Jonathan Qualben's Biggest Fan

I volunteer for a group called Living Art. They help people who are going through life-changing trauma...loss, cancer treatment, a terminal diagnosis...using art, music, movement, and nature. They help over 300 people in a year, and charge nothing for their services. I came to them in a roundabout way, not because I'm terribly involved in either therapy or the arts. I am, however, a girl who can't say no when asked to volunteer.

As worthy as this group is, this isn't really about them. Once a year, they hold a fundraising dinner and auction called The Light Show. It is a fabulous production with amazing food, a fun atmosphere, and a live auction of lamps and mirrors that have been made and donated by various artists here in Missoula and also beyond. It is the most intriguing collection of work you will ever see. You can see some of them here: http://www.livingartofmontana.org/Home.asp

As amazing as this event is, this isn't really about that, either. This is a tribute to Jonathan Qualben, an artist who uses concrete to create soaring, sweeping figures that look as though they are about to take flight. I won the auction at the Light Show for this lamp, titled Another Bright Idea. It may be the most down to earth, solid work of Jonathan Qualben's that I have ever seen, and yet it still has that quality of movement...the top of his head, a lot like a mortar board, appears ready to eject with the force of his idea...light pours from his eyes and mouth and cheeks and ears, as if he is about to shed his mortal skin and become his true self, a being of light and intellect.

Sometimes people who see this for the first time are taken aback (I always turn the light on first) and even think he looks frightening, or spooky. He does have a sort of Frankenstein aspect when you first see him, a squareness; he's not smooth and regular, he's cobbled together, layer on layer, made, not born. But I live with the guy, and here's how he really looks...he's joyous. He's handsome, with great cheekbones and a strong jaw, and a mouthful of big, white teeth open in a gleeful shout of "Eureka!". I'm ideologically disinclined to love possessions, but he is more than a work of art...he's a personality.

Qualben's other works include many figures that hang on a wall, a Moby Dick of a trout that swims in the Dana Gallery at present, and my personal grail, towering figures in Caras Nursery that make me think of angels...not the ones with harps and simpering blue eyes...the angels of the Apocolypse, the warriors of God and Nature, the guardians of the world. I really really need one, so please call me right away the minute you're ready to buy or sell a house. I figure I only need to sell about 40 this year to get an angel. You can see more of Qualben's work at his website: http://www.jonathanqualben.com/