By: Michele Corriel
Montana’s Voices & Venues
Rooted in the landscape yet open to global perspectives, Montana’s creative culture blends tradition, experimentation, and a deep appreciation for craftsmanship. Artists working here draw inspiration from the region’s sweeping skies, weathered mountains, and vital community life, rendering these influences into work that feels distinctly committed to the art of translating place.
In this section, we highlight a cross-section of the area’s voices and the venues that support them. Susan Wechsler’s assemblages transform fragments of glass, metal, and found objects into mosaic compositions that blur the line between sculpture and painting. Kira Fercho reveals the personal stories she tells through thickly painted compositions, offering a personal interpretation of her surroundings. Complementing these individual practices, two local galleries provide important platforms for artists working in and beyond the region, curating exhibitions that connect Bozeman to the broader conversations in contemporary art. Old Main Gallery may be moving locations, but the owners remain committed to the aesthetics they formed over years on Main Street. And Visions West Contemporary concentrates on the wildness both within and beyond the West.
Together, these artists and spaces illustrate the vitality of our art scene—one that continues to evolve while remaining grounded in the unique character of the American West.
fine art mosaics
Shards, beads, glass, family curios, crystal fragments, metal rings, and found objects make up the components of Susan Wechsler’s palette. Her work blends the tradition of mosaic art with sculpture and assemblage, shaping images through a kaleidoscopic lens.
“I like to repurpose and upcycle everything,” she says from her Colorado studio. “After my mom’s passing, I have a lot of my mom’s things, like semi-precious stones, antique china plates, and costume jewelry that I incorporate into my work. What I love is that I can honor my mom by using her memories in my art.”
More than merely repurposing, Susan pieces together a broken world and mends our collective perspective, and through the use of small bits of nostalgic elements, she makes the past relevant.
Seeing her collection through its colors and textures, Susan transforms the bits and pieces of life into shadows and mountains, rays of light and blades of grass. Tree trunks are shaped by vertical slats of colored glass and leaves of china triangles precisely nestled into their shapes. Mountain-edged views composed of marbled glass against a sliced porcelain sky. Skimming blues slink past twisted trunks; each glance reveals a new and more interesting component.
Susan’s studio holds its treasures in plastic bins and reusable ice cream containers—easy to see, ready for inspiration. There’s a glass jar filled with Chanel findings salvaged from an odd lot of designer accessories. Nearby are rocks gathered from her property, along with semi-precious stones of amethyst and turquoise, all waiting to find their place.
“I LIKE TO REPURPOSE AND UPCYCLE EVERYTHING. AFTER MY MOM’S PASSING, I HAVE A LOT OF MY MOM’S THINGS, LIKE SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES, ANTIQUE CHINA PLATES, AND COSTUME JEWELRY THAT I INCORPORATE INTO MY WORK. WHAT I LOVE IS THAT I CAN HONOR MY MOM BY USING HER MEMORIES IN MY ART.”
-Mountain Mist | Mixed media mosaic | 20” x 20”
Although her compositions seem planned, they also allow for free-flowing abstraction. With an MFA under her belt, Susan understands the discipline beneath the surface. Yet she works intuitively, layering elements as a composer might add strings to a horn section.
Unlike traditional tesserae mosaics, Susan builds her work within handcrafted wood boxes as her canvas.
“I either build my own wooden box frames, wrapping the mosaic image around the sides, or I have a friend weld a metal frame around a wooden substrate, creating two distinct and different finished looks,” she says. “No extra framing is needed.”
Using glue and then grout to assemble the pieces results in a lightweight, easy-to-transport, and simple-to-install finished work.
Susan’s imagery stems from her environment, where she lives, and the people she meets. Often, a photo, a painting, or a sketch inspires her work. On one of her tables, she works beads into a clay-colored bank with the movement of water reflecting its surroundings.
–Portrait of Hope | Mixed media mosaic | 27” x 27” |
– Ryder | Mixed media mosaic | 40” x 30”
“It’s about being able to translate it to mosaics,” she says. “The secret is to get it to blend like a painting, but the pieces I use are hard-edged.”
This year marked significant recognition for Susan’s series of cowgirls—bold, layered portraits that nod to Pop Art while remaining rooted in Western iconography. She likes them because they remind her of Andy Warhol’s unapologetic approach to portraits and stardom.
For the first time, she received an invitation to participate in the 35th Anniversary of Colorado’s Governor’s Art Show and Sale—as one of 65 artists selected and the only mosaic artist ever included.
Process remains central for Susan.
“I’m not working on the wall like a painter,” she says. “I work on it flat on a table.”
“I USE GROUT THE WAY PAINTERS USE UNDERPAINTING. IT GIVES THE PIECE AN OVER-ALL, SUBTLE COLORING. LATELY, I’VE BEEN MIXING MY OWN CUSTOM RED GROUT TO GET THE BEST RESULTS.”
–Valley of Ochre | Mixed media mosaic | 28” x 28”
It seems like a small distinction, but because her pieces hang on the wall, construction and perspective pose new challenges. She believes this constant shifting of perspective is crucial for achieving the vibrant quality she strives for.
“I use grout the way painters use underpainting,” she says. “It gives the piece an overall, subtle coloring. Lately, I’ve been using red, but the grout can come in a lot of colors.”
In her newly built barn studio—now a light-filled workspace surrounded by an aspen grove—natural light reveals subtle tonal variations across surfaces.
“I live in the mountains with aspen groves all around my studio,” Susan says. “I’ve had the best year so far by being in this amazing sacred space. Having a peaceful place you enjoy creating in is so important.”
Each work requires hours of selection and placement. Vintage jewelry, porcelain, and glass fragments are chosen deliberately, and every component carries history. Yet together, they form something entirely new.
-Enchanted Forest | Mixed media mosaic | 24” x 64”
-Whisper of the Mountains | Mixed media mosaic | 29” x 56”
“I don’t want people to get bored with my work,” she says.
And they don’t. The longer one looks, the more emerges. In one piece, sitting along the floor of her studio, a continuous narrative unfolds through a linear horizon. As if enchanted, the trees unfold in a murmur of stories. The path unwinds over blue pebbled trails. A canopied sky provides shelter for the unseen life within.
Each piece becomes far more than the sum of its parts.
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