Evelyn Cameron, Prairie Photographer

Evelyn Jephson Cameron was a Montana artist and photographer with a remarkable life.  Her story exemplifies what women throughout history have always done—created lives for themselves out of sometimes not very great raw material. 

Cameron was born to a wealthy British family.  She came to rural, remote eastern Montana in the late 19th century after her marriage to naturalist Ewen Cameron.  Evelyn initially found life there rewarding and stimulating, for all its challenges and hardships. 

Evelyn, ever cheerful, smiling on top of her horse. 

According to author Kristi Hager, Evelyn’s early life was one of wealth and luxury.  In Montana, everything was different.  She and her husband barely scraped by on the meager earnings from their ranch.  In fact, while Ewen was way studying wildlife, Evelyn took care of nearly all the ranch work alone.

Some of her chores included: raising a huge garden, chopping wood, digging coal, tending chickens, milking, breaking colts, skinning and butchering animals, branding, dehorning, and castrating cattle, baking, cooking, and keeping house with no hired help and next to no assistance from her husband (source:  Kristi Hager, Evelyn Cameron: Montana’s Frontier Photographer).

Somewhere along the way, Evelyn discovered her own passion through photography.  Over some thirty-plus years, she shot thousands of images of the landscape, people, and natural world around near the town of Terry, Montana.  Her work supported Evelyn and Ewen financially, and left posterity with a stunning record of this remote ranching culture and landscape. 

Self portrait with camera.

In addition to her photos, Evelyn recorded details of her life and world in thirty-five diaries.  Together, the diaries and photographic record are some of the best resources we have regarding life on the American Great Plains in the late 19th century. 

Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910.

 

Marsh School House, 1914. 

About forty years ago, a former editor for Time-Life books, Donna Lucey, found Evelyn’s entire collection of work in the basement of Evelyn’s friend Janet Williams of Terry.  Lucey later wrote the best  biography introducing Cameron’s work to the public:  Photographing Montana:  the Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron.   

 

For more of Evelyn’s fascinating story, visit this blog entry at Shades of the Departed. 

Sources for photographs, in order:  

Self Portrait Kneading Bread, Montana Historical Society; Portrait on horse:  this one is available several places online and I don’t know the original source; Self portrait with camera, University of Montana Museum; Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910, Montana Historical Society; Marsh School House, 1910, original source unknown; Book cover:  Mountain Press. 

sallymandy

posted by Barbara (aka Sallymandy) at Chronologie Fine Vintage. 

New Photography by Jean Albus

Dark Before Dawn, Jean Albus, 2010

If you were visiting my blog last year, you might remember when I posted some work by Montana artist/photographer Jean Albus.  Click here to see those posts. 

And now here’s more wonderment from Jean.  The next images are from her 2009 collection “What Else is There to Say About Land.”   

Jean’s work combines images that speak to me:  the often harsh landscape of Montana, where four generations of my family have lived; images of women; the feminine and flowing lines of beautiful fabrics and clothing. 

Somehow, these are related.    

Even I, not given to conscious stereotyping about my home state, can conjure a cowboys-and-tumbleweed image of Montana in my mind. 

But Jean’s work shows a woman here; finding her place in this land….touching, feeling, literally immersing herself in place.  In a part of the earth where geography so clearly dominates human movement, I have needed to do the same.  I have spent hours and days making my peace with the land:  leaving my footprints, ski tracks, tire marks in deep recesses of mountains where I might not be found for days if I got lost.  I have needed to lie down, dive in, dig my hands deep into the elements of the earth. 

Nowadays this urge is not so strong.  I have reached some kind of equilibrium—unconscious, mostly—with these external forms.  Always aware of them, always knowing on the edges of my consciousness that they’re there, the mountains and the forests hold me like primeval mothers’ arms.  Knowing this, I spend more time indoors, exploring the inner wilderness of line, form, and color. 

Jean Albus’ work reminds me of who I am in this place where I came into the world.

sallymandy

You can see more of Jean’s art, and contact her, at her gallery on Flickr.

Colors of the Montana Winter

I got a new camera for Christmas.  It was a gift from my hubby.

Now, I have to tell a little story.  Our friend Greg suggested my hubby be called Captain Vegas in my blog.  I like that name, since my hubby currently lives in Las Vegas.  But since he’s actually a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, he’s going to be called Col. Vegas. 

So anyway, I took my gift from Col. Vegas out on my walk today. 

Walks are supposed to calm and center people, but it took me a long time to calm down.  I was excited by my recent sales at my store and my head was full of sewing ideas.  The Crazy Canyon Trail system seemed like a fitting location.   

I have been holing up in the house sewing and winding down from Christmas.  My fingernails are stained with fabric dye (see it?):  

 

and I’ve been wearing the same three outfits for two weeks.

It felt good to be outside and breathing cold, fresh air.   But I wanted to get back to my wool and colors and thread.  Usually the winter landscape doesn’t start bothering me until about February or March, but today it looked colorless already. 

So I set myself the task of finding colors.  Here’s what I found. 

A sort-of color on a ponderosa pine tree.  I love ponderosas, which smell of vanilla on a hot summer day.  Okay, that’s one color.  What would you call it?  Burnt sienna? 

And of course there’s pine-tree green, like you see in the background above.  Somehow, though, the preponderance of white and gray in the Montana winter makes my mind blank out the green.  From town, the wooded mountainsides just look black.  It’s only up close that you see the needles really are green.   

I found a few others.  Pale yellow…  

Citron green…now that’s a real color! 

Orange!

More green… 

Teensy little shriveled up rose hip…red! 

And yet another cold-looking green…

Finally, a little bit of blue.

My Montana grandmother used to say that if there was enough blue in the sky to make a Dutch boy’s pants, the weather would turn clear.

What do you think?  What size is a Dutch boy?   

sallymandy

A Day at the Market

This is a dahlia that sallymandy bought at the farmer’s market. 

First of all,I would like to start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I am my mom’s guest blogger today, and my name is SeeSpotRun. (Well, that’s just my user name. My mom won’t let me tell you my real name, but I’ll give you a hint. It starts with an H). Anyways, I’m 12 years old and I live with my parents and two Westies, Clover and Riley. (Riley has posed as a Vanna White dog before on this blog.) I love to do track, play soccer, play tennis, (I’m not very good at tennis though), play around with computers, read, play violin, and cook. I hope you enjoy this post! 

Today, my mom, my friend, her parents, her sisters, her grandma and I all went down to the Farmer’s Market in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana. I love the markets on Saturday mornings in the summer because I just bike downtown because we live so close! And another thing I love, the vegetables and fruit are local and fresh, and grown by fellow farmers. We also went to the People’s Market which is just like the Farmer’s market but instead of selling food; they sell jewelry, photography, (which I was very pleased about because I love photography. I took all of the pictures on this post, actually). :). They also sell food from local restaurants. I love the markets!!!                            ♥ ♥ ♥

This is Sallymandy with her Dahlia at the People’s Market. (She is very happy and will try not to kill the Dahlia.) :)

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This is a traditional Australian instrument called a Didjeridu. I tried playing one in 3rd grade, and it was very cool. It’s amazing how these things are made. These were first made by the Aboriginal people.

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This is a little Dachshund puppy that we met at the People’s Market. Isn’t he cute?!?!?!?! I was honored to hold him. We weren’t told what his name is, so I just call him Milo. (That’s not me in the picture, it’s the owner of the dog, I think.)

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This is in a really awesome restaurant called Butterfly Herbs. We got the bumper sticker that SM is holding there. I love that bumper sticker, and Butterfly Herbs! (This restaurant is in downtown Missoula.)

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Give up guessing what that thing is??? Well, it’s a dragon model that’s hanging on the wall in Butterfly Herbs. I think it’s pretty cool.

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I couldn’t have thought of a better saying.

By: Benjamin Franklin

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Jars, jars, and more jars! All in my favorite restaurant: Butterfly Herbs! Where else?

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Sallymandy took this picture. It’s the saying on one of my personal favorite T-shirts. I got it at Old Navy for about $5, I think.

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Isn’t this a cool bag? I love it! If you don’t know what it is, it’s a fish. :)

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Personally, this is one of my favorite stores EVER!!! It has such cool stuff! And it’s all about the way people express themselves-through art. They sell decorative toys with wacky designs and all sorts of interesting stuff like that.

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This is a farting skunk toy inside Tsunami. His name is Pooty. It’s hard to believe what some artists will make.

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Thank you for

reading this post.

I hope you enjoyed it

as much as I did

making it for you!

♥,

SeeSpotRun

All rights reserved, SeeSpotRun, 2009.

May not be copied or used without permission.

Follow Me on a Walk Downtown

 

I think I’m lucky.  Living where I do, I love my commute to work.   

Want to come along as I walk downtown today?    

That first photo up there shows the Clark Fork River and Mt Jumbo from the footbridge where I cross it…  

…and here’s the river looking downstream to the west.  This the wettest time of year, and things are still lush.  In a few weeks the river will be way, way down. 

Once across the river, I head west along this bike path. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rosebush along the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

On my left is the river…

  …and on my right is the Kiwanis Club Park. 

First stop in my work day today:  the public library.  I need some information from the Montana Room, so I head inside. 

Remember the old-fashioned card catalog?  Still alive and well in the history section of the library—the rest is heavily computerized.  This is where I’ll look for the stuff I need for work. 

In the corner of the Montana Room, a photo of my grandfather hangs on the wall.  That’s him in the upper left corner.  He helped get this new library built in the 1970s.

 

Before we leave, I must show you on of the best things here:  a “Gnome Home” carved by local artists encased in glass.  Let’s get a closer look at the incredible detail. 

Here’s one of the rooms inside the Gnome Home.  I took the picture through the glass.  See that little Tiffany-style lamp?  It’s about an inch tall. 

The tiny stool is the size of a spool of thread.

And now, back to my commute…

I’m now passing the old library—the one I went to as a young child.  This was one of the “Carnegie Libraries” which the Scottish/American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie supported in the early 1900s in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. 

Today this building holds the Missoula Art Museum. 

You can see the new extension of the museum attached to the old library.  I don’t care for the architecture…but the museum’s lovely inside.    

Next stop:  Regional Headquarters of the Forest Service.  The library didn’t have a map I needed, but I can find it here.

Now that’s done, it’s time for more fun!  This is Worden’s Market.  It was the first grocery store in Missoula.  I come here almost every work day.

Worden’s is known for its wine selection…

…but I’m here for my java.  Since the recession kicked in, the coffee bar is self-serve.

  

I love to ogle the chocolate by the cash register!

Joel thought I should take a photo of him if I was going to take one of the chocolate.  

On my way out the door, a parting shot at the deli counter. 

Can’t put it off any longer…it’s almost time to work. 

This is the Brunswick Hotel, which my friend Leslie operates as artists’ and writers’ studios.  She also lives here and does her fabulous encaustic art in her own studio.  The hotel was built in 1875, and I adore its character. 

Would you like to see how we’ll get out of the building if there’s a fire?

Second story window, chain-link ladder.  May that never happen.

Ah, well.  Here’s the crooked aqua staircase…

…and the hallway to my door (suck in your tummy, it’s narrow)…

…and my desk. 

You have seen these last two photos before, in my post about what not to give up in a recession.  This writing space in on my short list.

Now get to work, Sallymandy! 

And all of you?  Thanks for joining me…♥

All rights reserved, The Blue Kimono 2009.  With the exception of the photograph of the exterior of the Missoula Public Library, all photos were taken by me and may not be reproduced without permission.