ERA Landmark proudly announces our current Guest Artists showing in our downtown Bozeman office! Stop by to view Alex & Yulia Newby's beautiful landscape photography now through the month of June! Join us Friday, June 10th from 6-8pm for the first Art Walk of the season in Downtown Bozeman!

About Alex Newby

"Born and raised in Belgrade, Montana, Alex has spent a lifetime conversing with the land, the water, the stars, and the skies of the Big Sky state. He grew up at the airport in Belgrade; he grew up in the wheat, potato, and alfalfa fields of the river valleys of southwest Montana. As a lad, he chased deer on the Madison River bluffs and worked as driver/loader for his Dad’s aerial application operation, known in the area as Agwagons. Bugs, weeds, and potato blight were dispatched with chemically. As a student of history, culture and the land, he learned standard histories, Christian histories, and the metanarratives that accompanied them. He also recognized the erasure of histories silencing of voices, and he wondered, 'Why? Why is there silence about natives in Native American country? Can we not find them? Are they unwilling to share what they know?' As Montanans do, he loves this land that bore and sustains him. He wants to know her.

The people who know her intimately live in Lodge Grass, Heart Butte, Lame Deer, and Wolf Point. He went looking, and they found him. They taught him you can’t know a place if you don’t know her people. 

Along the way, he soldiered, philosophized, sold fries, taught courses at MSU, and delivered students to their studies in golden busses. Fifteen years were committed to Siberia, learning the ways of the Buryat and Russian nations. Shamans, students, Academics, wrestlers, Lamas, and gangsters - he listened to them all. There, in the Steppe city of Ulan-Ude, he married the lovely, dynamic, iron-willed Yulia, daughter of the Ekhirit and Bulagat tribes of the Buryat people. 2015 brought them back to Bozeman, to dwell in the upper Missouri watershed."

About Alex & Yulia's Work

"Aqua pura. H2O. Through Montana’s veins and arteries, the lifeblood of water flows. Mni wiconi, the Dakota, Lakota, Nakoda concept you have encountered these last few years means: Water is life. To be human is to be water; each of us are the thriving extensions of the watershed we abide in. Life surging in my veins from birth until now is Gallatin River flow. Where pure water flows, life springs abundantly. When water is polluted, life falters, sickens, and dies. Voices of moving water, drumming, babbling, and crashing refresh our mental health. Water is medicine. And water speaks. When algae blooms four years consecutively, Gallatin is speaking. Listen.

What we allow in water, we put in us. You have heard it said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I say to you, “do not pollute the flow into your downstream neighbors, that is love.” Another piece of wisdom often heard uttered (usually in reference to an engine in the circles I grew up in) is “Take care of her, and she’ll take care of you.” This is reciprocity. Living water must benefit from its relationship with us. Water blesses us. Are we blessing water? Displayed here before you are portraits of the waters of the Missouri River watershed. Many of these waters, I have known all my life. Others, I have intentionally sought out to come in relationship with. Perhaps you carry a flame for one. Renew your flame. Possibly, you are new to this land. Listen, friend. Listen and know the voice of the waters you have come to. They know you. And, these waters? These waters are your neighbors; these waters are our life."

Our Pledge

ERA Landmark has always approached hanging artists in our office a little differently - instead of taking a commission from art sales, we ask our artists to donate a small percentage towards a local charity or nonprofit near and dear to their hearts. Alex & Yulia have pledged to donate 10% of her art proceeds from any sales to Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, a local nonprofit organization in Gallatin Valley working to "use a combination of strong science, community action, and legal expertise to defend the Upper Missouri River, its tributaries, and communities against threats to clean water and healthy rivers." To further help support the Newby's cause, ERA Landmark will be price matching a donation of up to $250 as well towards the same association.

Join Us For Art Walk!

There's no better time to come meet and greet Alex & Yulia than June 10th from 6-8pm for downtown Bozeman's first Art Walk of the summer! Hosted by ERA Landmark, there will be refreshments, a prize drawing, and great conversation all around! We hope to see you there.

Alex Newby's Instagram Feed