This evening I headed downtown for First Friday in Missoula, Montana and it was a special treat since I knew two of the artists showing. The first photographer was Melanie Wright (http://www.stonesthrowphotography.com) presenting some of her photographs at The Catalyst. Melanie has quite an eye for seeing which is obvious in these photographs.

The second photographer was Marcy James at Gallery Saintonge, who up until recently taught black and white photography at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography where she is now the Curriculum Director. Marcy’s newest work of Butte was quite extraordinary and a mix of black and white and color. With the black and white she used some alternative methods of presenting the work, with layers of wax over some of the images and other techniques to draw the viewer even more into the image. While I recognize Marcy more so for her black and white work, I was surprised to see a collection of birds in color. However the presentation of these creatures is quite unique with images of birds in trees and then many small 2×2 blocks above with birds in flight, airplanes and other items you would find in the sky. It is quite hard to describe but an impressive collection.

If happen to be in Missoula this month, I would highly recommend making a stop to check out the galleries on Higgins.