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About the Artist

Julie T. Chapman paints today’s Wild West with a contemporary flair. She’s in love with color and uses abstract elements to portray wildlife, horses and rodeo. She lives in Huson, Montana, where she blogs about the nature of art.

Press Release from April 30, 2010

Treasured Artists of Montana

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch is providing Montana artists the opportunity to display their work in the lobby of the Secretary of State’s office in the historic Capitol building in Helena. The exhibit will be rotated throughout the year in order to give artists from all over the state this special opportunity. The Secretary of State encourages the public to visit our office and view the “Treasured” Montana Artist Exhibit at their leisure.

See some of the artists from past exhibits:

If you are interested in becoming the next “Treasured” Montana Artist, please contact Kima Rosling at (406) 444-4195. Direct email: at kima@mt.gov.

Home > May - August 2010 > Julie T. Chapman

Treasured Montana Artist Statement

I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil, and have never stopped. I grew up on a small family farm, where we spent summers working in the garden, baling hay, climbing trees, catching butterflies and hanging laundry. I was fascinated by every form of life on our 60 acres of hayfields, trees and pasture. My childhood instilled in me a deep love for the outdoors, and I drew obsessively.

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I crave firsthand experience for inspiration, and I spend a lot of time each year in pursuit of reference material. I’m very privileged to live so close to splendid wilderness and wildlife. Since moving to Montana, I’ve discovered small-town summertime rodeos and have become enamored with the color, action and excitement – and it allows me to paint horses, which I have loved since I was a child!

It’s great fun to head off to a rodeo, stand out in the sun and dust for hours, and take a little piece of the adrenaline in the arena away with me. My work has evolved from straightforwardly representational to something with a more contemporary edge. I’m having fun playing with abstract backgrounds, sizzling streaks of color, and big loose brushwork and knifework. Art is not a destination, but a journey. I look forward to seeing where my work goes.

All photographs on this page © Julie T. Chapman and are protected by U.S. copyright laws. They are not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way under penalty of the law.

Panoramas by Craig Hergert