Page 27 - B2B Fall19

MAKING A LIVING AND BUILDING A
BUSINESS ON YOUR TALENT
ALAN SNELL - BEAR’S DEN
As the owner of The Bear’s Den, currently located at 2104 Last Chance Gulch, Alan Snell has been delivering national award winning custom picture framing and art presentation to the Helena area for the past twenty-six years. In addition to custom framing, the business also features one of Montana’s finest art galleries, the Alan Snell Gallery. This gallery showcases a wide variety of art mediums from Montana’s most talented artists, including art from Snell himself.
Acquiring his interest in art at a young age, Snell initially began working in pencil and then moved on to various other artistic mediums. While Snell does most of his artistic expression in the form of paintings, he is also a very skilled sculptor. To showcase this talent, he created his first sculpture, which was cast as a bronze called
“The Frontiersman.” He recently has also completed a
new bronze titled “The Lawman.” His current preferred mediums are acrylic paints on board, iron slate, or other various types of stone. Most of his original paintings are then printed in limited edition gicleé prints that Snell produces himself, while also offering the service to other artists. Gicleés are high quality prints created with archival inks on acid-free conservation paper and canvases. Snell prides himself in delivering exceptional prints that are astoundingly analogous to the original artwork.
Though he holds a degree in advertising design which was earned at the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver,
his skill in painting and sculpture has mostly been self taught. As a result of this skill, Snell was awarded the title of “Artist of the Year” in 2006 by the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce. He has also been invited to, and featured
at many prestigious art shows around the country and in Canada. Snell has also completed many commissions for companies and organizations such as: United States Olympic Committee, McGraw Hill Publishing, Montana Sled Dog,
Inc., Mountain West Bank, Intermountain Children’s Home, Eagle Beverage Distributors, Texaco Oil, and various other companies, corporations and private collectors.
While Snell loves painting and producing beautiful artworks, he is unable to be prolific in this pursuit. With his time being split between running his successful business, and being a family man, there is not as much time leftover for his artistic goals as he would like. Also, his style of painting is very detailed and realistic which demands that much time must be invested into each painting, limiting him to only producing a few original artworks a year. The old adage rings true, quality over quantity. ■
HELENA 89.1 BOZEMAN 91.9
LIVINGSTON 89.5 BIG TIMBER 90.5 GARDINER/MAMMOTH 107.1 ONLINE @ www.KGLT.NET
40 W Lawrence Street
406-449-2847
AllegraHelena.com AllegraPromotions.com
FALL 2019 | 27