Ten Years, Ten Locations, One Historic Journey: Archambault's Lewis and Clark Series Opens at McCahon Memorial Gallery

For ten years, Helena artist Louis Archambault traveled to the exact site of a different Lewis and Clark expedition milestone each year — always in the same month the historic event occurred — to paint it on location. The result, a ten-painting collection titled One Historic Journey, will open at the McCahon Memorial Gallery on Thursday, September 10, with a public reception that evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the History Center, 618 Helena Avenue.

The series traces the expedition's arc through works including Planning the Expedition, Four Days of Rest, Vigilant of the Intruders, Mountain Gates Serenade, The Experiment, A Wonderfully Savage Land, Against the Odds, Discovery, Gathering Balsamroot, and Prairie Vista. Painting one piece per year and returning to each site in season, Archambault grounded the collection in firsthand observation of the land's light, color, and character across the seasons the expedition itself experienced. Each work is rendered…