Online Auction for Flathead River in Paint is Live NOW thru Dec. 7

Bidding is Open for Flathead River in Paint Artwork!

The stunning artwork created by 14 top-notch artists for Flathead River in Paint debuted on November 9 at Montana Modern Fine Art in Kalispell. The paintings will be on display until November 16, but you will have a chance to view and bid on the paintings ONLINE HERE until December 7 at midnight.

Please register HERE, where you can view the artwork and bid. The starting bids for the paintings will be 50% of their value. There is also a “buy it now” option for each painting at 150% of the painting’s value. The amount paid over the painting’s value is tax deductible. Half the proceeds from the paintings will go toward funding needed to complete the Owen Sowerwine project and half will go to the artists.

Artists participating in the Flathead River in Paint event include local artists Susan Guthrie, Tabby Ivy, Gini Ogle, Therese Ely, Francesca Droll, Karen Leigh, Rob Akey, Jeff Manion, Brandon Wiese, Mark Ogle, Tom Saubert, and Haakon Ensign along with Denise Gilroy of Idaho and Wendy Hale of Massachusetts.

The event celebrates 20 years of conservation along the Flathead River and north shore of Flathead Lake and kicks off fundraising for the Owen Sowerwine project. Paintings for the event were done in “plein air” this summer by 14 artists on conserved lands along the Flathead River from Bad Rock Canyon to Flathead Lake, capturing a variety of ecosystems in many different forms of media. Most of the paintings were completed July 22 to portray a day in the life of the river but one painting was completed in June and illustrates a rare level of flooding along the river. Artists painted portions of the river ecosystem on lands conserved by Flathead Land Trust, Montana Land Reliance, The Nature Conservancy, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This event will help raise funding needed to complete the Owen Sowerwine project, protecting 442 acres of State School Trust land administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) in one of the most complex sections of the Flathead River with islands, intertwined channels with the Stillwater River, cottonwood forest, and wetlands just east of Kalispell. After extensive public support from public scoping by DNRC, Flathead Land Trust is working towards purchasing a conservation easement on Owen Sowerwine.

Partners of the Flathead River to Lake Initiative including the Flathead Audubon Society and Flathead Lakers are working with Flathead Land Trust to fundraise for this important project which will protect Owen Sowerwine’s natural values and continue its current public uses as well as provide significant, long-term funding for K-12 schools.