January 20, 2012

Contact: Terri Knapp, 406-444-2807

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch Unveils “Treasured” Montana Artist
Betsey Hurd, Kalispell/Livingston Painter 

HELENA - Secretary of State Linda McCulloch on Friday introduced painter Betsey Hurd as the next “Treasured” Montana Artist. Hurd is an accomplished artist who splits her time between residences in Kalispell and Livingston.

“Betsey’s exhibit is as powerful as her subject, the horse,” McCulloch said. “Her approach to color and shape captures the graceful beauty of a horse running free in the wild. It’s almost whimsical in design.”

McCulloch launched the “Treasured” Artist exhibit in January 2009 to showcase Montana artists whose work is tied to the Treasure State. Having lived in Montana all her adult life, Hurd says she’s honored to have the opportunity to celebrate an animal she lives with and observes daily.

“My strength as an artist comes from depicting what I know best,” Hurd said. “I’m one of those people who never got over being a horse-crazy girl. I still ride every day. Horses are stalwart and frisky, powerful and gentle, and balance a lot of weight on perilously thin legs. It’s hard to better an honest horse.”

Hurd is a renowned artist whose work is featured in permanent collections at the White House in Washington, D.C.; the Nicolaysen Museum in Casper, Wyoming; the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, and Paris Gibson Museum of Art in Great Falls, Montana; and at Over Pope’s Head in Clifton, Virginia. She is a painter and ceramic and bronze sculptor, with work featured in galleries and exhibits across the West.

“Horses are a staple in Montana,” Secretary McCulloch said. “We either own them, or watch them as we drive past fields and pastures. They epitomize the notion of freedom and spirit, and Betsey is spot-on in her interpretation.”

Hurd’s exhibit will be on display through May 2012 in the front lobby of the Secretary of State’s Office, which is located in the State Capitol Building in Helena. It is available at no cost to the public.

Past and present “Treasured” Montana Artist exhibits are featured in an online gallery at sos.mt.gov/Gallery.