Montana Born
MONTANA BORN
Western Fine Art Collective
Established 2026 · Bozeman, Montana
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Three artists. One landscape. A shared way of seeing.
Montana Born is a fine art collective founded by three Montana artists — Allison McGree, Kelley J. Sullivan, and Hannah Uhde — united by a single conviction: that the land of the American West is not a subject to be depicted, but a presence to be answered.
We work in different mediums. We work in different palettes. We came to this work along different roads. But we share a country — the rivers, ranges, fence lines, and weather of Montana — and we share the belief that the West deserves art made by the people who live in it.
ROOTED IN PLACE
Montana is not a backdrop for our work. It is the source of it.
Between us, we hold generations of Montana heritage — Allison and Hannah are both sixth-generation Montanans, with family roots that reach back to the earliest days of the state. Together, the three of us hold decades of practice across Montana, with studios within an hour of one another in the shadow of the Bridgers and the Tobacco Roots. We have painted the Madison, the Gallatin, the Missouri. We have walked the gravel roads and the tall grass. We have stood in the same golden hour that has stopped Montanans in their tracks for as long as there have been Montanans.
The West has a long tradition of being looked at — romanticized by visitors, mythologized from a distance. Montana Born exists to look from within it. Our work is western because we are western. Our authenticity is not a style we apply; it is the ground we stand on.
THE ARTISTS
Allison McGree
A sixth-generation Montanan, Bozeman-based contemporary western fine artist, and educator, Allison founded Allison McGree Fine Art in 2002 and has spent more than two decades creating expressionist paintings, sculpted bas-relief, and large-scale public murals across Montana. Her work is represented by the LeeAnn Ramey Gallery and Altitude Gallery in Bozeman and the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, and her portfolio includes more than twenty community murals statewide. She holds a BA in Fine Art from Gonzaga University, a BA in K–12 Arts Education from Montana State University, and an MA in Holistic Arts Programming from Prescott College, and serves as Professor of Art Education at Montana State University. She is a recipient of multiple Montana Arts Council Strategic Investment Grants and a Made in Montana certified artist.
allisonmcgree.com →
Kelley J. Sullivan
A mixed media painter working from Bozeman, Kelley brings a contemporary edge to the collective — her work moves between abstraction and atmosphere, shaped by the textures and weather of the Montana landscape. Represented by Corwin Galleries in Hamilton, she has held solo exhibitions at venues including Moreno Fine Art Gallery, The Gem Gallery, the Emerson Cultural Center, and ERA Landmark, and her group shows extend from Bozeman to Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Winston-Salem. From 2019 to 2022 she owned and curated Rapscallion Studio and Gallery in Bozeman. She has been named Bozeman's #1 Local Visual Artist (2022) and #2 Local Visual Artist (2024) in Bozeman's Choice Reader's Poll, and received the Emerging Artist Award at Best of the Northwest in 2019.
kelleyjsullivan.com →
Hannah Uhde
A sixth-generation Montanan, oil painter, and muralist based in Clancy, Hannah holds an MFA from the University of Northampton in England, where she received the Bonarota Award for Excellence, and a BA with Honors from Montana State University. Represented by the LeeAnn Ramey Art Gallery in Bozeman, her work has been exhibited at the Holter Museum of Art, the Paris Gibson Museum of Art, and internationally at Opus 39 Gallery in Cyprus. Her public art includes large-scale copper paintings at MSU-Bozeman's Romney Hall, the Bull Trout endangered species mural for the Craighead Institute, and two 9'×40' exterior murals in Bozeman. Her work has appeared multiple times in Outside Magazine and was mentioned in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards issue for her painting in the permanent collection at Bozeman's Armory Hotel.
denorthart.com →
WHY A COLLECTIVE
Working alongside other artists who share your country changes the work. It sharpens the eye. It deepens the conversation. It makes the practice less solitary and the perspective wider.
Montana Born is not a gallery or a stylistic school. It is three independent practices in deliberate company — each artist continuing her own body of work, her own gallery representation, and her own collectors, but coming together for exhibitions, shows, and shared projects where the sum is more than the parts.
What we share is more than geography. We share a standard for the work, a respect for the land it comes from, and a commitment to representing the West as it actually is — not as it has been packaged.
ON THE HORIZON
Montana Born makes its formal debut at the Western Design Conference 2026, August at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman — one of the most respected gatherings of western fine art, design, and craft in the country. It is the right stage, in the right city, for a collective with this name.
A full Montana Born website and a first run of collective merchandise are both in the works, launching ahead of WDC 2026. Beyond the conference, we are building toward a future of shared exhibitions, collaborative projects, and a continuing conversation with collectors, curators, and audiences who care about the American West and the artists who actually call it home.
STAY CLOSE
Follow the collective on Instagram at @montanabornart for studio glimpses, road notes, and the first look at new work, the upcoming website, and our debut merchandise.
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MONTANA BORN
Western Fine Art from the Land That Made Us
montanabornart.com · @montanabornart
This collective has been gifted individual SIG (Strategic Investment Grants) from the Montana Arts Council in order to expand their reach and make the magic happen! They are all extremely grateful for the support of our state's premier arts organization.
