An Art Auction Would Broaden Minds, Wallets

Charlie Russell, America’s most famous western artist cashed his chips and rode into the sunset 71 years ago.

In Great Falls, however, his memory, his art and his appeal remain very much alive.

The vigor flowing from Russell’s empty boots, still are on display at the C.M. Russell Museum a few blocks from downtown Great Falls, offer an inspring, instructive example of how a midsized city can reap major benefits from a thriving art scene.

Great Falls has made the life, times and art of Charlie Russell into an industry. A big industry.

Three Saturday nights ago more than 900 people from around the United States jammed into the lobby of the Great Falls Heritage Inn and bought $864,900 worth of Western art.

A Russell bronze sold for $85,000, a record for the auction.

After all expenses and commissions were paid, the sale of the art generated $175,000 for the C.M. Russell Museum. “That represents a substantial portion of our operating budget, probably 12%,” said Lorne Render, executive director of the museum.

Russell art fans now order more than $400,000 a year in Russell memorabilia from the museum’s gift shop. Summer tourist visits to this breezy, high plains city have bucked right up with the popularity of the art auction.

Most important, the city’s embrace of Russell’s art and life has provided an enviable sense of community pride. “It’s filled the community with enthusiasm for 29 years,” said Norma Ashby, a longtime Montana TV personality and one of the founders of the Russell auction. “That’s really our secret. We have managed to keep our excitement and enthusiasm.”

Dr. Tom Rulon of Spokane has attended 28 of the 29 Russell art auctions in Great Falls.

Inspired, Rulon tried hard to build a similar event in Spokane to support the now defunct Museum of Native American Cultures. Why did Great Falls succeed where Spokane failed?

“We finally ran out of volunteers,” Rulon wryly recalled.

It was more than that. “In Great Falls, the auction has had some excellent leadership and community support that goes way back and has always given them plenty of help,” Rulon explained.

The leadership comes from the Great Falls Advertising Federation, a group that continues to organize and run the the big auction each year.

Ashby and two others conceived of the fund-raising auction in 1968 after the Montana Attorney General said the Ad Club’s raffle to give away a Cadillac was illegal.

Ashby now thinks three factors have combined to make the Russell auction a success.

“First is our namesake, Charlie Russell,” she said. “He is the best Western artist ever. They love the man.

“Second is the institution the auction benefits. The C.M. Russell Museum is a gem.

“Third, we continue to have the hard work of the Great Falls Advertising Federation. This year we had 223 members of the Ad Club and 185 of them worked the auction. That’s incredible support.”

Tom Rulon still thinks these elements for a world-class artistic success story could be pulled together in Spokane.

“It’s conceivable that something like this could be worked around the Eastern Washington State Historical Society,” he said. “The first big task would be to find some organization that has the people and enthusiasm shown by the Great Falls Ad Club.

While Spokane doesn’t have the C.M. Russell Museum, the city does have the considerable resources of the Cheney Cowles Museum with its outstanding American Indian collection, including the former MONAC collection.

This year, the Cheney Cowles Museum is lobbying the Washington state legislature hard for funds to construct a major new building. But as C.M. Russell Museum executive director Render notes, it’s not the building that matters as much as the business of building excitement around a museum.

“To succeed in small and midsized markets, museums have to be much more entrepreneural,” he observed. “That means more marketing, more product development, more goods sold from the gift shop.”

Interestingly, the C.M. Russell Museum receives no state or federal money for operations. “In some ways I think this makes us a little healthier than museums that rely on government funding,” he said. Alas, Spokane has no great western artist who has yet lived and died in the area.

But a great American Indian did.

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce is buried less than a half-day’s drive from Spokane. The story of Chief Joseph and his native lands of Eastern Washington and North Idaho remains a fascinating and provocative topic.

The life and times of Chief Joseph could fill a museum, and in fact does fill a portion of the Cheney Cowles. Artistic renderings of Chief Joseph and American Indian motifs could fill an art auction.

The synergy of art, economics and community pride built around such a project could be a tremendous asset to a city.

If you don’t believe it, next March visit Great Falls on C.M. Russell auction night.

, DataTimes MEMO: Chris Peck is the editor of The Spokesman-Review. His column appears each Sunday on Perspective.