Current Exhibit:

Born in Caracas Venezuela later moved to the United states where she pursued Art school. She obtained a bachelors and Masters degree in fine arts from The University of Miami . Taught drawing, painting and art history at the Wolfong campus Miami Dade community college. Showed At multiple art galleries in south Florida. Held art studio and Gallery at Art center Lincoln road Miami Beach Florida. Her husband got a business opportunity in Montana and the family moved to Missoula . Now she is in love with The Montana beauty and has transformed her art to bring the awesomeness and magic of Montana.

Rachel Calderón-Navarro has lived and worked in Missoula, MT since 2013. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and emphasized in painting and photography. Most of Rachel’s work revolves around abstract storytelling, color, and how objects fill in space.

Patricia Countryman is a Latina ceramic artist born and raised in the borderlands of Arizona and Mexico. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in ceramics from Western New Mexico University and continued her education at the University of Montana. Her work spans sculpting, wheel throwing, tile making, and the creation of ceramic murals and public art that invite reflection and connection.

Rooted in clay, Patricia’s practice explores life and human character as fluid, ever-changing forms. She interprets moments of struggle as metaphors for growth—times when we shed, shift, and rebuild ourselves. Through her hands, clay becomes a language of balance and transformation, expressing the dualities that live within us: strength and fragility, resistance and surrender. Her forms embody these cycles of becoming, offering quiet spaces for contemplation and empathy.

Teaching is an essential extension of Patricia’s art. She continues to teach at all levels, guided by the belief that art is vital—a bridge between inner life and community, a way to see ourselves and one another more clearly.

In the folk spirit of Día de Muertos, remembrance is an act of giving life. It’s about tending to the unseen — the memory, the spirit, the labor, and the laughter — so it does not vanish into the second death of being forgotten.

I am a half-Mexican Montanan, based in Huson, MT, exploring the intersection of my Mexican heritage and rural Montana life — two worlds connected by hard work, land, and quiet strength. Where land and labor still speak the same language.

Through art, I’m learning to reconnect and remember. This work honors Día de Muertos as a way of bringing forward remembrance as tradition, and as part of my journey to reconnect with this half of my cultural identity.

Nicolle Hamm was born and raised in Mead, WA, now living and working in Missoula, MT. She earned her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Montana with a minor in Art History/Criticism. She is a potter, researcher, and the Administrator at the Missoula Art Museum.

Lauren Orozco was born and raised in Long Beach, CA, now living and working in Missoula, MT. She has a BA in Anthropology with an Archaeology emphasis and a BA in Philosophy with a focus on analytics from the University of Montana. She is a published poet and the Executive Pastry Chef for Tandem Cafe and Bakery.

Borned and raised in the border town of Douglas, AZ, Krissy discovered her enthusiasm for clay at Cochise College. Furthering her education, she received a BFA with an emphasis in ceramics from Western New Mexico University in 2017. Then, after completing a 2 year artist in residence program at WNMU she moved to Montana without visiting the big sky. During her time in Missoula she has been part of; the post- baccalaureate program at the University of Montana, co-founder and resident artist at Wildfire Ceramic Studio, assistant to Julia Galloway and recently completed a 2 year residency program at the Clay Studio of Missoula.

Galván Martínez is a Chilango visual artist based in Southern California.

Galván Martínez received a BA in Studio Art from California State University, Channel Islands and is currently working on his MFA at California State University, Northridge.

His work is an amalgamation of decades of assimilation to American culture, memories of his native Mexico, constant relocations and commutes.

His practice is further informed by the subversive nature and aesthetics of urbanism, graffiti, street art, and punk rock.

He vivido en Montana por 7 años. Soy maestra de español. Nunca antes he pintado algo y aunque Día de los Muertos no es una celebración en mi país me he animado a participar porque me parece un evento con mucho significado que no solo nos recuerda a nuestros seres queridos sino también nos hace valorar más la vida aquí en este plano físico.

Hannah Kautto received an Associate in Fine Arts from Rochester Community and
Technical College, MN, 2015. After graduation, she spent two years in Minneapolis, MN, working in a ceramic production studio. In 2018, she moved to Missoula, Montana, where she received her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Montana in 2024. Hannah was a summer resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula in 2023. In 2025, Hannah was a long-term Early Career Resident at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN. Hannah is now a long-term resident at Balotmoer Clayworks.

Chicagoland born and raised. Standing on tippy toes to catch the hand of death- the evolution towards the eternal, and my oldest friend. Hyphenated last names carry two Mexican immigrant parents with wildly different experiences give life to Fiorella, "little flower". Correcting pronunciations across borders, Montana becomes home for pensiveness and confrontation. With dreams of deer tangled in gnarled branches of family trees and by hangers in hallway closets, feelings of being stalked by images of calla lilies, flights that take me back and forth between a life I wanted to leave but can’t, and sounds of love that can’t yet drown out words of dead men, God watches the mind toil. To resist: recreate constructs within your own identity.

Fernando Serrano, is a queer artist from Naco, Sonora, currently based in Bisbee, Arizona. His work explores the intersections of binational identity, indigenous traditions, and borderland life - reclaiming and reimagining ancestral techniques through a contemporary, experimental lens.

Dina is a Mexican American artist from the Paso del Norte Region. She grew up on the Border of Mexico and the U.S. in El Paso, TX, and CD Juarez, Mexico. She lives in El Paso with her three children. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, teaching
ceramics and design.

She earned her BFA in Ceramics at the University of Texas at El Paso and her MFA in Mixed Media Arts at New Mexico State University. Dina works in photography, ceramics, and domestic materials, and her Mexican upbringing and borderland cultures inform her work. Dina serves on the Artaxis board as Vice President, she is a Color Network Mentor and is the recipient of Clay- Houston’s Texas BIPOC Emerging Artist award. Recent exhibitions include the Roswell Museum, the Juarez Museum, and Silver City’s Clay- Fest, where she won second place.

Diana Ingalls Leyba is a mixed-media artist, gallery owner, and founder/director of the Youth Mural Program. The twenty-two-year-old Youth Mural Program has created over 90 projects engaging several thousand area youth. The Mission of YMP is to engage and empower youth enriching the community through public art that interprets the history, culture, and ecology of southwestern New Mexico.

Born and raised in Montana, I translate my love for adventure into vibrant works of art. My paintings are inspired by personal experiences and emotions, bringing the spirit of the wild to life through color.

Andrea Garcia is a New Orleans based ceramic artist and instructor. Having found her passion for clay years ago, she carved her own educational path, apprenticing with clay professionals in New Orleans including potter Kate Tonguis, sculptor Susan Bergman, and most recently ceramist Rachael DePauw with whom she won the 2020 Studio Potter Grant for Apprenticeship. She’s been awarded a number of scholarships and residencies throughout the country, including Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in New Castle, Maine.

This 2023 NCECA Multi Cultural Fellow is currently represented by Companion Gallery in Humboldt, Tennessee, where she has been included in several of their invitational shows including “Material Mugs IX” and “Last Call IX”.

Most recently winning the 2024 Individual Artists Career Opportunity Grant through SouthArts Organization, she is also an awardee of the National Performance Networks 2022 Take Notice Fund, honoring artists and culture bearers of color in Louisiana. You can find Andrea teaching classes at the Clay Center of New Orleans or fervently sculpting flower petals in her studio.

Monica Gilles-Brings Yellow is an Indigenous artist who grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation, but is now based out of Missoula, MT. She works in mixed media. Currently she is working with acrylic paints, but has recently incorporated alcohol inks and collage into her pieces. The focus of her work is to incorporate images of Native American people and to use her art to highlight their stories. Her artwork has been shown in numerous exhibitions across Montana. She earned a BS in History and Secondary Education from the University of Montana, and then went on to earn a MSW from Walla Walla University. When Monica is not painting, she is a therapist for children who live in group homes.