Residents Invited to Free Isabelle Johnson Exhibit.doc

Stillwater and Carbon county residents are invited to the exhibition “A Lonely Business: Isabelle Johnson’s Montana” at the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM), in Billings on Sunday, Nov. 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The exhibition is part of YAM’s Montana Masters exhibition series and features Johnson’s pioneering Modernist paintings as well as a major new book on Johnson’s life and work, funded by Peter and Cathy Halstead of the Tippet Rise Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, according to a press release from the Tippet Rise Art Center.
For decades, Johnson worked tirelessly in her chosen media of oil and watercolor, painting landscapes of the family ranch in the Stillwater Valley outside of Absarokee. She was born in Absarokee and attended public schools in Billings.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana and a master of arts degree from Columbia University. Johnson also studied at the Los Angeles Museum School, the University of Southern California, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and the Art Students’ League.
Johnson was a spirited teacher who influenced many of Montana’s later artists. Her long and rich career included teaching in the Billings Public Schools system, and, from 1949 to 1961, serving as chair of the Art Department at Eastern Montana College, now known as Montana State University Billings. Johnson left teaching to return to her family ranch where she continued to paint and write until her death in May 1992 at the age of 91.
The 11,500 acres of Tippet Rise Art Center includes part of the former 3,000-acre Johnson Ranch, which is now protected by a conservation easement controlled by the Montana Land Reliance.
Alban Bassuet, Tippet Rise executive director, said the art center is pleased to have partnered with YAM on the publication of the book on Isabelle Johnson and on the opportunity to make this day free for residents to enjoy.
Admission to YAM for all residents of Stillwater and Carbon counties to the Johnson exhibition at the Yellowstone Art Museum will be provided compliments of Tippet Rise Art Center from 11 a.m. to 4 .p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. Simply show your ID as proof of residency.
Refreshments will be served and visitors may enter to win a copy of the book “A Lonely Business: Isabelle Johnson’s Montana.”
For more information call the Yellowstone Art Museum at (406)256-6804.