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 a fantastic art museum in downtown Billings, Montana. It's the largest museum in Montana that focuses on modern art.
History of the YAM
The Yellowstone Art Museum, or YAM, first opened its doors in October 1964. It started in a very interesting building: the old 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.
Even though Montana was part of the "Wild West," the jail didn't see much action. The YAM's founders wanted to create a different kind of museum. Other museums in the area focused on old Western art. The YAM wanted to show art being made now. They wanted to collect and display exciting new art.
Today, the YAM is still the main art museum for a huge area. It has many changing art shows in its galleries. It also offers programs for adults and special art classes for students. The museum hosts fun community events and festivals too. The YAM's Annual Art Auction started in 1969. It was one of the first modern art auctions in the region. Summerfair, which began in 1979, was also the first outdoor arts and crafts fair in the area. It's still one of the best!
Amazing Art Collections
The YAM is very proud of its growing art collection. It now has over 7,400 pieces of art! These include both old and new art from the region. The museum has worked hard to collect art from amazing local artists. Some of these artists are famous around the world. They include Rudy Autio, John Buck, Deborah Butterfield, Isabelle Johnson, Richard Notkin, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Ted Waddell, and Patrick Zentz. When the museum first started collecting, no other museum in Montana had a group of these artists' works.
The "Montana Collection" has become very popular. The museum also has the Virginia Snook Collection. This is the largest group of works by the cowboy writer and artist Will James. The museum also has many works by Isabelle Johnson, a pioneering Montana artist.
The YAM also has hundreds of artworks in its Poindexter Collection. This collection features New York Abstract Expressionism. This is a style of art where artists use colors and shapes to show feelings. Artists in this collection include Nell Blaine, Earl Kerkam, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jules Olitski, and Teiji Takai.
Expanding and Educating
In 2009, the YAM received a special gift. It got 50 pieces of minimalist and conceptual art. These came from the famous collection of Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. This gift was part of a program called "50 Works for 50 States." The National Gallery of Art helped give 50 artworks to one museum in each state. The YAM was chosen for Montana! The museum also has art from the Peter Norton Family Christmas Project Collection. This means it has works by important international artists like Yinka Shonibare and Takashi Murakami.
In 1995, the YAM won the Montana Governor's Award for Service to the Arts. This award showed how important the museum was to the whole state. It also showed that the museum needed more space. So, they started plans to expand and raise money. The community helped raise $6.2 million! In February 1998, the Yellowstone Art Museum reopened. It had been closed for two years for renovations and new construction. The new building was designed to protect the art and display it beautifully. Now, the YAM is known as a top regional art museum. It's often called Montana's "flagship" art museum.
The museum has continued to grow since then. It hosts temporary art shows from local, national, and even international artists. Education is a big part of what they do. They have classes and workshops that go along with the art shows. They also have stand-alone art programs. The YAM has received grants from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for its art education programs. These programs happen both at the museum and in the community.
For adults, the YAM offers lectures by famous artists and critics. They also have gallery talks and special events. In 2006, the Young Artists' Gallery opened. This is a large space that is always free for everyone. It shows art made by young artists under 18 who are part of the YAM's school programs. The Raven's Café d'Art opened in 2010. It's known for its excellent food!
The Visible Vault
In 2003, the YAM realized it needed more space to store its growing collection. The Charles M. Bair Family Trust, based in Montana, helped out. In 2005, they gave a grant to the YAM to buy a warehouse. The idea was to turn it into a high-quality storage space for the art. In 2006, the Bair Family Trust made another big offer. They would give the YAM $2.15 million if the museum could raise $1 million in new gifts. The YAM met this goal by the end of 2007!
This success helped start an even bigger fundraising campaign in 2007. One amazing result of this campaign was the YAM's Visible Vault. It opened in August 2010. The Visible Vault is a special art storage area that the public can see! It houses the museum's permanent collection in an open, visible way. This means you can see how museums store their art. The facility also has a studio for artists who come to work at the museum. Artists like Tracy Linder, Brian Keith Scott, Brooke Atherton, Carol Spielman, John Pollock, and Bently Spang have worked there. The Yellowstone Art Museum is one of only a few art museums in the country that let the public see all of their art storage areas.
