Montana Art Gallery

At Courtney Collins Fine Art Gallery, we feature highly acclaimed contemporary western artwork from world-renowned artists. Nestled in downtown Big Sky, Montana, our western art gallery honors fine art that showcases the best of contemporary and traditional western artistry. 

 Our contemporary Montana art gallery preserves the heart of the Old West, as we carry a unique collection of fine art, sculptures, and photography. We sell and curate works of contemporary western and Montana art that exhibit the best in modern artistry. 

 We keep fresh work up on our walls at the Gallery and are happy to showcase some of the finest artists. Below you will find our events for the next few months. 

 Mark your calendar for these upcoming featured artist receptions and exhibitions:

 ED NASH: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21^ST  “WABISABI"

Please join us for an exhibition of art with well recognized abstract artist Ed Nash.  Eds paintings are large-scale paintings and celebrate patina produced through the passage of time and exposure to the elements.

 Much of his work has a deep connection with the Japanese aesthetic WABISABI, which can be described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716

ROBERT OSBORN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 19^TH "COWBOYS AND INDIANS, MOSTLY”

Please join us for an evening with Robert Osborn celebrating a new exhibition of works of Montana Cowboys and Northern Plains Indians.  Robert has published a well-known book, 

The Cowboys of Central Montana: 50 Portraits. He has been photographing for nearly half a century.

Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716

 DENNIS BREDOW: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2^ND   "AMERICAN FOLKLORE”

 Please join us for an evening with Los Angeles based artist Dennis Bredow for his fantastic brand-new body of work of: American Folklore.  

 American Folklore is a celebration of the iconic imagery of the West and its impact throughout Western culture. If folklore is defined as 'tradition' and 'popular myth', no single moment in American history embodies this as deeply or as widely as the wild American West.  

Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716 

JOHN BANOVICH: FRIDAY, AUGUST 18^TH  "COLD AIR DEEP POWDER"

John emerged as a talent to watch over two decades ago and today is known internationally for his large, dramatic portrayals of iconic wildlife.  

Come meet John Banovich, get a book signed see new paintings and hear an artist talk!   

"I have studied the American Bison for nearly 30 years. What I have discovered, many times over, is when a herd of bison run through the fresh powdery snow all you hear is their breathing.  Their thundering hooves fall silent.  Once numbering 10 million, stretching from Alaska to Mexico, today they number about five hundred thousand". -  John Banovich

Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716

KEVIN RED STAR:  SEPTEMBER 1^ST  "STRENGTH IS BELIEF"

Please join us for an Artist Reception with Master painter Kevin Red Star.  Kevin's art is honored throughout Native America for its authenticity. In a world of museums and private collections, he is respected for the content of his unique imagery, for his artistic productivity, and for enduring value of his work. 

Come and celebrate Kevin's 80^th Birthday with us!

Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716

JIM DICK WEDNESDAY, SEPT 20^TH  "UNDER THE BIG SKY"

The grandson of Montana homesteaders, Jim Dick was born and raised on the prairie of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. A self-taught and passionate artist, he has been painting Montana scenes (including the Big Sky area) with oils on canvas for the 

last 40+ years. Jim is well-known for his realistic landscapes that reflect a "sense of place", beginning each piece with a plein-air study on location. 

 Viewing and reception at Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave C-1, Big Sky, MT 59716

It is an honor at Courtney Collins Fine Art Gallery to feature some of the most prolific artists and creatives around the world. Please take the time to mark your calendars. We look forward to seeing you at our gallery in Big Sky, MT.

* Please note this blog post is current as of:  May 23, 2023.  Additional shows may be added to the schedule. Please see the website for the most current events. 

BIG SKY – When Courtney Collins shows you around her art gallery in Big Sky Town Center, she does so as though she were introducing you to her close friends. It isn’t completely off base: Kevin Redstar, Tom Gillian, Ben Pease, David Yarrow and many other acclaimed Western artists are featured in her space and each has played a role in her journey to opening Courtney Collins Fine Art gallery. 

Collins loves them all and can’t tell you what her favorite pieces are, but she can tell you how she felt when she first saw them. Once such experience was at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts at a Herb Ritts photography show titled “WORK” in 1996. Ritts’s stark black and white images of celebrities and supermodels blended with classic fine art works left a lasting impression on her. 

That same strong relationship serves as the foundation of her success today. After Creighton Block Gallery closed in March 2020, where she worked with gallery owner Colin Matthews for eight years, Collins used her close contacts to build a space of her own. 

“I had all these great relationships and I thought it’s such a shame [that] if I walk away from this now, it’ll all be over,” Collins said. “I didn’t want that to happen because I have a lot of pride in this, so I thought, ‘I have to find a way to do this.’” 

In June, after finding a landlord that would lease her the space in Town Center, Collins knew she only had a couple months left in the busy summer season to make an impression, so she quickly displayed some art, hung her Murano glass chandelier from Italy in the foyer, and, as she says, “I just made it happen; I made it happen fast.” She had the gallery open by July 4. 

Collins collected artist contacts to bring her gallery to life just as she collected experiences as a child to build her career’s foundation. Her father, who worked for a company that manufactured men’s clothing textiles, raised her in Long Island, New York and she remembers, as a child, being fascinated by the different patterns of the ties in his closet. She attended Syracuse University then the Art Institute of Chicago, where she says she was introduced to an eccentric and affluent group. 

Once fascinated by fashion design, Collins ultimately found it outside of her wheelhouse and settled instead on a degree in textile design. Already familiar with the area from spending summers with her mother, Collins moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she spent 15 years working in interior design learning from Barclay Butera, a notable name in the  industry. While in Jackson, she grew her relationships with Western art and fell in love with the idea of selling pieces to those who would cherish them.

“I love the West and I’m able to relate to all of these people I sell art to,” Collins said. “I understand their city roots but also their love for the West.”

Working with clients, advocating for artists and a career in gallery curation fell into place for Collins, who then moved to Big Sky for a change in scenery. She now has been here for 10 years. 

“I want my gallery to leave the viewer challenged and stimulated and have thought-provoking work that’s important and beautiful,” Collins said. She also believes art has the power to teach kids about Indigenous cultures, to which she refers to Kevin Redstar, a member of the Crow nation and prominent Western painter who held his first show in 1969 at Woodstock in New York.

Collins circles her gallery once more as though to pay respects to those artworks and their creators. Each artist is museum vetted and a branded artist, and Collins as curator takes pride in properly representing them while they hold a space on her wall.

On her desk sits a large Poe-esque raven sculpture and displayed in three glass cases at the front of the gallery are impressive jewelry pieces by Jill Garber. As though being surrounded by provoking art isn’t enough, Collins is wearing one of Garber’s pieces that covers most of her neck and chest in silver and jewels. The gallery owner, by her own right, lives and breathes— and wears—fine art.