{"id":7299,"date":"2015-07-07T07:25:30","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T13:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=7299"},"modified":"2015-07-08T09:20:08","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:20:08","slug":"hillside-full-of-bleu-horses-is-sculptors-gift-to-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/07\/hillside-full-of-bleu-horses-is-sculptors-gift-to-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillside full of &#8216;Bleu Horses&#8217; is sculptor&#8217;s gift to Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-7299\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"7299-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-044.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-044-771x456.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Bozeman sculptor Jim Dolan stands with one of his 39 steel equines, part of his Bleu Horses herd. Click on the arrow at top right for more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"7299-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-010.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-010-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A foal and a mare, on the hillside north of Three Forks<\/p><\/div><div id=\"7299-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-123-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-123.jpg\" \/><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Bleu Horses, blue sky.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"7299-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-066-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-066.jpg\" \/><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Bleu tableau.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"7299-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-071-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-071.jpg\" \/><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The Bleu Horses, with the Tobacco Root Mountains in the distance.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"7299-slide6\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-064.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bleu-Horses-Wheat-MT-Jim-Dolan-064-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Gary Pemble <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Ridge-top encounter.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 7299, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/07\/hillside-full-of-bleu-horses-is-sculptors-gift-to-montana\/', 6 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>Horses symbolize speed and passion, and their fundamental nature suggests wild and open movement. More than anything, perhaps, horses are a symbol of freedom.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, there is a certain freedom in art that lies in being bold and emancipated, as well as in taking the initiative. Artists are what they make of themselves\u2014and what they choose to make for others.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Bleu Horses,&#8221; a herd of 39 metal equines near Three Forks, epitomizes the valiance and mystique of the horse and American West, and they make clear the core of their creator, Jim Dolan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a reason that the horses aren\u2019t fenced in,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s because of freedom. Horses need pure freedom. Who doesn\u2019t want to be free?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolan\u2019s herd is visible off Highway 287 about four miles north of Three Forks, milling about on a bentonite-rich hillside west of the roadway. From the road, they appear painted blue with slits of black or white paint, casting shadows and a three-dimensional oddity. We see a patch of nature run artistically amok: manes and tails\u20144,000 feet of de-braided polyester rope\u2014blowing in the prairie wind. Heads relax on movable ball bearings. But as one looks closer at the shading, the forms and the scale and perspective of the sculptures, it makes one think more carefully, more cautiously, about the scene of its making.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cI receive a lot of emotional comments about the horses,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cPeople have an emotional connection to them. Some people will say that it\u2019s one of the neatest things that they have ever seen. Horses are a real tie-in to humanity. We all dealt with horses in one way or another if you go far enough back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes in life we do not know the heaviness until we feel the freedom. Bleu Horses delivers a sense of equanimity and liberation, the sort of serenity many strive for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a very calming thing to be up here,\u201d said Dolan, who lives in Bozeman. \u201cIt\u2019s a sculpture of horses, and they are not horses. It\u2019s my idea and interpretation of them, and they are not exact copies of horses. They are who and what they are, right? Nothing Hollywood or exaggerated or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 40-some years, Dolan, 67, has created more than 170 large-scale public pieces, as well as hundreds of commissions. He pays attention to craters, nooks and cavities, and the contrast of smooth and serrated. Making use of tools to sever and shape steel, he conjoins a network of paths. Innovative structures take shape as he re-arranges metal and translates the hardest of surfaces to take on the creases of flesh or the contours of anatomy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7306\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-7306 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brianbleu-1.jpg\" alt=\"Horse\" width=\"336\" height=\"448\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Brian D&#039;Ambrosio<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Bleu Horse, in profile.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He created all 39 horses sculptures in 15 months, but at that point, he had no place for them to call home. One morning, Dolan articulated his frustration to Dean Folksvord, owner of Wheat Montana, and Folksvord instantly offered Kamp Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Kamp Hill is positioned with a sweeping view of the Tobacco Root and Elkhorn mountains. It\u2019s not uncommon to spot a herd of mule deer, or elk, or a pack of coyotes. In the spring, poppies and blue flax adorn the meadow. \u201cThere are about 100 different species of grass and flowers on this hill,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cRattlesnakes, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sculptures were integrated into the arid landscape beginning one Friday morning in September of 2013. It was an imaginative tale come to life, an instant legend.<\/p>\n<p>As cars and semi-trailers honked, a number of installations were placed on the ridge looking at the Tobacco Root Mountains. Several of the foals were placed down, one of them in a nursing position. A number of the horses were set up to appear as if grazing and others stared down at the road with tilted ears. Depending on the perspective, some looked razor-thin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a jackhammer, a trailer tractor, six trailers and three days of moving,\u201d said Dolan. \u201cWe placed them left, right, placed them in moving positions, nursing, laying down. We just started placing them and somehow we had the intuition to set them up right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heraclitus is credited with saying, \u201cNo man ever steps in the same river twice, for it&#8217;s not the same river and he&#8217;s not the same man.\u201d Perhaps the same can be said for the confluence of art, metal and the mountains, for the Bleu Horses change hourly, daily, seasonally. Dawn and dusk are the magic hours for glimpsing such variations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sunset really highlights the horses,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cIn the mornings, the sun comes up from the east ridge. It\u2019s always spectacular\u2014always different. I could come up here a couple of times a week and never see the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7307\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-7307 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brianbleu-2-771x257.jpg\" alt=\"Dolan again\" width=\"771\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brianbleu-2.jpg 771w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brianbleu-2-336x112.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Brian D&#039;Ambrosio<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dolan, with his herd in the background.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Dolan was born and raised in Livermore, Calif., and he calls the Bleu Horses his gift to the people of Montana, a way of giving back to a state that has supported his art for many years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLivermore was the size of Three Forks when I was growing up and now it has about 80,000 people,\u201d he said. \u201cThanks to conservation easements, the ranches back then are still ranches now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolan and Wheat Montana have made a gentleman\u2019s pact to allow the Bleu Horses to exist as a permanent part of the Gallatin County scenery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMontana is great for metal art because nothing rusts in Montana,\u201d said Dolan. \u201cThese should never rust out, not with the nine inches of yearly rain we get. This is their home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolan spoke with disappointment about a similar outdoor sculpture area known as the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota, a 30-mile stretch of large metal sculptures placed along the county highway, each with a parking area and kiosk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Enchanted Highway was really a neat idea,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the sculptures haven\u2019t been maintained and it\u2019s really sad to see them just lying in the ground. I don\u2019t want this to happen that way\u2014and it won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As far as stopping at Bleu Horses, Dolan asks little of visitors, other than that they be respectful of the land (and watch for rattlesnakes) and simply enjoy their amble among the hardened herd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI certainly don\u2019t discourage people from coming to see and experience the horses,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cAs I said, it\u2019s a gift to the people of Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Horses symbolize speed and passion, and their fundamental nature suggests wild and open movement. More than anything, perhaps, horses are a symbol of freedom. Likewise, there is a certain freedom in art that lies in being bold and emancipated, as well as in taking the initiative. Artists are what they make of themselves\u2014and what they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[2765,2769,2764,2768,2767,2766],"class_list":["post-7299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-diversions","tag-bleu-horses","tag-dean-folksvord","tag-jim-dolan","tag-kamp-hill","tag-three-forks","tag-wheat-montana","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}