The art museum and airport in Billings are pairing up to reach travelers with local art.
Billings artist Manette Rene Bradford moved her work into the Billings-Logan International Airport’s new concourse on Wednesday, May 7 in preparation for the start of the exhibit that day.
The building walls will include two of her paintings of prairie dog skulls, expanded to fit frames as tall as a person in bold detail, shapes and color: one in green, the other a sandy beige.
Bradford says she wants the paintings to reflect prairie dogs and their habitats.
“They’re such an important species in the local ecosystem,” said Bradford. “I’ll consider this work successful if people who are passing by think about prairie dogs for one minute.”
Bradford is the Yellowstone Art Museum’s artist-in-residence and also one of the artists whose work will feature here as part of the new Billings Airport Art Program between the Yellowstone Art Museum and Billings-Logan International Airport.
Museum spokesperson Luke Ashmore says the new initiative is aimed at elevating artists and drawing people to the museum, where he says roughly one-fifth of visitors are from out of town.
“We’re really proud of what local artists are doing and, for us that local piece extends to the Billings community, but also across Montana and the greater region for the Rocky Mountains,” said Ashmore.
The museum says the current exhibit will be up through the end of August.
