The West Old & New Vol II Issue VII | Page 8

Long Eared Owl by Monte Dolack
Angeles Society of Illustrators in 1991. The Missoulian in 1999 named Monte Dolack " 100 Montanans of the 20th Century." In 2003, Trout Unlimited bestowed its Communications for Coldwater Conservation Award given annually to a reporter, writer, or artist whose work has made significant gains in educating the public about conservation and the habitat of coldwater fish to Monte.
The Monte Dolack Scholarship Fund at Great Falls High School is named for him.
The westslope cutthroat trout from his 1986 " Blackfoot River " is featured on a Trout Unlimited specialty license plate issued by the state of Montana.
Monte Dolack has served on the board of directors of the Montana Arts Council and the University of Montana Fine Art Advisory Board, and was a delegate from Montana on the Japan Economic Trade Organization in 1995. He also sat on the advisory board of the Big Hole River Foundation in 1999, and has been a member of the board of directors of the Montana chapter of Trout Unlimited since 1995.
Dolack is a founding member of the Japan Club. He is an avid fly fisherman, hiker and bird watcher.
Information gathered from Wikipedia. com

1-899-825-7613 Fax( 406) 549-4436 www. dolack. com dolack @ bigsky. net

" wall of ideas." Beginning work on a piece, he conducts research in his library to help make the work
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more realistic and detailed. His creative technique, however, involves what Monte calls " working from the inside." As he told the Missoula Independent in 2002: "... I also want to bring in things that are from the inside and not the outside, and find the right place to mix the two of them together. Part of the road I ' m on with these pictures is to graduate slowly toward being able to paint more from the inside." Environmentalism is a key theme in Dolack ' s work. Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, former director of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, says that Dolack ' s environmental message in the mid 1980s was subtle. But by the time of his 2000 work " Montana History Lesson," she notes, Dolack opted for " overt " statements. The whimsical nature of Dolack ' s work masks exceptional technique as an artist. Maggie Mudd, executive director of the University of Montana ' s Montana Museum of Art and Culture, points out that Dolack uses " painstaking painting techniques " which produce highly polished visual surfaces. His work also exhibits " wildly inventive color ". In 1991 he won " Best of Show " from the Los