UM Conversations
August 2024 - May 2025
This exhibition spotlights some of the themes and ideas important to students in the School of Visual and Media Arts at the University of Montana. These issues are diverse and reflect wider cultural concerns: the environment, identity, war, spirituality and interior emotional life underly the work created for this show.
Meet the Artists here
All pieces are available for purchase.
Click on each product to see all artwork information.
$1,000.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 96"
Original mural: Oil on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement:I have always been drawn to the human experience, to the small moments that aren’t normally seen. I want to capture the lonely moments of life and shine a spotlight on them to portray emotions that everyone has had to connect people through the shared human experience. “I Only Wear Boots” portrays the insignificant act of a woman painting her toenails a bright color in a quiet and lonesome act of excitement even though they will never be seen, creating an innocent secret that only she and the viewer know.
$1,300.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Monotype, silkscreen and woodcut relief print on hand-dyed paper
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: My work is driven by experimentation and the hand-made processes of printmaking. In this piece, I explore the impact of our changing climate through the Bull Trout: an indicator species being driven out of the Clark Fork River. A fictitious guardian of the river guides them to colder water and shields them from further harm. She is a symbol that, as humans, we can do more than just harm the creatures that surround us.
$800.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Digital illustration and animation on EPO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: My work is driven by the desire to stir emotions and provoke thought, often exploring the delicate balance between discomfort and fascination. Inspired by the macabre and dark humor, I create pieces that challenge the viewer to find beauty in the unsettling. Visual art allows me to communicate ideas and emotions beyond the reach of words, drawing from the chaos of everyday life, the intricacies of human experience, and the rich tapestry of art history. My art is an invitation to step into a space of contemplation and reflection, encouraging viewers to engage with their deepest thoughts and feelings, and to see the world from a different perspective. I use interactive elements to encourage viewers to leap into the art itself and gain a connection from the interactivity. In this case, I wanted to capture the motion of emotions.
$500.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 96"
Original mural: Wood, latex and oil on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: The original title for this piece was to be: “Was Mankind Ever Kind?,” but one day, overcome by a wave of optimism and hope, I envisioned my original quartet of dark figures suffocating in a fiery cell as four virtues attempting to prevent the collapse of society. It is not named after the classic four virtues of ancient Greek philosophy, but rather, the virtues that I personally find most important to practice.
$1,800.00(To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Oil on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: I seek to turn my life experiences, memories and emotions into something visible and felt. My paintings portray underappreciated and mundane moments and instills them with a sense of reverence or gratitude. There's a deep sense of nostalgia that is often mysterious yet familiar.
$800.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Archival pigment print on EPO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: Sasha’s work currently revolves around the full-scale war in Ukraine. Ranging from ceramic sculpture, video, photography and pottery.
$1,800.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Mixed media on MDF panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: My work interprets the psychological and physiological effects of trauma through a queer ecological lens. The beetle galleries adorning the figure in ‘Eleventh Hour’ suggest a corruption in the ecosystem of self and the eventual transfigurement to who, how, and what we are as a result of trauma being treated like a pest and to what ends we will go to exterminate it. Born and raised in rural Montana, I am inspired by relationships in the natural world and how they can mimic or represent dynamics in our own lives.
$1,500.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Scratchboard and ink on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: In Victorian Flower Language, hydrangeas symbolize boastfulness – a fitting translation given their proud display of puffed out petals and self-assured leaves. This piece indulges their braggadocious nature by providing them with a sprawling stage to flaunt their many endowments. However, in tones of grey, the display takes on an air of desperation.
$1,000.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Watercolor, colored pencil, gouache on Stonehenge paper on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: My work deals with issues of queer identity in the context of portraiture using wildlife motifs. I reference art-historical imagery and animal metaphor to celebrate contemporary LGBTQIA people. Since portraiture has historically been a record of what narratives are considered socially valuable, I include queer figures in this format, demanding representation in what we consider "normal" and giving voice to stories worth sharing.
$1,150.00 (To inquire about purchasing this mural, email here.)
48" x 47"
Original mural: Acrylic on MDO panel
Hanger-free and customizable for any hanging or framing system. Weatherized and suitable for indoor or outdoor display.
Artist Statement: I see my creative practice as a yearning to be in a relationship with the transcendental ground of being. My art is a technology that allows me to not only investigate the physical but also the non-physical. My mediums are drawing and painting in either acrylics or oils.