Roosevelt Center
Stories
Meet the Tenants
The Arts have been an essential part of our history in Red Lodge—and the artistic heritage of Red Lodge is enriched by the artists who live and work here today. Learn more about the local artists, performers, nonprofits and small businesses at the Roosevelt Center.
Big Sky Bonus Tracks
Formed in 2022 by four local creative dudes with a passion for music, Big Sky Bonus Tracks is a platform for musicians to share their stories and songs in video form. The crew is committed to capturing raw musical experiences in the Big Sky while helping you discover new music that’ll have you jumping for the “repeat” button.
Right now, you can view the live-recorded music sessions produced by the Big Sky Bonus Tracks team for free on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and BigSkyBonusTracks.com. If you’re a Montana local, chances are you’ll see some familiar faces featured in high resolution while listening to high-quality sound mixed and mastered by Sam Gertsch.
The local filming crew, made up of Mitch Lagge, Schyler Allyn, Lucas Treptow and Aaron Martin use their Roosevelt Center studio to plot new video shoots, dream big, think local, and spark ideas about how to grow camaraderie and teamwork in the Montana music scene.
Whether it’s an on-location shoot capturing musician’s songs in the expansive wilderness surrounding Red Lodge, or an intimate small-stage recording experience at the Roosevelt Center, the Big Sky Bonus Tracks crew is proud to offer its services free-of-charge to the musicians. All they have to spend is the time to get here to record a session.
The crew believes that music has the power to connect people and inspire creativity, so they’re committed to sharing the stories of the talented people who make it. Big Sky Bonus Tracks’ goal is to create a space for these artists to be heard and appreciated.
Bootleg Cycology Bike Co-Op
Bootleg Cycology's vision is to build a community of self- empowered cyclists with sustainable transportation, education, and access to maintain and repair bicycles.
Montana Tour is a nonprofit sponsoring Bootleg Cycology at the Roosevelt Center. We operate several events bringing cycling tourism to Red Lodge as well as providing local cyclists with healthy outdoor activities. Find out more about Montana Tour, Big Sky Gravel, 24 Hours of Elk Basin at montanatour.org. Montana Tour & Bootleg Cycology first opened its doors in June 2023, offering bike repairs, repair education and selling affordable refurbished bikes. We’re excited to offer bike mechanic clinics throughout the year, so stay tuned.
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Hours vary based on the season. Visit BootlegCycology.com for more information about hours and donations.
Brian Langeliers
Brian Langeliers has been collecting rusted artifacts since he was a child. Antique signage, old metal cans, and other objects from days past; the rustier the better. It is a habit he picked up on walks with his grandmother through the family homestead near Rapelje, Montana. Brian now incorporates these finds into his art, and his studio, Artifact Concepts, even reflects this in the name.
Born in 1978, Brian was raised as a young artist in Billings before receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Oil Painting from the University of Montana, Missoula in the Spring of 2000. He then spent 14 years in Boulder, Colorado building an artist management career in the music industry, specialized toward art direction and branding. Now back in Montana, he has returned to Red Lodge and to his fine arts roots.
When not engaged with his music clients, Brian creates artwork focused on the exploration of place. His aerial landscape paintings offer a fresh perspective through vantage points from above.
By incorporating brushwork and fluid paint techniques, he provides an abstraction of traditional landscape art. Flowing pigments integrate to mimic stratified layers of the earth. Portions of unpainted wood grain reference contour lines of a topographical map.
Found objects and rusted artifacts are removed from the environment and placed in the painted landscape, creating a sculptural aspect. Hidden magnets encourage interaction by allowing the viewer to remove, reposition and use the object to construct and create personal narratives within the art. Ultimately, the artist's intent is to elicit feelings of connectivity to the landscape.When discussing the Roosevelt Center, Brian says, “It is clear that I like when old things are repurposed. And the purpose of the Roosevelt Center is to incubate and inspire the artists of this region within a historic setting. This building is an artifact all it’s own and the slate chalkboards that line the walls of my studio are a testament to decades of knowledge and craft taught and expressed here."
Carol Hartman
Carol Hartman has always been in tune with her senses. As a child, she would venture off on her family’s land, adjacent the Missouri River to explore, smell her surroundings, and meditate. This was the beginning of a fascinating art career. It wasn’t her first choice, but Carol could afford MSU Bozeman and graduated with $210 to her name. It was just enough to rent a $205 U-Haul that would send her to New Mexico. She explains it as “skimming through, barely.”
Carol and her family eventually moved to California, where she was determined to get her master's degree in fine arts. There she illustrated textbooks to help pay her way through more college classes and would culminate four degrees: K-12 art education, traditional fine arts, graphic design, and K-middle school science. In California, Carol also found her passion for interactive installations, which kept her busy for about 25 years, producing pieces that would lead people to question their ethos, religion, and government.
As time went on and circumstances changed, Carol found herself longing for the quiet Montana mountains and moved back in the early 2010s to be closer to family. As she became acclimated to the Montana environment again, Carol was amazed by the color and says simply, “it’s beautiful here.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Carol is a renowned landscape painter in Eastern Montana. She travels all over the states participating in residencies for weeks at a time, then coming back to her studio at the Roosevelt Center in Red Lodge to continue to work on her beautiful paintings.
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Learn more about Carol and view more of her work at her website, carolhartman.biz
Ellen Herminghaus
Ellen Herminghaus considers herself “at the beginning of [her] artistic journey.” Ellen grew up in Billings, Montana, adventuring all across the Red Lodge area with her family. While out in the woods on her family adventures, Ellen would wander off gathering leaves, bark, moss, and rocks. She now attributes these experiences to her art. Being a quilter, Ellen collects fabrics, and many have a nature theme.
She did not start as a quilter, though. Ellen attended the University of Montana to study art but decided after a year to go in a different direction. Her 30-year career in the gas and oil industry started and ended in Houston, Texas, after receiving her finance degree from the U of M.
She met her husband in Houston, and with Ellen having retirement already in the back of her mind, they visited Red lodge and both decided they would like to retire here. They bought a couple of properties around Red Lodge, so that by the time they were able to retire, their home was already constructed.
After retiring to Red Lodge full-time in October 2017, Ellen found herself at some of the meetings on the revitalization of the Roosevelt Center. She took one of the tours of the building, and thought it was perfect for her and what she wanted to do. Ellen moved into the Roosevelt Center in June 2018. Says Ellen of the Roosevelt Center, “it is extremely important for Red Lodge, and it’s building a community of artists.”
Elizabeth LaRowe
Elizabeth LaRowe Watercolor Artist can be found at the Roosevelt Center in her art studio rm107 C. She welcomes visitors as she enjoys sharing her knowledge and love of art. Color and light are the focus of Elizabeth LaRowe’s artwork, her personal artistic efforts have concentrated on using water media techniques for the past 42 years.
She loves plein air painting. For the past five years she has co-sponsored the Beartooth Plein Air Society Blitz, a week-long painting exploration of our area, open to all interested adults regardless of experience. Elizabeth, also known as Betsy and her husband Miles have enjoyed owning property in Red Lodge since 1988. Regardless of their job locations as educators they were able to enjoy summers here. For Elizabeth being involved in Red Lodge’s art scene through both painting and teaching workshops was an important part of those summers. After thirty-nine years as an art educator she and Miles retired to Red Lodge in 2009.
Her studio space in the Roosevelt Center is a long-awaited dream. After so many years of public-school teaching just entering the old school building brings a feeling of comfort and belonging. She is finding her space to be an excellent place to creatively stretch. Having other artists in the building is beneficial. It’s a place to share ideas, get critiques and learn of ways to expand the arts in the community.
Always a champion of education she holds a BFA degree from the University of Denver and a MAT from the University of Wyoming. Elizabeth has participated and won awards in many local and regional juried shows. Her paintings have been published in North Light Books Splash 16 The Best of Watercolor Exploring Texture, Splash 18 Value and Splash and Splash 20 Creative Composition..
Always the teacher, she welcomes visitors to her studio. She is available for art presentations and workshops.
Faith Rumm
The dentition of a prolific artist, Faith Rumm has maintained a livelihood in art for over 20 years. Fine art painter, interpretive illustrator and designer, and musician, Faith uses her passions and skills to promote appreciation, stewardship and conservation of our planet.
Fine Art: Faith draws upon her extensive travels, hikes, and observations of nature to create dramatic and inspirational landscape paintings. She maintains a practice of painting outdoors whenever possible, and regularly works on large studio pieces. Her work is collected worldwide, and has reached as far as Baku, Azerbaijan and Wolong, China. She most recently spent time plein air painting in Kyrgyzstan. In the fall of 2022 she hauled her plein air oil setup down the Colorado River on a 21 day private raft trip through the Grand Canyon, painting every day. In 2020 she completed the John Muir Trail 100 Paintings Project after thru-hiking the 211 mile John Muir Trail a total of four times. Faith has just begun exploring the artistic possibilities found in Montana, and is excited to see where that may lead.
Interpretive Art and Design: Faith works with public and private land managers to promote preservation of land, threatened and endangered species, wetland and other restorations, and parklands. She has also worked with multiple indigenous tribes to tell their story and help preserve their cultures.
Music: Faith enjoys playing violin and singing harmony, exploring different genres of music with different people. In the backcountry she usually takes her trusty recorder to play songs for the deer and coyotes.
Background: Faith Rumm grew up with a violinist mother, mountaineer father and three brothers. Family backpack trips helped to form her love of nature. In her twenties and early thirties, she worked in Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Great Basin National Parks as an interpretive ranger, and in Inyo National Forest as a wilderness ranger. Her work as an artist developed directly from these experiences.
"It's simple — my plan is to spend my life expressing and sharing my own interpretations of nature. The power, wonder and beauty of our planet speaks to me and I respond. I seek out beautiful places for my own personal sense of connection. Nature is my muse, and art is my form of activism. We need to remember over and over again just how precious and vulnerable our earth is; my work acts as a reminder. The beauty of the wild humbles me, prompts my attention, appreciation and reverence for this world.
The Glass Feather Studio by RJ Slaven
The journey of creating stained glass art started in 2016 with an intro to stained glass class in the middle of one of our long Montana winters. I have enjoyed the process of design and creation of stained glass art since. As a plumbing and hydronic heating contractor for most of my life, I have designed and installed several water and heat distribution systems that can get technical to piece together and in a sense became an art form to me.
My experience with soldering copper with lead and silver helped me to understand the way solder flows with glass. The experience of design and creation of heating systems has helped me to fit all the pieces together.
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The designs I create come from several different ideals. I see something and wonder what it would look like made out of glass, and so the process begins. The natural sunlight reflecting through the glass helps me with the imagination of color choices. The attraction with birds and feathers as my messengers has lead me to create one of my signature pieces, "The Glass Feather".
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To contact RJ, you can email him at TheGlassFeather1@gmail.com or give him a ring at (406) 425 -0781.
Instagram - rjsglass
Heidi Gilbert
Heidi Gilbert is originally from Sheridan, Wy, where she was raised with a strong appreciation for the mountains and the scenic views inherent with the broad landscapes of the west. She was always drawn to the art room and had the fortune of studying under a supportive high school teacher who encouraged her to take her watercolors, pencils, and conte crayons and go "sit somewhere pretty for a bit."
Following her graduation she fell for her future husband on the Ski Patrol at Red Lodge Mountain and they followed each other to the big powder and schools of Salt Lake City, Utah. While there, she spent 12 years living in a small cabin in the woods where she spent her time bootpacking ridge lines and attending the University of Utah.
Hero's STEAM Center
Science Technology Engineering Art Math
Hero's STEAM Center is a space for creating and learning. Hero’s provides the environment and tools to create, explore, innovate, and share experience and knowledge among our community for all levels of interest – a place for minds and imaginations to play. All imagined ideas are worth exploring! Learn more about the programs on offer at our Facebook page.
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Justin Satterfield
If you want to learn to play guitar, ukulele, or bass in Red Lodge, Justin Satterfield is your guy.He can also fix any stringed instrument (16 years of Luthierie Experience) – some of his faithful clients from North Dakota still send him their broken prized possessions to mend, as well as clients throughout Montana.
With over 20 years of live touring experience, he has also worked behind the scenes for rock bands as a guitar tech. Justin and his wife Lisa have been hosting jam nights on Tuesdays at 8 pm at the Snow Creek for over 5 years. You can find him strumming away at the Roosevelt on Wed-Friday. Or catch him on stage with Fracture, a local rock/alternative/punk band, as well as singing with his wife (and talented vocalist). Justin might do a bit of everything, but he makes a point to not miss family dinners with his kids, his wife Lisa, and their three dogs.
Karin Solberg
Karin Solberg received her undergraduate ceramic degree from James Madison University in 1995 and
a MFA from Utah State University in 2003, concentrating on wheel thrown pottery fired in atmospheric kilns. Having taught ceramics at universities and community art centers throughout the United States, she settled in Montana, after completing a year residency at the Red Lodge Clay Center in 2013. In 2015, Karin founded Heist Art & Sundries, a downtown Red Lodge gallery located in the historic Carbon County Bank, specializing in local art and Montana handcrafted goods. Rock & Star Studio was established in 2018, upon requiring space to create art for the gallery and teach youth and adult art classes.
Karin produces pottery to celebrate craft, locally produced food and our surroundings. A clay platter, containing a home cooked meal, initiates community between family and friends. The daily habit of using a handmade object is a worthy ritual in this fast paced, mass produced gadget filled world. Karin’s personal goal as an artist is to produce wares that invite art, health and pause in the everyday, enlivening the home, food, body and mind.
Marty Clague
Marty Clague does not shy away from a project — where one person might just see an old tired bathroom, Marty sees a potential ceramic studio space.
An Iowa native, Marty graduated college from the University of Nebraska Omaha and worked in the Omaha area in Elementary Ed for 20 years. He worked with gifted children and ran after-school robotics programs his last few years in Nebraska. He now lives in Red Lodge, Montana, where his wife Martha Brown is on the board for the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation.
When Marty is not creating pottery pieces in the studio, he is volunteering at Hero’s STEAM Center or singing with Homebrewed Harmony, an a cappella group which includes several Red Lodge Area Community Foundation board members. He also directs the Red Lodge Community Church choir, is director of the Big Sky Chorus in Billings, and is in a Barbershop quartet.
Nancy Dunlap
The name “Madwoman Sewing” derives from the state of having lots of stuff on my mind combined with the parts and pieces of fabrics, threads, and embellishments on my cutting table simultaneously. Since I can rarely resist the impulse to collect interesting trims, buttons, and beads, I routinely run into the dilemma of not enough time nor energy to create those designs dancing around in my head, hence the “mad” woman syndrome. Currently, I am transforming “found fabrics”, like upholstery samples, used jeans, men’s ties, and placements, into purses, shopping bags, book covers, and hats. These one-of-a-kind items come about in steps. First, I sort textures and colors. Next, I determine the item’s function and design. Drafting, cutting, sewing follow. My training began when I was 10 years old.
I was born in Torrington, Wyoming in 1952. Like most girl children brought up in a farming community, I began sewing with a group of fellow 4-Hers. It was a highly competitive scene at fair time, and I was awarded more than my fair share of purple and blue ribbons. As structured as the 4-H agenda was at that time, I was able to express a creative, nonconforming streak. Even as a youngster I liked to deconstruct clothes... like my dad’s 501 Levis. A little cutting here and there, and I would have fashionable cutoffs with lots of rickrack trim. I continue to enjoy and profit from my early sewing education. College-level art classes and haute couture training have also served me well. I currently live in Red Lodge Montana. In my workshop, surrounded by numerous totes filled to the brim, I actively remake, upcycle, reassemble, and go a little mad...
Priscilla Neff Massage
Priscilla grew up all over the west coast of the U.S., but has felt most at home in the community of Red Lodge, after first coming to visit in 2002 and moving here full time in 2013. She's always been happiest as a creative, hands-on worker, and giving caring touch through massage therapy was a perfect segue into satisfying work.
She considers massage an art; co-creative, meditative, and somatic, it is much like the arts of music, dance, martial arts, or graphic arts. it is a mindful practice she considers co-creative because it's something she doesn't do "to" her clients, but rather "with" her clients.
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She loves having space for her practice in an art center, surrounded by people and spaces which add to the aesthetics and good feel that are nice for a client who's coming in to relax and feel uplifted.
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Learn more at her website, priscillaneff.massagetherapy.com
Sheila Johns and Dan Wells
Dan Wells and Sheila Johns are a husband and wife art team who create in different mediums. Dan, a photographer, and Sheila, a visual artist who paints with acrylic and oils, pastels, and charcoal wash. Sheila also sculpts using driftwood and glass and has cast her own bronze, aluminum and iron sculptures.
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Johns creates art that makes her happy in a style that leans toward nature and the clean lines of contemporary art. You won't find her presence on social media because she believes we miss out on the good things in life if we are focused on technology. Although she does have a website where you can purchase her work, you'll mostly find Johns creating and spending time in the great outdoors gathering inspiration.
Wells specializes in commercial and real estate photography, but he's no stranger to fine art photos. Nature landscapes, wildlife, travel and events photography all have strong showings in his body of work. On his website, you'll find a wide selection of his work available in a variety of mediums, including canvas, metal, wood, acrylic and paper.
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View Sheila's website by clicking here.
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View Dan's website by clicking here.
Red Lodge Theater Company
The mission of Red Lodge Theater Company is to create opportunities for community participation in enriching theatrical experiences. Our focus is on inclusion and quality, giving the public a well-balanced theatrical season, and striving to meet with excellence all of the demands placed on community theater.
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Stay up to date with upcoming auditions and performances by visiting our Facebook page.
Roscoe Outdoor
(no storefront)
Founded by Montana native Hans Howell, Roscoe Outdoor creates comfortable, functional outerwear that holds up to the hard stress of mountain use. The garments are tested right here in the glacier-carved mountains surrounding Red Lodge.
Howell grew up exploring the mountains surrounding Montana’s Paradise Valley with his family and later learned to climb during his college years in the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula. When not working, Howell enjoys climbing rock and ice, along with skiing and hiking.
Howell’s rugged clothes are worn by hunting guides in Alaska, adventurers trekking in the Himalayas, rock climbers sending new routes and plenty of others who just enjoy spending time outside. View his products at roscoeoutdoor.com
Wanda Thomas
Wanda Thomas often wakes up in the middle of the night with a new quilt pattern swirling around in her head. She can’t hardly wait to get the fabric and tools out and start cutting, sewing, pressing and quilting.
She started taking pictures of her creations with the hashtag #QuiltsOnTheFence and has developed quite a following. Especially since her dog Ivan would strike a dutiful pose right in front of the quilt, #IvanTheQuiltGuardDog. The comments were mostly about Wanda’s dog, but, many wanted to know “where is the pattern for that quilt?”.
Wanda belongs to several small creative business organizations and became aware of a “Quilt Pattern Writing Course”. This seemed to be a great push forward to getting going on this adventure. She had thought she retired, but her brain just wouldn’t stop.
She’s taken a big leap as a computer novice and enrolled in a course which involved learning digital illustrator products. She can dream up a quilt and make it at breakneck speed, but, computer designs require different skills.
She’s working to write and market her own quilt patterns to the wider community under the name Calamity Quilter. Eventually, Wanda hopes to host quilt classes inside the Roosevelt Center, opening her shared studio as a hub of learning.
Why the name “Calamity”? Wanda says Red Lodge’s connection with Calamity Jane comes to mind. The Old West personality reportedly stayed at The Pollard Hotel (formerly The Spofford Hotel) a time or two near the turn of the 20th century. Combine the local “scout” history with Wanda’s sense of adventure, and you have a fun name at least! Find more of her work at calamityquiltstudio.com.