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Archive for January, 2008

Filed Under (Art, Film, Life, Music) by Marc Moss on 28-01-2008

193761322_73d545d6cc_m Missoula Montana - a Visitors Guide


wilma: the next 100 years

Originally uploaded by Chris Lombardi

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is coming to town next week. here’s a short primer for all of the filmmakers and filmwatchers who will be descending on the Garden City.

Historical

People interested in the historical buildings of Missoula should definitely check out the definitive list offered by The Missoula Downtown Association. It details 15 different buildings within walking distance of The Wilma Theater, as well as listing 20 other buildings close by. In addition, 4 distinct historical neighborhoods within walking distance of the theater are described, as well as a listing of another 4 neighborhoods, most within walking distance as well. Visit the Missoula Downtown Association [link]. If you’ve got access to wheels, you might be interested in Fort Missoula [link]. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula was established in 1975 to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of Missoula County, Fort Missoula, and the timber products industry in western Montana.

Dining in Missoula

2005-04-07-ToEat.jpg

When you get to town, you can pick up a copy of The Missoula Independent [link] (found in red drop-boxes around town) for a more definitive listing of restaurants. I’m going to list a few here according to the specials they have on specific days, and then list a couple of other favorites.

  • Sundays and Mondays: The Old Post Pub [link] - burger and a beer for $6
  • Wednesdays: Sushi Hana [link] - $1 sushi
  • Saturdays: The Old Post Pub - Fish Taco and Choice of Any Mexican Beer or Margarita for $8.00

On days when there is no special in which I’m interested, I find myself splitting a healthy serving of pasta with a friend over at Sean Kelly’s [link], grabbing a cheap burrito at Taco del Sol [link], walking south across the bridge for some great Italian at Mambo Italiano [link] or, if it’s between the hours of 5.15 and 6.15 p.m., catching a burger at 515 [link].

Breakfast? It’s The Shack [link], Dauphine’s [link], The Hob Nob [link] (great lunches, too!), or, if it’s a late night after the bars, breakfast at The Oxford [link], the oldest bar in Missoula.

Drinking Establishments

The Badlander's Bar 2

Speaking of bars, Missoula has many of them. I’ll let you discover them on your own, but wanted to list a few of note here.

  • Al’s and Vic’s [link] is the oldest bar in Missoula at its original location with its original name.
  • Charlie B’s, owned and operated by a Vietnam vet who does a lot for the local vets, and is one helluva guy in general.
  • The Rhino [link] - great smoking bar with the best ventilation in town of all of the smoking bars. Features a huge selection of 50 beers as well as a decent Scotch menu.

The locals discuss their favorite bars over here [link].

Brew Pubs

Missoula is home to three great brewpubs, each wonderful in its own right. Check ‘em all out:

Music and Dancing

Yeah, but where can I DANCE? Ah. Glad you asked. The venues for hearing music in Missoula are shrinking, but two of my favorites are The Badlander [link], which has been through many different incarnations in Missoula’s history, and The Union Club [link], a Union bar that has live music on the weekends.

More local discussion of best music venues here [link] (YRMV)

You’ll also find dancing at AmVets [link], with live DJs spinning the tunes.

The Hermans II

If you’re into local music, while the venues to see music may be shrinking, the music scene here in Missoula is blowing up. Locals discuss their favorites here. [link].

Someone asked me about where to shop in Missoula, but I typically find myself at the Goodwill or some other hidden away thrift shop, so I’m no good at answering that one. ;)

This is most certainly not a definitive list, but meant to be a jumping off point. Any other locals want to weigh in and list some of their favorites?

pixel Missoula Montana - a Visitors Guide
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Filed Under (Art, Life, News) by Marc Moss on 28-01-2008

MCC Logo

The below is via the Missoula Cultural Council.

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture, in collaboration with the Missoula Art Museum and the Art Associates of Missoula, present Very Visual: Art Appreciation and Visual Literacy, taught by local art historian Ted Hughes.

This noncredit course is open to the public and designed for adults. It is intended for both personal enrichment and to build on the talents and knowledge of current and potential docents at MMAC and MAM. No prior background in the arts is required and students do not need to be enrolled at UM to attend. Classes will meet in the University Center Room 326 at The University of Montana Tuesdays from 4 - 6pm on February 5, 12 and 19. The class will discuss the following topics:

  • February 5: The Formal Elements
  • February 12: The Means of Artmaking
  • February 19: Developing Visual Literacy

Cost is $26 for those who register by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 31 and $35 after.
To register, call MMAC at 243-2019 or email museum@umontana.edu.

Zootown Arts presents the Pre-School Projekt January 30 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Rattlesnake School.

Artist Anya Vasquez will be working with artists aged 3-5 years old. Artists will create, with the help of a loved one, a mixed media project by utilizing tools and materials at different stations set up in the art studio space. Fee $15.00 Rattlesnake School Art Room. Please call to register: 549-7555

First Friday Gallery Night occurs February 1 throughout Missoula. Among the many offerings:

  • Reception: “Local artists’ response to The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival” at The Catalyst 542-1337 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Reception: “Morning on Emerald Lake” at the Monte Dolack Gallery 549-3248. 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Reception: “Artists and Alphabets II” at Whooping Crones Gallery 721-3042. 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Reception: “The Out West Exhibition: The Great American Landscape” at Dana Gallery 721-3154. 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Reception: Desiree Manville at Gallery Saintonge 543-0171. 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Art Opening at Betty’s Divine. 721-4777. 5:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Reception: Record Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture, Woodfired at Clay Studio 543-0509. 5:30-9:00 p.m.
  • Skyler Seals & Thomas Browne at Forward Montana, 736 S. Higgins Avenue, 5:00-8:00 p.m. 542.8683

The Missoula Art Museum presents its annual Benefit Art Auction

The auction takes place at the Hilton Garden Inn February 2 at 5:00 p.m. Call 728-0447 for more details.

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1490029395_f25ca80509_m Marc Moss, Adelaide Every, Cortney Blazon and Jonathan Marquis in Missoula Living magazine


Hypnagogic

Originally uploaded by love not fear

The most recent issue of Missoula Living features four unknown Missoula artists (including me!) in a story about how we are making art and affecting our local community. Pick up your copy at drops around town. Thanks to Debby Florance for all of the hard work that went into writing the article.

I haven’t seen it yet myself, but am looking forward to perusing it.

Hello Missoula Living readers, and welcome. Have a look around the place, and be sure to check in to see what I’ve been up to lately.

All artwork is available for sale. You can get prints in a variety of places, or you can contact me directly by email or by phone [406.203.4683] to arrange a private viewing.

Donate and Support the Artist

pixel Marc Moss, Adelaide Every, Cortney Blazon and Jonathan Marquis in Missoula Living magazine


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Filed Under (Lists, Music) by Marc Moss on 18-01-2008

560410802_e199e42434_m Top 5 Songs of the Week


Music

Originally uploaded by ~Brix

  • The Grudge - Tool
  • A Goodbye Rye - Richard Buckner
  • Give out but Don’t Give Up - Primal Scream
  • Is there a Ghost - Band of Horses
  • Your Reverie - Kelley Stoltz


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393001071_6001d6590c_m Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2008 Selections Announced


Big Sky Documentary Film Festival - Where Reality Plays Itself

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Sweet. Just got the press release from the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival announcing the 2008 selections.

There are 98 films this year from 40 countries. Already there are a handful of films I’ve heard about and I’m excited about.

This year, a fun added addition to the festival is an interactive community site where users can create an account to keep track of the films they have seen, and rate/review the films. Awesome.

Read the press release after the jump.

Sign up at the community site here [link].

Read the reviews I wrote about the films I saw last year: [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [links].

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2008

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces 2008 Selections

Event To Celebrate It’s 5th Anniversary With 98 Documentaries and 20,000 fans

Official selections for the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival are now on-line at: the official Big Sky Documentary Films site [link]. See complete list below.


Missoula, Montana — From February 14 - 20, 2008, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival celebrates its 5th year by showcasing 98 films from 40 countries. The official selections represent a broad array of filmmaking styles, formats and production dates, from classics to World Premieres. The 2008 films were selected from nearly 1000 submissions from across the globe.

Since 2004 the festival has grown into a premier international venue for exhibition of innovative, contemporary and classic non-fiction cinema. Screenings are held in the historic Wilma Theater in scenic downtown Missoula, Montana. BSDFF has built a reputation for its programming excellence and is the largest event of its kind in the American West.

The event includes three competitions.

  • Documentary Feature Competition - The award for Best Documentary Feature will be given to one film 50 minutes or longer in length. A cash award of $1000 will be presented by IndiePix.
  • Documentary Short Competition - The award for Best Documentary Short will be given to one film up to 50 minutes in length.
  • Big Sky Award Competition - The Big Sky Award will be given to one film of any length with significant content pertaining to the American West.

The 2008 jury includes distinguished filmmakers, industry professionals and academics. The jury members will present the awards at a reception and press conference on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. Competition films will be announced next week.

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2

Each year BSDFF recognizes the work of important filmmakers by highlighting their contribution to documentary arts in the Big Sky Retrospective Series. The 2008 series will present the work of Hart Perry and Dana Heinz Perry. This distinguished filmmaking duo continues to make exciting new work today and will be two of this year’s BSDFF Judges. Their latest work, SEX: THE REVOLUTION, will have its World Premiere at Big Sky this year.

Q & A sessions with filmmakers follow most screenings. This year over President’s Day Weekend, Big Sky offers three panel discussions that are free and open to the public.
The Opening Night Film, THE GATES, presented by HBO Documentary Films, will feature the latest work from legendary documentarian, Albert Maysles. Missoula audiences will enjoy FREE PUBLIC ADMISSION for this special Valentines Day screening, courtesy of HBO. Co-director Antonio Ferrara will be in attendance.

Passes are now available for sale on-line at the BSDFF site [link] and will also be sold at the box office at the Wilma Theatre during the week of the festival. For ticket prices, pass purchases and more information for this year’s festival visit http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/

Sponsors of the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival include Bresnan Communications, HBO Documentary Films, Modern Digital, Montana Film Office, Indie Pix, Sony, B-Side Entertainment, Absolut Vodka, Panasonic, Current TV, Avid, Big Sky Brewing, Vanns and the International Documentary Challenge.

2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Official Selections

Features:
2nd Verse The Rebirth of Poetry
4 Elements
24 Solo
A Dream in Doubt
A Father’s Music
A Snowmobile for George
A Walk to Beautiful
Achieving the Unachievable
An Audience of One
Bending Space
Bomb It
Butte, America
Cartoneros
Che Guevara-The Body and the Legend
Civilians on the Battlefield
Class C
Doubletime
Eloquent Nude
Finding Normal
Flying On One Engine
>From Prison to Home
Golden Days
Hear and Now
Hell on Wheels
I Love Hip Hop In Morocco
In the Shadow of the Moon
Jimmy Rosenberg - The Father, the Son & the Talent
King Corn
Knee Deep
Knuckleball
Kurt Cobain: About A Son
La Americana
Lynch
Mexiphobia
Movement (R)evolution Africa
Oh My God! It’s Harrod Blank!
Polis is This
River Ways
Row Hard, No Excuses
Second Chance Season
Sex - The Revolution
Shadow of the House
Silhouette City
Soldiers of Conscience
The Gates
The Linguists
The Listening Project
The Little Red Truck
The Sky Below
Up the Yangtze
We Feed the World
When Clouds Clear
Wild Horse Redemption
Wrath of Gods

Shorts:

Atlantis Unbound
Begging for Grace
Blind Faith
Body & Soul - Diana & Kathy
Broadcast Cowboy
Casualty of the Promised Land
City of Cranes
City of Lost Carts
Conversing With Aotearoa
Conviction
Crack in the Sidewalk
Dimmer
El Otro Lado
Getting Eve Off
Hattenhorst
Inheritance
Landscape as Muse - The Forest with Peter Von Tiesenhausen
Left in Baghdad
Love Takes
Ma’Rib
Milk Matters
Night Visions
Pictograph
Portraits of Hope
Prayer of Peace
Resting Places
Reversing the Odds
State of Mind
The End for Beginners
The Farther, The Dearer
The Legend of Rosalie
The Man With the Electric Boots
The Storytellers
The Ville
Unfettering the Falcons
Verve
Ya Shadad

Perry Films Retrospective:
And you Don’t Stop - 30 years of Hip Hop
Harlan County, USA
Hartigan
Imagining America
John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen
Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson
The Rest is Silence

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival - 2008 Official Selections
For details and descriptions see the interactive community site. [link]
Contact:
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
131 South Higgins Avenue, Suite 307
Missoula, Montana 59802
(406) 541-3456
http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/
director@bigskyfilmfest.org

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is a program of the
Big Sky Film Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.


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Filed Under (Art, Experimental, Process) by Marc Moss on 14-01-2008

2188350715_149a7bbb14_m Leaving and the Left Prototype 2


Leaving and the Left Prototype 2

Originally uploaded by love not fear

The Original Gimp was over at my house the other night as I was completing another prototype. At his suggestion, I made one without wood, but instead used metal. His reasoning for the switch is that wood is too warm, but metal is cold, and the pieces seem to have a cold theme. I don’t think the theme is cold. Rational, yes. Clinical, maybe. While all loves are different, looking back with a clear and rational head into past relationships to learn what worked and what didn’t is a positive way to both honor what went before while building towards a successful and long-lasting relationship.

The process lends itself to asking questions like, I wonder what she’s up to now? Asking the questions is fine, but making the call, dropping the email or doing a Google stalk is not and would probably be perceived as disruptive.

I’m still trying to figure out how to apply all of these ideas to the actual finished artwork. I’ve figured out that I want to use metal as the background, and I think I also want to use wire to attach the glass to the metal, as showing in the new prototype. A problem that I tackled while making this prototype is how to attach the glass sandwiches to each other. I want the binding method to be transparent — no glue showing. I tried doing this by spreading the Superglue evenly across the glass, but it still dried somewhat opaquely. I know that Superglue makes a glue specifically for glass, so I need to go pick me up some of that.

Todos

    Get glass bonding Superglue
    Get metal scraps
    Cut metal scraps
    Read new email and letters

Oh, right. That reminds me. I found a new folder of letters and also figured out how to import all of my archived .mbox emails into a local mail client.

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Filed Under (Art, Experimental, Process) by Marc Moss on 12-01-2008

2185074512_5ef1d8d17c_m Prototype Leaving and the Left 1


Prototype Leaving and the Left 1

Originally uploaded by love not fear

I finished the prototype last night. I’ve never approached making art in this way — making a prototype. Typically I go with first draft=final draft. But this series is important enough to play around a bit and figure out what works and what doesn’t. I’ll explore below what I’ve learned logistically during the process thus far.

I generally like the way it turned out, but there are some obvious imperfections. I’m anxious to make another prototype to see how what I’ve learned from this one can be applied.

Visually it looks good. I know I need to do a few things:

  • Spread the superglue evenly on the glass so that the sticking points are not visible
  • Go back into the electronic communique and even out the way text is distributed
  • Mix the colors more evenly before applying them to the glass — I wanted to see if the paint organically blended
  • More sandwiching of glass

I’ll learn more about the process as I do it, I’m sure.

A few questions I’m asking myself need to be worked out.
Should I quarantine each person’s sentiments per piece? For this one, I mixed letters from two different individuals with the idea that these types of emotions are universal. I’m thinking that maybe it doesn’t work within the piece, and that I should isolate feelings from individual writers. Still include both love and loss in one piece, just keep it focused on one person per piece. That will mean making more than one piece per person.

The inclusion of paint comes from a suggestion that another artist gave me as I explained the idea to him, and I like the idea. I’m interested in what others have to say about how to execute this series. Please share any ideas in the comments.

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Filed Under (Art, Process) by Marc Moss on 12-01-2008

2185017970_01f823ddb4_m To Forget is All I Know


To Forget is All I Know

Originally uploaded by love not fear


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Filed Under (Art) by Marc Moss on 11-01-2008
560410802_e199e42434_m Top 5 Songs of the Week


Music

Originally uploaded by ~Brix

The Grudge - Tool
A Goodbye Rye - Richard Buckner
Give out but Don’t Give Up - Primal Scream
Is there a Ghost - Band of Horses
Your Reverie - Kelley Stoltz

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