Bitterroot Valley blacksmith Glenn Gilmore will be among three artists honored at the Capitol in Helena on Friday as the newest members of the Montana Circle of American Masters.
Bitterroot Valley blacksmith Glenn Gilmore has been doing metalwork for almost 50 years, and when he thinks about heading to Helena for Friday’s Montana Circle of American Masters induction ceremony, the two words that come to his mind are “humbled” and “honored.”
Gilmore will be among three artists honored at the Capitol in Helena on Friday as one of the the newest members of the Montana Circle of American Masters (MCAM). The MCAM recognizes Montana folk and traditional artists for artistic excellence in their work, along with their role in preserving and passing on their knowledge.
“It’s a great honor to be inducted into that,” Gilmore said. “I’m really excited about it, and, you know, it’s kind of humbling. It’s a selection by peers.”
Gilmore started in metal work when he went to horseshoeing school in 1974, making his own handmade shoes using a forge, anvil and coal fire. He started getting interested in decorative ironwork in the late ‘70s, but took a couple years off in the early ’80s to do glassblowing. But in 1985 he took a trip to Germany for four months and studied decorative ironwork, which would have a formative influence on him and his art. Since then his focus has been forge metalwork.
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“They have a great history there of blacksmiths,” Gilmore said. “In (the U.S.) when blacksmithing started to kind of wane and it became sort of the repair shop kind of thing in small towns and was getting replaced by other businesses, it continued in Europe as an art form. So they had quite a history to learn from.”
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Gilmore would take the trains to different towns and museums in Germany to go look at historical ironwork from the fourteenth and fifteenth century. It would inspire his work for decades to come.
Despite the fine craftsmanship Gilmore displayed in his work over the years, it took a while for him to become comfortable with people calling him an artist.
“That was a long, slow process,” Gilmore said. “It wasn’t like I woke up one day and was an artist or thought of it in those terms. I think of myself as a creative person.”
Friday will be Gilmore’s first trip to the Montana State Capitol building. He will be inducted into the MCAM along with Marc Brogger of Three Forks and Terry Hill of Great Falls.
Marc Brogger, a fifth-generation Western horseman, has built over 900 saddles since the start of his career in 1981.
Brogger, a fifth-generation Western horseman, has built over 900 saddles since the start of his career in 1981. He is well respected in the Western community for his intricate leather work and flower stamping, using his skills to create ornately hand-tooled saddles which bridge art and utility.
“I believe in art and in not just being little machines that go to work every day,” Brogger said. “I think art just makes life for everyone more interesting.”
Terry Hill, a fourth-generation Montanan, spent 29 years as a game warden for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks before discovering his love for woodturning.
Hill, a fourth-generation Montanan, spent 29 years as a game warden for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks before retiring in 2007. In 2009, Hill discovered his love for segmented woodturning through a course taught by Rich Charlson, a previous MCAM honoree, who he studied under for six months. Today Hill channels his passion for Montana’s natural beauty and wildlife through his segmented woodturning, specializing in designs that depict natural scenes, wildlife, ranching and farming.
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