Lakeside gains gallery for fine art displays

A new place for art in Lakeside opened earlier this month.

The Lakeside Fine Art Gallery, next to By the Lake Real Estate, celebrated its opening Thursday, Sept. 9.

Plans for a gallery have been floating around for awhile, but they finally became a reality this month. It’s a project of Pat Lambrecht-Hould, Christine Bailey and Mike Murphy and features the adjacent building space to the real estate office they work in along with art on display throughout the office’s conference room and reception area.

“We just decided it was just such a beautiful space,” Lambrecht-Hould said. “It’s comparable to how people might view art in their homes.”

On the West Shore, this is a new entity — what the believe is the only commercial gallery.

“Lakeside is just an awesome community,” she said. “It’s bubbling to have different entities and shops. Art is a thing that makes people feel good. We need to do more of that.”

Gallery work isn’t new to Lambrecht-Hould, an artist herself. This is the third gallery she’s worked with.

“No way did I think that I’d be working with a gallery again,” she said.

Lambrecht-Hould has been an artist all her life. She started drawing when she was 8 years old. She went on to art school and she studied with some of the best watercolor artists in the country.

She had a gallery in Shelby for seven years and another up in Whitefish.

Lambrecht-Hould moved to the Flathead in 1985, but her parents had been here since the 1960s. These days Lambrecht-Hould does mixed media work, but lately it’s mostly based in gold and copper leaf.

“You have to keep reinventing yourself with the times. It’s kind of exciting actually,” she said. “We need to do what we’ve done in the past and do it better in the future.”

Her four horse pieces currently on display at the gallery have been chosen by Equine Affaire, a large equestrian exposition, as its artist to represent its whole season on flyers and banners.

“It’s a huge honor to be chosen,” she said. “It’s pretty exciting for me.”

Lambrecht-Hould said she sees the marriage of art and real estate through this gallery as a natural fit.

“I never dreamed in a million years I’d go into real estate,” she said. “I love matching up clients and customers to property. Both (art and real estate) are about sales — helping people make the right decision.”

She hopes that in the future, now that it’s started and the word is getting out, that it will be able to host different shows each month.

She’s full of ideas and connections to make it happen — a cow girl-themed show, a group of pieces under $500, miniatures by the lake.

“I want to get all forms of art,” she said. “This is going to be inventive, different and fun.”

The gallery includes a variety of media, including evening bags, paintings and jewelry in this first exhibit.

In addition to Lambrecht-Hould, other artists displayed include Carolanne Stalteri and Juliane Ketcher.

Those who may be interested in having their work displayed at the gallery can contact Lambrecht-Hould who is serving as the gallery coordinator.

“There are so many artists in Montana — it’s fabulous,” she said. “Our goal is to be able to give the feeling of something for everyone.”

The gallery is located at 7235 U.S. Highway 93 South in Lakeside.