding only a few resources online from other artists who did skull carvings. He said that he only found other artists a after he was finished with his first couple of carvings.

Skulls are a difficult medium, he said. Every skull is different and the bones have a wide range of different factors, such as if the animal had previously had a head injury.

His first piece ended up being a gift to Lincoln Holt, Havre blade smith, who had helped Brough and his family during a difficult time, making knives for him, his step-father and step-brother.

"I was just really grateful," he said, adding that he gave Holt the skull as an art for art trade.

Since his first skull, Brough has made between 30 and 45 other skills, all with unique carvings, he said. He added that he does just about every kind of skull he can get his hands on, such as cow, deer, bison, black bear and fox skulls.

He said that with his commissioned work, the buyers usually have an idea of what they want and he builds off of their idea, but for non-commissioned works he tends to lean toward leather working, Western art and mandalas for inspiration.

While making his pieces, Brough said, he has to keep in mind what is possible and not possible with the bone.

"It doesn't always come out the way that I think it's going to," he said.

But he tries to have the design flow with the skull, he said. He added that with every piece, he ends up changing the design at least 20 times. Another unique thing about his artwork is that it also has lights incorporated in each piece. He said that he uses an LED string light kit, which he strings through the inside of the skull, using picks. He added that he knows that the battery for the lights will eventually need to be changed, so he makes it easily accessible through the back of the skull.

Skull carving has become his main focus in art, although he does still draw and paint on occasion, he said.

"I would like to paint more than I do," he said.

He added that he is also interested in getting into more woodworking in the future. For a recently commissioned piece he has incorporated woodworking into the piece, using his woodworking skills to reconstruct a skull.

Brough previously has also shown his work at Triple Dog Brewing Co. in Havre and a studio in Whitefish.

The hardest part about doing the skulls is figuring out the design, and toward the end it becomes unclear if it's going to work, he said, but once the piece is actually finished it looks amazing.

"That's the best part," he said.

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People who are interested in finding out more about Brough's work can go to https://www.facebook.com/bigskybones/ or email him at [email protected].