This spontaneous work rich with the smell of fresh paint was framed and hung for the public to view on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Outskirts Gallery in the Hope Market Café. Locally grown organic vegetables and flowers were sold on the porch by Robyn Roberts, which created a colorful and festive autumn market atmosphere.

On September 20th, 2009 the art was judged by an experienced artist and teacher (Stephen Schultz), a wilderness advocate (Phil Hough), and votes from the participating artists and viewing public (over 70 votes).

Jared Shear of Thompson Falls, MT, won Best of Show with his “Bull River” oil painting. Aaron Cordell Johnson of Moscow, ID, was second with his view of “Lightning Creek”, and Diana Botkin from Bonners Ferry was third with her painting of the Pack River Delta. Honorable mention went to Wade Nelson of Thompson Falls, and Kenny Olson of Sandpoint.

The number of paintings that received one or more 1st place votes was impressive and spoke to the quality of the work, and its broad appeal. The importance of keeping and preserving a few remaining tracts of wilderness to give sanctuary for such artistic creativity and spiritual renewal, was lost on no one that came through the gallery to talk to the artists and enjoy their paintings.

These spectacular oils and watercolors are still available to enjoy at Kally’s Outskirts Gallery in Hope. Also, for the next month, two large studio pieces by Jared Shear (“Little Spar Pillars”) and Aaron Johnson (“Majestic Mountain”) that were inspired by their four day arduous trek into the heart of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness this summer are hanging at the Common Knowledge Bookstore and Tea House at 823 Main St in Sandpoint. Also, five smaller plein air pieces are on display at the Hen’s Tooth Studio at 323 N 1st Ave, Sandpoint. Take time this holiday season to stop in and enjoy our artists’ vision of the local wilderness.

Soon, the Scotchman Wilderness Gallery of Art will open its doors on the home page of our new and improved website. You will literally be able to enjoy and purchase art from the comfort of your own home. We are excited that we will be able to share the work of our supportive and very talented artists with the wider wilderness community.

These unique works of art would make a truly remarkable and enduring Christmas present for someone you know who appreciates and loves the inspirational beauty that Nature gifts all of us with in Northern Idaho and Western Montana.

For comments or questions please send email to: Neil@ScotchmanPeaks.org

The artists will begin arriving on Friday September 18th, and will fan out to their favorite wilderness viewpoints, including sites near Heron, MT, Bull Lake, the Ross Creek drainage, and Little Spar.

On Saturday and Sunday, September 19th and 20th, the Hope Market Café will host an open house (FREE) to the public with the artists showing their freshly painted work from 2-6 PM each day.

On Sunday at 3PM, the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness will present a Purchase Award for the “Best of Show” painting. Prizes will also be given for 2nd and 3rd place. Gourmet pizza, and other food and beverages will be for sale at the Hope Market Café.

For more information, call Kally Thurman at the Outskirts Gallery at (208) 264-5696.

(Photos shown are from the Extreme Plein Air event held in July 2009. Click on any photo for a larger view.)

In July 2009 two painters and a poet learning to paint took their art to the wild side of the Cabinet Mountains, where they spent a recent weekend in the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness on a hike organized by Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness (FSPW).

Aaron Johnson of Moscow, Idaho, Jared Shear of Thompson Falls, Montana and Victor Vosen of Heron, Montana went for four days and three nights with hike leader Sandy Compton into the Little Spar Lake area, “and beyond,” as Compton characterized the hike. During the hike, Johnson and Shear, both accomplished painters, and neophyte Vosen produced several dozen watercolors of the dramatic terrain of the interior Scotchman Peaks. They also gathered materials for many more works.

“There is enough there for a lifetime of painting,” Johnson said. “This trip was one of the best experiences of my life.”

The Extreme Plein Air grew out of a similar, tamer event in Fall, 2008, when a number of painters put their skills to work capturing the Scotchmans from the outside. Several painters expressed their desire to Compton and FSPW chair Phil Hough to get “up close and personal” with the Scotchman Peaks. The culmination of the idea came about July 17 through 20 with a backpacking trip that took the painters and Compton into the Ross Creek and Blue Creek drainages just south of Little Spar Lake — a remote and rugged area that Compton calls “The Heart of the Scotchmans.”

“These young men are serious about their art,” Compton said. “They packed all they needed for four days and three nights —and then put their art supplies in on top of that. Then, they spent hours capturing the places we saw and camped in. I’ll be very interested to see the framed results.”

Johnson and Shear will be display their work from this trip at the Timber Stand Gallery at Third and Cedar in Sandpoint on Friday, August 7. An artists’ reception from 5 to 8 pm will feature hors d’oeuvres, beverages and a chance to talk to the artists and other friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.

You can check out the artists’ websites here:

Aaron Johnson: www.cordellart.blogspot.com
Jared Shear: www.terrapeer.blogspot.com

“This will be a good opportunity to learn more about the Scotchman Peaks, as well as take a look at some great art,” said FSPW volunteer Neil Wimberley, primary organizer of the Extreme Plein Air. “And, coming up in the fall,” he added, “we have another plein air planned, a reprise of last year’s. A larger gathering of artists will be doing a “paint out” concentrated on the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. They’ll display their fresh work on Saturday and Sunday, September 19th and 20th, at Kally Thurman’s Outskirts Gallery at the Hope Market Cafe.”

View the Flyer (200kb PDF)

Have a little bit of Ansel Adams in you?  Or do you just really like taking photographs?  Do your family and friends look at your photos and say "wow!"…….

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, or even if you answered "no", grab your camera and your favorite hiking companion and head out for the Scotchman Peaks this summer and you could win some cool swag!

Photo Categories:

• Scotchmans Scenery
• Scotchmans Spirit (people in wilderness)
• Wilderness Water (falling, flowing, or still)
• Wild Scotchmans (plants & animals)

A committee of Friends will choose the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each category.

Prizes:

1st Place: Friends of Scotchman Peaks Sweatshirt (hooded or crew)
2nd Place: Friends Long-sleeve t-shirt
3rd Place: Friends t-shirt (blue, black or white)

How to enter:

Send your photo(s) by e-mail or on CD (e-mail preferred, CD’s will not be returned) to slundstrum@wildmontana.org   by September 30th – be sure to include where you took it, when you took it, and if you were on an FSPW hike, include the hike leader’s name and what hike it was.

You will be notified by October 15th if your photo was chosen as a winner. Winning photos may be printed in the various issues of the Friends Newsletter or used in our printed or online materials.

Rules:

Submission deadline is September 30th, 2009.
E-mail entries are preferred, CD’s will not be returned.
FSPW reserves the right to re-print photos while giving proper credit.
Photos can be color or black & white.

>> Printer Friendly PDF <<

The top four finalist papers are: (Note: These are PDFs that will open in a new browser window)

Kaite Mulcaire-Jones – "The Value of Wilderness"

Max Helling – "Wilderness and Identity"

Rozalyn Sippel – "Why Wilderness Matters"

Liz Goossen – (no title)

Larry covered many aspects of the northwest’s edible mushrooms, including culture, symbiotic relationships, growth habits, gathering, and culinary uses.   Some of the fungi covered included the boletes, suillus, cantharellus, aminita, armillaria, hygrophorus, russula, the ever-popular matsutaki, and others.

Anyone interested in learning more about mushrooms can visit Larry’s site, The Fungal Jungle.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

All photos copyrighted by Larry Evans & this website. Please do not use any photos without written permission. Permission may be requested via email to info@scotchmanpeaks.org

Gladstone, a singer, songwriter and master storyteller provides a compelling musical and visual narrative.  A grandson of legendary Blackfeet chief Red Crow, Gladstone will guide the audience through native myths, animal legends and character portraits. Gladstone and Flint inspire their audience to see new perspectives and to empathize with people from past eras and sometimes forgotten cultures.  They celebrate the natural world as well as our place in it.  Through their multi media show, they blend images of nature, legend, history and metaphor with the power of music into an unforgettable experience!

In May 2005 Gladstone and Flint appeared in concert to “kick off” the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness campaign to protect the Scotchman Peaks.  Gladstone and Flint return to Sandpoint on February 3rd to help move our wilderness efforts forward.

This will be an evening of family fun for all. Highlights will include a slide show featuring stunning photos of the Scotchmans.   And the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness will hold their first winter raffle during intermission, with many fun prizes.

This unforgettable benefit concert begins at 7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm).  All seats are $10, (in advance or day of the show) and go on sale January 15th.  Tickets are available in Sandpoint at Eichardts, F.C. Weskills, Monarch Mountain Coffee and the Outdoor Experience; In Trout Creek at the Huckleberry Thicket; In Hayden at Mountain View Cyclery, In Coeur d’Alene at the Camera Corral, in Spokane through Jon Isacoff at 509-323-5951.

For more information call 208-255-2780

Roughly 60 miles south of Canada, the 88,000-acre Scotchman Peaks roadless area spans the Idaho-Montana border.  The Scotchman Peaks are one of the last and largest wild areas in the region. The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness is working to ensure permanent protection for this rugged, scenic and biologically diverse area – for the benefit of future generations.

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For More Information:
Name:  Phil Hough
Chair – Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness
PO Box 393
Sagle, ID 83860
(208) 255-2780

Doug Scott: Wilderness Historian, Author and Advocate

Doug Scott, one of the nation’s leading experts on wilderness, will be traveling through the region at the end of this month, discussing the history of wilderness protection and supporting local citizens in an historic effort to protect their public lands and wilderness.

Doug will present selections from his book, The Enduring Wilderness, and will talk about the work of local people to protect public lands. Doug will answer your questions about wilderness and talk specifically about efforts to protect the Scotchman Peaks area.

Please join Doug Scott, Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, and other community groups at an event in your area:

* October 26, 2006 at 6:00pm Coeur D’Alene, ID: North Idaho College, Student Union Building – Driftwood Bay Rm,
* October 27, 2006 at 7:00pm Sandpoint, ID: Bonner County Historical Society Museum
* October 28, 2006 at 7:00pm Troy, MT: The Hot Club
* October 29, 2006 at 11:00am Clark Fork, ID: Scotchman Coffeehouse, (note this is a “meet the author” informal wilderness discussion event)
* October 29, 2006 at 1:00pm Hope, ID: Hope Market Café
* October 29, 2006 at 6:00pm Heron, MT: The Heron School
* October 30, 2006 at 7:00pm Spokane, WA: Gonzaga University, Cataldo Hall – Globe Room

Doug Scott is an excellent speaker and a 40-year veteran of wilderness campaigns. Doug was involved in the founding of Earth Day; has worked on every major piece of wilderness legislation over the last four decades, including the act establishing the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness and the Lee Metcalf Montana Wilderness Study Act; and today serves as Policy Director for the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. Doug is deeply committed to helping citizens protect their most treasured public lands and forests for future generations.

For more informationr contact Phil Hough with Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness at (208) 255-2780. In Montana contact Doug Ferrell at (406)-827-4341.

If you love the West’s places, you won’t want to miss this event with Doug Scott!

Co-Sponsored by: the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Gonzaga University, the Spokane Mountaineers, North Idaho College Outdoor Pursuits, Conservation Northwest, the Idaho Conservation League, the Cabinet Resource Group, Bonner County Historical Society, Hope Market Café, and the Scotchman Coffee House.

• Join your friends, neighbors and other “Friends” of the Scotchman Peaks.
• Open to the public, free of charge; bring a new Friend!
• Come celebrate our recent endorsements and other successes and learn more about the challenges that lie ahead, including the draft forest plan and how your comments can help protect this special area.
• Enjoy food, fun and find out more about our campaign for wilderness.
• Scotchman T-shirts, Sweat Shirts and Special “Scotchmans” label wine will be available for purchase.