Downtown gallery changes hands

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

Things happened fast for Pamme Reed after her father passed away last August. The long-time owner of Art Fusion on Electric Avenue found herself managing her late father's estate and unable to spread herself thin enough to cover the colorful downtown gallery.

"I can't work 20-30 hours each week on that (the estate) and 50-60 in the gallery," she said. "I can't leave the estate, so there's no other option."

Reed, who managed the Sea Star Gallery that used to reside in the Bank of Bigfork building, was entering her 20th year at Art Fusion.

But the person who is taking the reins of Art Fusion is no stranger to the town, or the gallery. Kathy Bonnema Leslie's work has been hanging on the gallery walls for years and she relocated to Bigfork almost three years ago to solidify her relationship with the town.

"It's been crazy," Bonnema Leslie said of taking over the gallery. "I was as well prepared as I could have been."

The fact that someone so close to Reed was willing to take Art Fusion made all the difference, Reed said. Without a buyer like Bonnema Leslie, she wouldn't have sold.

"She's wanted a gallery for years," Reed said of her friend. "She's handing me my paintbrush back."

Reed said that with the gallery demanding so much of her time over the years, the break will be an opportunity to create some art of her own and figure out what to do next.

"I want to take some time to regroup," she said.

Bonnema Leslie said that Art Fusion will retain its name and much of its feel, saying only that she thinks it will "evolve" as the future unfolds.

"The great thing about this gallery is that there's something for everyone," she said.

In an especially sweet twist, her first sale as the new owner was one of her own paintings.

There are plenty of challenges though, even for someone like Bonnema Leslie who has operated a gallery before, especially as Bigfork gears up for the busy summer season

"I'm really happy to have a month to learn how to use the credit card machine," she said with a laugh. She was also in the midst of a comprehensive inventory, not an easy task in a gallery as brimming with work as Art Fusion.

"I've been on one artist for two days," she said.

As for Reed, leaving Electric Avenue for the first time since the 1970s was bittersweet, but she said she hopes to do some fill-in work at other galleries around town this summer continue to enjoy the relationships she's forged with artists around Montana.

And regardless of whether she's selling it or making it, her philosophy on art, she said, will remain the same.

"People should buy art because of the way it makes them feel," she said. "The reason people buy art to match their couch is because they're afraid to buy art that makes them feel good."