Theodore Waddell, December Angus Drawing #4, 1989, acrylic and graphite on paper and Jatte's Angus #2, 1995, oil on canvas
Purchased for the MAM Collection with a gift from Miriam Sample

Theodore Waddell's December Angus Drawing #4 and Jatte's Angus #2, a significant oil on canvas painting from 1995, were purchased for the MAM Collection in 2007 with a generous gift from Miriam Sample. MAM is fortunate  to receive the kind support of Sample, a Billings patron who has dedicated her life's energy and resources to supporting the work of living artists and Montana's contemporary art culture. Sample passed away on June 16, 2008. More can be read about her in a recent Billings Gazette article.

December Angus Drawing #4 will be shown at MAM for the first time in Our Familiar, a survey of collection artworks open July 30-October 25, while Jatte's Angus #2 will be unveiled in a later exhibition.

Waddell was born in Billings in 1941 and grew up in Laurel. He expressed his creativity early through in music, jazz, particularly. Not until he took a
painting class at Eastern Montana College with one of Montana's first Modernist paintings, Isabelle Johnson, did he discover a passion for painting. From the Montana plains, Waddell went on to study art to the Brooklyn Museum School and receive his MFA from Wayne State University.

Waddell mounted his first exhibition of his paintings at the Billings livestock auction 1982. Talent, determination and a timely visit from the curator of the Corcoran Museum of Art sent his work to exhibitions in notable museums around the country, and his reputation was quickly established. Waddell is praised nationally for capturing ethereal moments of Montana's landscape with the intuitive touch of the Abstract Expressionists. 

Audiences can find out more about the artist and his work in Theodore Waddell, an exhibition catalog published in 2006 and part of MAM's Goldberg Family Library collection, and Tucker Gets Tuckered, the artist's first illustrated children's book, available for purchase in MAM's bookstore.

Jason Elliott Clark, 15 prints

Peter Robinson, Strategic Plan 

Patricia Thornton, Teddy

MAM is responsible for nearly 1,000 objects representing the best of this region's contemporary art. The growing significance of the MAM Collection was a major factor in the museum's decision to expand in size and professional capabilities. With increased gallery space, MAM made a commitment to always having an exhibition with rotating collection exhibition on view. Check out our current exhibitions to see what's showing now.