Yellowstone Art Museum facts for kids
Viewed from southwest, 2024
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| Established | October 1964 |
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| Location | Billings, Montana |
| Type | Contemporary Art Museum |
The Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) is the biggest contemporary art museum in Billings, Montana. It's a great place to see modern art in the state!
Contents
Discovering the Museum's Story
The Yellowstone Art Museum, first called the Yellowstone Art Center, opened in October 1964. It started in an old building that used to be the Yellowstone County Jail. This jail was built way back in 1884. It was a small red brick building at first. The basement was used for storage, and the top two floors held jail cells. Later, in 1916, more parts were added to the building.
Why the Museum Was Created
Many museums in the area focused on old Western art and historical items. But the people who started the YAM wanted something different. They wanted to show art being made now. Their goal was to collect and display art that showed what artists were creating in the present day.
Today, the YAM is still the only art museum in a huge area. It has many changing art shows in its main galleries. They also offer special programs for adults and art classes for students. The museum hosts fun community events and festivals too.
Fun Events at the YAM
The YAM has some really popular events. Their Annual Art Auction started in 1969. It was one of the first modern art auctions in the region. Now, many other places have similar auctions because of the YAM's success.
Another popular event is Summerfair, which began in 1979. It was the first outdoor arts and crafts fair in the area. It's still known as one of the best!
Exploring Art Collections
The YAM is very proud of its growing collection of art. It now has over 7,400 pieces of art! These include both historical and modern art from the region.
Amazing Regional Artists
The museum works hard to collect art from talented artists in the area. Some of these artists are famous around the world, like Rudy Autio, John Buck, Deborah Butterfield, Isabelle Johnson, Richard Notkin, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Ted Waddell, and Patrick Zentz. The museum also supports newer artists. When the museum first started collecting, no other museum in Montana had a group of these artists' works. This "Montana Collection" has become very popular.
Special Collections
The YAM also has a special collection called the Virginia Snook Collection. This is the largest group of works by Will James. He was a famous cowboy writer and artist. This collection adds a fun and unique part to the museum. The museum also has many works by Isabelle Johnson, who was an important Montana Modernist artist.
The YAM also holds many works of Abstract Expressionism from New York. This includes art by famous artists like Nell Blaine, Earl Kerkam, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jules Olitski, and Teiji Takai.
Growing and Teaching Through Art
In 2009, the YAM received a special gift. It was 50 pieces of Minimalist and Conceptual art from the amazing collection of Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. This gift was part of a program where one museum in each state received 50 artworks from the National Gallery of Art.
The museum also has art from the Peter Norton Family Christmas Project Collection. This means you can see works by internationally known artists like Yinka Shonibare and Takashi Murakami at the YAM.
A Bigger and Better Museum
In 1995, the YAM received an award from the Montana Governor for its service to the arts. This showed how important the museum was to the whole state. It also showed that the museum needed more space!
So, plans were made to expand the building. A big fundraising effort began, and it was a huge success! The local community helped raise $6.2 million. In February 1998, the museum reopened after two years of construction and changes. It was now called the Yellowstone Art Museum. The new building was designed to protect the art and show it in a beautiful way. The YAM is now known as a top regional art museum and is called the state's "flagship" art museum.
Learning and Fun Programs
The museum keeps growing even after its expansion. It hosts temporary art shows featuring local, national, and international artists. Education is a very important part of the YAM. They offer classes and workshops that connect to the art shows or are just for fun.
The YAM has received grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support its art education programs. These programs happen both at the museum and in the community. The museum also has talks by famous artists and critics, gallery tours, and special events for adults.
In 2006, a special Young Artists' Gallery was created. It's a large space that is always free for everyone to visit. It shows art made by young artists under 18 who are part of the YAM's school programs. In 2010, the Raven's Café d'Art opened at the museum, offering delicious food.
The Visible Vault: See Art Storage!
In 2003, the museum realized its art collection was growing very fast. It needed more space to store all the artworks. So, in 2005, the Charles M. Bair Family Trust gave the YAM a grant to buy a warehouse. The idea was to turn it into a high-quality storage space for the collection.
In 2006, the Bair Family Trust offered a big grant of $2.15 million. The YAM had to raise $1 million in new donations to get this money. The museum met this goal and even raised more! This helped start another big fundraising effort in 2007.
One amazing result of this effort was the YAM's special Visible Vault. It opened in August 2010. This is a unique art storage area that the public can visit! You can see the museum's permanent collection stored openly. The Visible Vault also has a studio where artists can work. Some artists who have worked there include Tracy Linder, Brian Keith Scott, Brooke Atherton, Carol Spielman, John Pollock, and Bently Spang. The Yellowstone Art Museum is one of only a few museums in the country that lets people see its entire art storage area!
