by John Dowd
One of the mainstays on Stevensville’s main street, the owner of which has been a part of Stevensville’s business community for over 30 years, will soon be shutting its doors. River’s Mist Gallery and Gifts will be closing after December 29, and as it goes, owner Gretchen Spiess believes it is indicative of the end of an era. She is one of the last longstanding business owners on Main Street. Now, only Lutzenhiser Jewelry remains, along with the story of how River’s Mist came about.
As Spiess tells the story, it all started when her father bought her the run-down movie theater next door to the space that would become River’s Mist. Spiess was a costume designer in Hollywood, and has always had a passion for the arts, especially theater. She has been working on costumes and clothes for over 50 years. She worked on a number of films and television shows, but confessed she loved TV more. To her, it was a much faster pace, and she loved the challenge.
When she found herself in Stevensville among family, she discovered that the challenge of bringing back an old movie theater and repurposing it as a community drama theater was just her speed as well. One of the issues the theater faced was a lack of storage space for costumes, props and adequate dressing room. To remedy that, they purchased the building next door that had plenty of room to fit everything. Eventually, that next-door space would become the River’s Mist gallery.
The theater was called Chantilly. The name came from a comical mistake, according to Spiess. She said the name came from where the man after whom Stevensville was named passed away and was buried. The place was Chantilly in France. However, the truth is far more interesting.
Isaac Stevens was a military officer who passed away in the Battle of Chantilly during the Civil War. The battle took place in modern day Fairfax County, Virginia. Stevens was a Union general and was actually buried in Newport, Rhode Island. For a time, he was the Governor of the Washington Territory, which stretched control into portions of Idaho and western Montana. Both of these at the time were considered unorganized territory. Several areas and towns were named to honor him after he died.
Even though the theater’s name was ill-informed, it still had historic significance and it stuck. Today, the theater is called the Stevensville Playhouse. However, some still refer to it as The Chantilly. According to Spiess, The Chantilly was quite a popular and high quality venue, drawing people from across the state.
Spiess eventually parted with the theater, which took on new management. The River’s Mist gallery opened in 2010, and started with only a handful of artists. According to Spiess, there were only enough pieces to put one on each wall.
That modest number eventually grew to over 30 artists showing their work at the gallery, displaying pieces of great variety, and featuring everything from leatherwork and metal work, to photography and paintings. It is also set up as an artist’s co-op, meaning artists display their work and put time into manning the gallery, paying minimal rent.
The idea for the gallery came from Spiess’s husband, Michael Rees. According to Spiess, Rees was a very artistic-minded person, and was connected to the art community in Stevensville. Among the community they knew was the late Gary Knapp. According to Loey Knapp, Gary’s wife, Knapp was a founding member president of the Stevensville Art & Sculpture Society which organized the first Scarecrow Festival. The formation of the gallery gave a space for the many talented artists in the area to display their work. According to Loey, artists before had to go out to Hamilton or Missoula, but River’s Mist allowed the community art to stay in the community. “Gretchen’s just been a huge contribution to Stevensville,” said Loey.
Loey said that Spiess has been a very active participant in the Scarecrow Festival since its inception as well, which also has its roots in the artistic community of Stevensville. “Gretchen has participated as a driving force every year in the festival,” said Loey. Spiess does the map for the festival every year, and has had artwork from members of the festival featured in the gallery, including her husband’s photography.
Together for over 30 years, Spiess and Rees have had interesting histories with the town, but recently a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s came crashing through their lives. Rees, a hot air balloon pilot for 40 years and a talented artist and photographer, was diagnosed with the illness. Spiess said that she has been dealing with Rees’s care for some time, and it has started getting to the point where it is becoming too much for her to continue to run the gallery.
“He was just one of those renaissance guys,” said Spiess about her husband. However, she realized that she couldn’t leave him alone any longer, especially after a couple calls at work where he was unable to convey that he had injured himself. “This has been coming for over a year,” said Spiess. “I need to be there for my husband.”
As River’s Mist prepares to close, a new business will take its place, hoping to continue it as a gallery. It will be called “Jake’s Studio,” and Spiess explained there is a cute story behind the name. According to Spiess, the new owner, Karen Lottermoser, grew up with a beloved donkey. Apparently, the animal was “something special,” and it became a tradition in Lottermoser’s family to name nice things after that donkey, whose name was Jake. The new studio logo will feature a picture of Jake, the donkey.
Jake’s Studio will open in early February. Lottermoser is working to keep many of the same artists, but wants to turn part of the studio into her own space for her leather work. In fact, she has for a long time been one of the artists featured at River’s Mist. According to Spiess, even if artists do not want to continue in the space, there are now other places for them to go.
Friends and family of Spiess tell how she has had a profound and deep effect on the community of Stevensville. Many may be worried about what will become of her efforts in the community in the future, as she turns her efforts more to home. As she looks back on her legacy, Spiess sadly explained that she will be stepping down from many other projects. However, she intends to continue her work with the Scarecrow Festival, and will maintain ownership of the former River’s Mist building. “I’m not willing to give up my grasp on Main Street just yet!” said Spiess with a laugh.
Rivers Mist Gallery and Gifts is located in downtown Stevensville at 317 Main St, Stevensville.