The new Tippet Rise Art Center, settled along the rolling plains just beneath the Beartooth Mountains in Fishtail, Mont., opens to the public today. Founded by philanthropists Cathy and Peter Halstead, the 11,500-acre sheep and cattle ranch also serves as an artistic haven celebrating multiple creative media and explores how they respond to the surrounding natural environment. For the next specially curated seven-week season, local residents and visitors alike will get to experience the union of art, architecture, and live music to inaugurate the new center's tradition of weekly performances.

Two spaces were built to host live performances. The first venue, Olivier Music Barn, is made of local timber whose form is a classic timber frame with a specially designed pitched roof to elevate the performances’ sounds. The acoustical design for the barn was conceived by Alban Bassuet, acoustician and Tippet Rise director, who envisioned a regionally sensitive building that humbled its inhabitants. The art organization tapped on architect Laura Viklund of Gunnstock Timber Framing, based out of Powell, Wyo., and international engineering firm Arup to realize it. Pianist Nikolai Demidenko will kick off the summer in Olivier Music Barn.

Tiara Acoustic Shell
Tippet Rise Art Center Tiara Acoustic Shell

The second venue is the Tiara Acoustic Shell, an open-air, portable edifice that envelops up to 100 audience members with an elevated timber arc. This arc shades performers and audience members, and reflects the musicians’ sounds from a semi-circular stage meeting the edges of the shell’s supporting beams. The open spaces between the buttresses allow for expansive views of the nearby mountains and open fields. It was engineered by Willem Boning of Arup’s Soundlab.

Four installations by five artists were also realized on the site. Large-scale installation pieces include works by Chapel Hill, N.C.-based sculptor Patrick Dougherty; New York structural artist Stephen Talasnik; abstract expressionist Mark di Suvero, also of New York; and Spanish firm Ensamble Studio, led by principals Antón Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa. Each of their works respond to the surrounding landscape and embraces the bare elements of the Montana prairie.

Patrick Dougherty wielded “Daydreams,” a gnarled, organic structure enveloping and invading a retired, weathered schoolhouse dating back to the 18th century. The idea behind the structure is to emulate the tireless imagination of children while stuck in school and yearning to go outside as opposed to being still indoors.
Patrick Dougherty Patrick Dougherty wielded “Daydreams,” a gnarled, organic structure enveloping and invading a retired, weathered schoolhouse dating back to the 18th century. The idea behind the structure is to emulate the tireless imagination of children while stuck in school and yearning to go outside as opposed to being still indoors.
New York structural artist Stephen Talasnik created a sequence of “nomadic structures” made of several linear pieces of organic materials to form repeated geometric shapes that command visual curiosity. Dubbed “The Satellite Series,” the architectural yet enigmatic structures will be left to the bare elements of the Montana prairie. Part of Talasnik’s execution of large-scale pieces made for the outdoors is how they weather in nature, and what happens when they are left alone.
Stephen Talasnik New York structural artist Stephen Talasnik created a sequence of “nomadic structures” made of several linear pieces of organic materials to form repeated geometric shapes that command visual curiosity. Dubbed “The Satellite Series,” the architectural yet enigmatic structures will be left to the bare elements of the Montana prairie. Part of Talasnik’s execution of large-scale pieces made for the outdoors is how they weather in nature, and what happens when they are left alone.
Abstract expressionist Mark di Suvero’s “Beethoven’s Quartet” will be installed as part of the fine arts display, which was aptly chosen for the site’s musical connection. Made of geometric, steel components, the dynamic structures provide intrigue with their moving pieces.
Mark di Suvero Abstract expressionist Mark di Suvero’s “Beethoven’s Quartet” will be installed as part of the fine arts display, which was aptly chosen for the site’s musical connection. Made of geometric, steel components, the dynamic structures provide intrigue with their moving pieces.
Antón Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa’s architectural firm Ensamble Studio uses raw materials that look as if they have been extracted from the Earth’s core to make architectural projects. “Tia Piano,” made out of salvaged wood, pays homage to the site’s musical elements.
Ensamble Studio Antón Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa’s architectural firm Ensamble Studio uses raw materials that look as if they have been extracted from the Earth’s core to make architectural projects. “Tia Piano,” made out of salvaged wood, pays homage to the site’s musical elements.