about the artist

Montana sculptor Dawn Gass started her career in advertising
design, but soon discovered that her true calling was in fine art -
sculpture specifically. A mid-westerer by birth, Dawn grew up in
central Wisconsin and earned her BA in journalism and
advertising at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. In love
with the western lifestyle since childhood, following college
Dawn and her husband, Tim, discovered their true home when
they moved to western Montana to pursue the lifestlye they both
wanted. Dawn continued to work in advertising in various
medias, but found that it just did not fully satisfy her creative
drive. She started to paint in her spare time and loved it - but still
something was lacking. Having had a long-time love affair with
sculpture, one day Dawn decided to give it a shot. She bought
some clay and tools. She got her hands in that clay, and they just
have never come back out...

Dawn then studied under Montana sculptor Len McCann
for several years. During that time, she had several of her
pieces cast into bronze. Finally, she decided that it was
time to take her work to the public and started to enter into
juried shows throughout the western United States. Art is
now a focal point in Dawn's life. She finds it hard to go for
more than a couple of days without getting her hands back
into clay. Today, Dawn's award-winning work can be seen
at invitational events and juried shows throughout the
west and midwest - from Washington, down to California,
and east to Wisconsin and Illinios. She is also showing her
work exclusively through The Pacific Coast Galley in the
coastal town of Depoe Bay, Oregon.

Inspiration for Dawn comes easily living in western Montana.
Along with her husband and two sons, she resides in a log home
on a 20 acre piece of mountain property that is home to almost all
western wild species. Elk, deer, bighorn sheep, moose, cougar,
bear, and even the occasional wolf have all been observed on the
property. The land contains two large and remote ponds which
serve as a great watering hole - and hence - viewing area for much
of this wildlife. Living in this wild country also brings with it
many unique situations and experiences, such as when , in
seperate situations, both a newborn fawn and a month old
mountain lion cub needed rescueing. Dawn is also an avid
horsewoman and relies on experiences from logging literally
thousands of miles from the back of a horse through the
mountains. (She competed in Endurance Riding/Racing events
before art took over and consumed to much of her time!) Many of
her pieces are direct and indirect results of actual events/situations
gleamed from these many miles and encounters with wildlife.
Another of Dawn's passions is her love of western history - most
particularly that of our pioneer ancestors as they made their
journeys west along the Oregon Trail, and then struggled to make
it in this new and wild land that has become today's much tamer
west.

To sum it up, Dawn is very much a woman of the modern
west who draws greatly not only from today's west, but also
the west of yesterday in her work. She often focuses on the
human figure, but animal subjects, especially horses which
she knows so well - frequently pop up as well. One consistent
aspect of her work, however, whether the subject is human or
animal, is her attention to gestures, body language, and
expressions, resulting in pieces that although cast in bronze
metal, radiate the personality and soul of the person or animal
presented. Although each piece captures what is simply, "a
moment in time", it also digs a bit deeper to capture
underlying emotions.