by John Dowd
The Bitterroot Valley is in no way short of active community volunteers, but there are always some that deserve special recognition. This year, the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce has recognized Barbara Liss as Volunteer of the Year.
“I was surprised because lots of people do lots of things,” said Liss, owner of Explore the Arts, a gallery and art center in downtown Hamilton. Liss also has her hands in a lot of other projects. Many of these are art-related, and in participation with other groups trying to bring art in some form or fashion to the community.
“Other organizations appreciate people taking the lead,” said Liss, and she mentioned that it often takes some work off their plates so the events end up better, overall, for the community.
“It takes time to participate in these things, which you aren’t paid for,” said Liss. That being the nature of volunteering, Liss said everyone’s time is valuable, and to her it is important to participate to ensure these things can happen. She also believes it’s “a lot of fun to be involved.”
Liss is involved with many groups, including Glacier Country Tourism, a Travel Montana region that spans much of Western Montana. She oversees the southern part of that range, including the Bitterroot Valley. The group is state-funded, and helps provide money to projects that promote tourism. She is also involved in the Bitterroot Rotary Club, Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce and Hamilton Downtown Association, as well as other groups and organizations that are art-centric.
Liss’s love for art started in 2016, when she began work on her concrete sculptures, which are now very popular both locally and throughout western Montana. She has at least 32 pieces scattered around Hamilton that people can find. She came from 34 years in real estate and property management, but was also a gardener who wanted to have art in her garden that was durable. She had access to a lot of concrete, and started there. Eventually, that evolved into other forms of art that were combined into her sculptures.
She bought a building to use as her own studio, but it quickly evolved and grew to include other artists and events. The studio became Explore the Arts, and now serves as the home base for “Culture Crawl,” a community event that takes place every second Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event brings art experiences of all kinds to participants, completely free. Every month a different artist is featured. Liss said everything she does comes down to providing these “art opportunities” to people.
Another event is the chalk art contest, which is spinning up right now. The event is an extension of Daly Days, and provides participants with chalk and assigns them a square to create on. The event includes several categories and age groups and over 50 squares. “It’s so cool to see people out there creating art,” said Liss.
Explore the Arts hosts art classes, workshops, summer programs for kids, winter programs for adults and much more. The building also has what Liss calls a “makerspace,” which is a corner dedicated to simply creating. It includes free art supplies and resources for anyone to come in and learn how to do numerous forms of art. The supplies were donated by Rocky Mountain Realty, and Liss loves to see the space used, not only by artists learning new things, but by people who may not be all that interested in art. There are several books there that talk about art history, and she has seen people there simply reading.
When asked about why she developed such a passion for art and getting people creating, Liss said, “Developing the creative mind is important. It makes problem solvers.” For her, creative expression is an often underdeveloped part of the mind, and promotes mental wellbeing, open-mindedness and, especially with younger generations, helps develop humans that can adapt and help solve modern issues in the world. She loves seeing “art in unexpected places,” and art done in any medium.
Explore the Arts is located at 701 Main, in Hamilton. The studio can be reached by calling (406) 351-0073, emailing art@explorethearts.art, visiting the website at www.explorethearts.art, Facebook or by simply stopping in. The studio is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.