Following a career path that included stints running a jackhammer, working as a carpenter and as a physical therapist, I spent the last 20+ years working as a neuroscientist at The University of Montana and as the Founder/CEO of Neurogenic Technologies Inc.  Now, having retired, I am very fortunate to spend most days sculpting. Usually stone but also ceramic and wood. I look forward to more talented sculptors submitting their work for exhibition in Missoula.

Melissa enjoyed a 30-year career as Director of Sales and Tour Development for an international tour company which took her around the globe, then turned her focus on contributing to her home community of Missoula by serving as Executive Director of Missoula’s International Choral Festival, joining other local non-profit arts boards, and singing in the Missoula Symphony Chorale. 

John received his art degree from the University of North Dakota concentrating in printmaking and drawing. Asked to design the ponies for the Missoula Carousel, he started his sculpting and woodcarving life. 

John spends his time teaching workshops, attending symposiums and mostly making art. 

I am a fourth generation Montanan, born and raised in Ronan and grew up in the cultural richness of the Mission Valley and the Flathead Indian Reservation. I earned a BS in Nursing at Montana State University which allowed me to work and experience our east and west coast. After 10 years of travel and time out of the state I returned home to marry and raise a family. I concluded my nursing career in Missoula and now paint art, play tennis and golf and enjoy time with family and friends.

My career was in higher education, the first half as a faculty member teaching and conducting research in chemistry at the University of South Dakota and the second half in administration at USD and the University of Montana. I served UM as Provost and President, then returned to the classroom in both the Chemistry Department and the Davidson Honors College. In recent years, I have worked with the MOLLI program on campus, and am currently President of the Board for the String Orchestra of the Rockies. In retirement, I build wooden boats and play music in between visits to grandkids. 

I have a 30+ year background in the art, history and business worlds – specifically, museum management, for profit and non-profit management, historic preservation, marketing, livability planning, franchise development, real estate investment/development – and as an artist. I currently serve as Chair of the City of Missoula Public Art Committee.  I am thrilled to work hand-in-hand with Sculpture Missoula to expand Missoula’s visual surroundings by developing a long overdue sculpture haven – a new home for exhilarating public art!

R. David Wilson was born and raised in the Flathead Valley.  Since early childhood he has been making art and continues to expand his passion in a number of mediums.  Primarily a self-taught artist, David’s artistic vision has been greatly affected by years spent in Latin America.  His Impressionist oeuvre is divided between works that document the Missoula topography and motifs that draw from Mexico, Central, and South America.   He is represented in several Montana galleries and has often been part of invitational shows in the Pacific Northwest as well as in central Mexico.  His works are mostly in the hands of private collectors in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe.