Northcutt Steele Gallery
NEAL AMBROSE-SMITH
Neal Ambrose Smith’s exhibition Footprints on the Moon opens on October 19 and remains on view through November 30 at the Northcutt Steele Gallery on the 1st floor of the Liberal Arts Building on MSUB campus. On the evening of Thursday, October 26 a public reception for the artist will be held at the gallery beginning at 5pm. At 6:30pm in LI148 (the lecture hall next to the gallery), Ambrose-Smith will offer a public presentation.
The reception, talk, and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Neal Ambrose-Smith, The Story Teller, monotype print, 39.5” x 87”, 2017.
Footprints on the Moon offers a series of large-scale, mixed-media prints exploring the connections between ancient storytelling and popular culture, individual experience and collective memory. Ambrose-Smith’s fantastical, cosmic visions offer a cross-cultural invitation to consider the multiple dimensions of tradition and identity that define and unite us in our contemporary world.
Inspired by the mystery and illusion found in children’s stories from all eras and cultures, Ambrose-Smith explores the imagery and fantasies that transcend individual experience and may unite us as a human family. According to the artist, a descendent of the Flathead Salish tribe of Montana: “Storytelling is our first written language. As I listen to the world news, popular culture, and my Elders I practice our first language.”
Neal Ambrose-Smith, Ceremonial Round House, monotype print, 39.5” x 162”, 2017.
His exhibition coincides with programming presented by MSUB Library and The Writer’s Voice in conjunction with the NEA/Big Read of Louise Erdrich’s The Round House. References to the novel surface in several of Ambrose-Smith’s densely-layered works. For a full schedule of related events visit the Big Read webpage.
Neal Ambrose-Smith received a BA degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and an MFA degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Working in the arts for twenty years, Ambrose-Smith has been a studio assistant; a goldsmith apprentice; a designer for an Albuquerque entertainment magazine; a consultant for the Joan Mitchell Foundation; as well as exhibiting his own artwork and working as an arts educator. His work is held by several national and international museums and institutions including the Galerie D’Art Contemporain, Chamalieres, France; New York Public Library Print Collection, NMAI/Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Denver Art Museum, and Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art.
Ambrose-Smith’s exhibition and talk are sponsored in part by the NEA Big Read, National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, and Arts Midwest.
The Northcutt Steele Gallery is located on the first floor of the Liberal Arts on the Montana State University Billings campus. The gallery is open Monday – Friday from 8:00am – 4:00 pm, and by appointment. Parking on MSUB campus is free after 5pm. For more information visit www.facebook.com/northcuttsteelegallery.
Neal Ambrose-Smith, Sam Durant Concessions, monotype print, 39.5” x 162”, 2017.
For media inquiries and additional images contactLeanne Gilbertson, Director of Northcutt Steele Gallery, leanne.gilbertson@msubillings.edu; (406) 657-2903.
