Bailey Burton’s third solo show at Cassens Fine Art in Hamilton, Montana, also marks the fifth anniversary of her devoting herself full-time to painting. She has always been interested in art but thought it probably wasn’t a way she could make a living. “Making art never felt like a realistic path,” she says.
Bailey Burton with her painting Basking in Light.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife from Michigan State University and set about thinking about what she would do with her life. She and her husband moved to Great Falls, Montana, where she attended Western Art Week, walked around and talked with the artists and experienced the epiphany that making art is what she was meant to do. She began painting and decided to make prints, which she sold at the local farmers’ market. “It felt so good to get started and to be inspired by the wildlife around us,” she says.
Light on the Horizon, oil on panel, 40 x 30 in.
Burton moved from the vast openness of Great Falls to the Bitterroot Valley, immersed in ponderosa forests. “The light coming through the trees, the warm tones of yellows, orange and purples really hit me,” she says.
The title of her upcoming exhibition is Golden Hour, which refers to the early morning and late afternoon when the colors in the low sun are their warmest. The show opens September 25 and continues through October 24.
Michelle Cassens, owner and director of Cassens Fine Art, comments that this is the largest body of work Burton has produced for the gallery. “Bailey paints from real moments in the wild, and that passion is seen throughout the whole collection,” Cassens says.
In the Amber Glow, oil on panel, 48 x 36 in.
The paintings in the exhibition are, indeed, a collection. She has simplified her palette to the warm colors of the golden hour, and reduced her attention to detail, except around the eyes of her animals, creating portraits of personalities.
The eye of the moose in her painting Holding the Sun creates the effect of the animal communicating with the viewer, sharing the experience of the moment.
At the five-year point in her painting career, she wants to think about her work differently. “I don’t want to just produce, produce, produce,” she says. “I study the work of other artists who inspire me with what they’re doing. I’m slowing down and planning more. I’m playing with colors more intentionally, mixing them rather than using paint straight from the tube…I didn’t want this exhibition to just be a bunch of paintings, I wanted to show growth. I wanted to feel uncomfortable moving into new territory.”
Holding the Sun, oil on panel, 48 x 48 in.
Cassens comments, “This is the most personal and intentional collection she has made.” —
Cassens Fine Art 215 W. Main Street » Hamilton, MT 59840 » (406) 363-4112 » www.cassensfineart.com
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