We interrupt this craft blog to let those of you reading who are in Bozeman know that Paul (my s.o.) will be back in Montana next week. He’s exhibiting his full collection of Main Street Drawings at the Story Mansion. In case you aren’t familiar with the project– basically, Paul decided that he was going to draw all of downtown Bozeman, along main street, block by block. And so every time it was warm enough to be outside, he went and drew and drew- through sunburns, snow, and even a wasp sting.

A lot of downtown has changed since Paul drew it- both in subtle and significant ways. The most notable change was the natural gas explosion that leveled the block with Boodles, Montana Trails Gallery and the American Legion (he had already drawn it in its entirety beforehand), but if you look close you’ll notice other things that have come and gone- snow melts,  temporary construction passageways, and the Army/Navy store. Everyone who has been shown the sketchbook has some memory associated with a certain building downtown–whether from recent memory or when they were kids, and it is always so great to hear the stories.

I wanted to show you this partial one so you can see how he works. When he wasn’t able to complete one in a day (due to light changes, snow, etc) he’d come home with partial sketches. He didn’t lay anything out in pencil, just drew from left to right as he saw it.

I am really proud of Paul for completing the series, and excited for his show and talk. He’s going to be selling limited reproductions of all 26 pages in the first ever gallery show at the Story Mansion. This is also the first time all of the sketches will be on view. He’ll give an artist talk an do a sketchcrawl workshop, too.  Here is the schedule of events.

Thursday, November 12
7:00pm to 9:00pm Opening of The Paul Heaston: Main Street at Story Mansion
A reception for invited guests from the Downtown and University Communities featuring a gallery talk by the artist, refreshments, and music by Jawbone Railroad

Friday, November 13th
12:00pm to 5:00pm The Paul Heaston: Main Street Exhibit at Story Mansion
7:00pm to 9:00pm The Paul Heaston: Main Street Exhibit Public Reception, featuring a gallery talk by the artist, refreshments and music

Saturday, November 14th
10:00am to 5:00pm Open Mansion to view the exhibit
10:00am to 12:00pm Coffee, doughnuts and Story Mansion tours
12:00pm to 4:00pm “Sketch Crawl” a free drawing workshop in the BonTon Historic District with Paul Heaston and other MSU School of Art faculty
Unfortunately I can’t make it back in town to celebrate (BOO!) but I hope you will go have a look and tell your friends about it. If you aren’t in town either, Paul also keeps a blog (Three Letter Word for Art) and has an Etsy shop. Go say hello!