Livingston photographer Jay Wesler has been added to our arts links (left sidebar). I can’t believe I missed linking up to Jay’s Web site and beautiful online portfolio earlier. Jay works in black and white creating minimalist high contrast landscapes. Jay’s work has appeared at the Livingston Center for Arts and Culture, The Danforth Gallery, and Chicago’s 11th Street Gallery, to name a few galleries. His landscapes of Montana, Illinois, Utah, Wyoming, National Parks, and the West have appeared in numerous black and white art photography publications, and the IKEA Group has selected his work for poster reprints. His photography is available through the Wild West Photos stock photo agency, and you can buy limited edition prints of his photographs on his web site: jaywesler.com.

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As ever in Livingston, there are many good choices for things to do this holiday season–music, theater, readings, an art sale, art walk, and art shows. See a summary of holiday arts events on a special page. Visit the Events category for details on some listings. Happy Holidays from ArtsMontana.com!

This list was updated on 12/7/07 and many of the events are still current.

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Artist David Swanson is hosting an open house and Holiday Art and Print Sale at his studio next weekend. This is a great chance to visit David’s wonderful studio in the Lincoln School building at 215 East Lewis Street (#300, on the school’s West side), and to purchase art at below retail prices. David will be selling small paintings as well as fine art prints, including a limited edition of 2nd Street Holidays, a new painting commissioned by First Interstate Bank and currently hanging in the bank lobby.

This is also an opportunity to see some of David’s recent work, enjoy some mulled wine and hors d’ouevres, and participate in a raffle of a painting to benefit Loaves and Fishes. The studio will be open from 5 to 8 PM on Friday November 30, and from noon to 5 PM on Saturday December 1.

Click the image (above right) to see a larger invitation. For more information, call 222-3409, or visit davidswansonart.com.

David has just finished a complete re-design of his Web site and you can see his portfolio there, including the very exciting new paintings of Men and Machines, a series of works depicting the Livingston locomotive shop, as well as his fine art prints. David was featured in an article here in July.

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Conley’s Books & Music will host a cowboy poetry reading on Wednesday, November 28 at 7:00 PM with Gwen Peterson and Sandy Seaton. Peterson is not only a poet, but an author of humorous books, singer, songwriter, and onetime rancher. She has appeared on the Johnny Carson show, and was featured poet at the 1986 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Peterson will also be signing her latest book, “How to Shovel Manure,” published this summer by Voyager Press. The indefatigable Peterson lives on 40 acres near Big Timber. Sandy Seaton’s original western writing has been featured in magazines, gatherings, and shows across America and Canada. This Montana Poet Hall of Fame inductee lives in Paradise Valley where she and husband Scott Sallee run Black Mountain Outfitters.

Conley’s Books and Music is at 106 S. Main Street. 222-7766.

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There are a few things that have made holidays bearable over the years, and in my time in Livingston, events at the Blue Slipper top the list. The venerable Blue puts the ho-ho-ho in the season with “Sorry! Wrong Chimney,” a Yuletide Farce directed by Bill Koch. Opening this Friday, November 9 and running through Saturday December 8, “Sorry! Wrong Chimney” will have 15 performances: Fridays and Saturdays at 8:15 PM, and Sundays (11/18, 11/25. and 12/2) at 3:15 PM. In the days before Christmas, newlywed David Tuttle moonlights as a department store Santa to buy his wife a pearl necklace for their first Christmas. He tells her he’s working late at the office, but she finds out he isn’t at the office and immediately expects the worst. Throw in mistaken identities, zaniness, a touch of slapstick, a psychiatrist neighbor and his snooty wife, and several other oddball characters, and you’ve got better holiday theatrics than visiting relatives will provide.

The Blue Slipper also brings community performers and happy audiences together for its annual free Christmas variety show (dates to be determined). All of it will make you feel good when the weather outside is frightful.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students. But don’t be like Mister Scrooge. ArtsMontana.com urges you to get season tickets for $40. [This Curator has two sets, one for business and one for pleasure.] The price is right (and makes a perfect holiday gift), you’ll see a year of good theater, and that scary guy with the chains won’t be at the foot of your bed reminding you of missed opportunities.

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