Basin’s emergence as a regional arts hub appears to be gaining steam as creators descend on the former mining town this summer for an array of events, performances, and exhibitions.
Following last year’s grand opening, the Art Mine, an events center and creative space, has nearly completed its build-out, according to co-founder Bryher Herak. She looks forward to finishing a ceramics studio, hosting printing press workshops, and welcoming new artists for the season. The Art Mine also recently launched a small, weekly Sunday brunch to showcase its artists to the community.
Opened in 1993 by MJ Williams, Nan Parsons, Joy Lewis, and others, the nonprofit Artists Refuge had its moments before closing for good in 2011. A trickle of summer artists kept passing through Basin before Williams and Herak renovated the Emmalog Cabin and reopened the Refuge Gallery in 2022, launching a new era for the arts in Basin.
The new Artists Refuge, a cluster of rental studios, is housing several performers this summer. Prominent Tucson-based composer and pianist Cynthia Hilts arrived in early June and is gearing up for a July 26 Art Mine show featuring several new pieces written in Basin. “It’s a really great place for me to write music,” said Hilts, mentioning the talent the town attracts. “It comes out of me when I’m here because there’s so much wonderful community and it’s so beautiful.”
Eric Moe, a Guggenheim Fellow composer and music professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is joined at the refuge by his wife, accomplished artist and professor Barbara Weissberger. Moe’s August 10 event with former state poet laureate Melissa Kwasny will feature readings by Kwasny interspersed with Moe playing compositions he created in Basin, including Rowdy Sarabande and Laminar Flow in Upsidedown Creek.
After visiting Basin for some 25 years, Moe has gained a deep appreciation for the town. “It’s a beautiful part of the country,” he said. “[Basin] has a great spirit, great people.”
Also at the Refuge, Seattle-based photographer Lyn McCracken is exploring the evolution of the medium. Starting with 19th-century pinhole cameras, she’s gaining first-hand experience of each photographic innovation over time to learn about her own work.
In the old Hewitt Building, the Refuge Gallery will showcase the work of late artist Jerry Rankin starting June 29. The exhibition will be open every Sunday through August, with proceeds from the sale of Rankin’s work supporting future exhibitions and Basin art education.
Rankin grew up in Montana and earned a masters in fine arts from the University of Montana before studying printmaking, painting and sculpture at Montana State. According to a biography on his artist website, “Rankin’s work is related to music-metaphorically rhythmic, exploring the pause which exists between colors or forms and relies on repeated themes and images.”
Hilts said Herak and co-founder M.J. Williams are doing great work transforming the Art Mine into an appealing gathering and performance space. “There are more people participating with each other than ever before,” she said, “including local artists who live here all the time or people in Helena.”
Darby Smith, a fifth-generation Boulder Valley rancher and award-winning writer who has taught at Columbia University, grew up attending fundraisers at the old Artists Refuge. “It was the first place I realized you could make art your life, and not only that, be an artist in Montana,” she said.
Smith has enjoyed several of the Art Mine’s events. “I’ve lived a lot of places and seen a lot of art spaces, and I can’t believe we have something like this in our backyard,” she added.
