Billis Fine Art: A family gallery

Featured Artists

Mitch Billis

Mitch Billis Mitch Billis was born and brought up in Frankfort, a small, primarily Italian town in upstate New York. He and his parents lived in an apartment connected to the bar his father ran and where he spent most of his time eating meals, sitting in a booth drawing, or doing chores, including, beginning in his early teens, tending bar. Basketball got him a scholarship to attend engineering school, and the curse of being good in Mathematics got him fellowships which led to a PhD and eleven years of college teaching before he quit to become an artist.

During the summer of his fifth year of teaching at Montana State University, Mitch attended a workshop given by Valfred Thelin, watercolorist from Maine. After five minutes of watching him paint, he knew that was what he wanted to do with his life. He resigned a year and a half later, studied briefly with Don Stone, became a nationally known watercolorist (accepted in the American Watercolor Society show three times) and then switched to oils. He was invited to become a founding member of The Northwest Rendezvous Group and has been invited to and won prizes in many National shows. Mitch has shown in some of the best galleries in the west, including Trailside in Jackson, Scottsdale and Carmel. Once he moved to Maine his material changed and he sold most of is work in the east.

With the beginning of a new family gallery and website, and a restored interest in painting in the west, he hopes to renew his ties with the western landscape and the friends he has made there.

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Mitch S. Billis

Mitch S. Billis Children riding turtles, fantasy fish fountains, cherubs, and fairy-tale dragons are some of the storybook images created in bronze and brought to life by Montana artist and sculptor, Mitch S. Billis.

Surrounded by a family of successful painters, portrait artists, and photographers, Mitch was inspired to become an artist at an early age. Directly after high school Mitch left for Colorado to study the foundry business with Veryl Goodnight. During his four years spent with Veryl, Mitch met many people influential to his art -- including Hollis Williford, George Carlson, and George Lundeen. In 1987, Mitch returned home to Bozeman and started his own foundry -- Northwest Art Casting, Inc. With the help of the foundry manager, his brother Scott Billis, Mitch has been able to oversee the process from a distance and continue his love of sculpting.

Inspiration for Mitch's art comes from his love for his family (his wife, Maria, and five kids), experiencing the outdoors, and interacting with people. Through sculpture Mitch is able to stimulate the imagination in all of us.

Workshops from artists Stanley Bleifeld, Bruno and Paul Lucchesi, and Floyd DeWitt, add to Mitch's ongoing professional development. Sculpting, traveling, and studying the culture of Italy when he can, allows Mitch to enrich his knowledge of art. Mitch's sculptures are represented in galleries in Bozeman, MT; Vail, CO; Stuart, FL; and Charleston, SC. Mitch's commissions include: a life-size piece for the Gonzalo collection in Monterey, Mexico; two large sculptures for a mall in Ohio; a life-size piece for a family in Philadelphia; and several bas-relief's and other projects on a smaller scale. Mitch is currently working on four outdoor garden sculptures for a family in North Carolina.

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Kathleen Billis

Kathleen Billis The route that Kathleen Billis has followed to arrive in Boothbay Harbor and painting has taken her from singing and modeling in New York City to owning a bed and breakfast in a remote northern California village. Enter a Maine artist, Mitch Billis, who happens to stop for a cup of coffee one morning in Ferndale, California, visits Kathleen's bed and breakfast, and ends up staying for a year. Kathleen and Mitch fell in love, begining a relationship that would be the impetus for Kathleen to return to her interest in art.

Kathleen Billis paints in the plein air tradition of the turn-of-the-century impressionists. She can be observed in all seasons, heeding Willard Metcalf's encouragement to: "Go out, paint what you see, and find a place for yourself within your own culture." Kathleen's colorful harbor scenes and depictions of rural life have found homes with visiting summer people, local residents and people throughout the country.

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Chris Billis

Chris Billis Christine came to her career in a natural way. Her father, Mitch Billis, started painting when she was a girl, and she grew up with the influence of a career artist at home. Time spent in her dads studio planted the seed for a lifelong appreciation of fine art, and throughout the years help from Mitch has proved critical to her progress as an artist.

With the assistance of many mentors, Chris has made a living for two decades as a pastel portait artist and oil painter.

Early Career
In 1986 Christine's artistic abilities focused when she worked with pastel portrait artist Abbie Williams, formerly of East Boothbay, Maine. Chris quickly grasped the concepts of color, value, and form, and she found herself in a stimulating occupation, working every day with her mentor's help. Soon after, she started a portrait business of her own. In both 2001 and 2002 she was awarded the Portrait Society of America's "Best Portfolio Award" at their annual conference.

Parallel Pursuits
Throughout the years Christine has experimented with oils. The Art Students' League in NYC and Scottsdale Artists' School in Arizona provided stimulating venues for occasional study. She painted "au plein aire," with her father and stepmother on painting expeditions, and continues to enjoy their invaluable guidance.

Oil painting now occupies most of Chris's studio time. The Vermont landscape provides ample material for paintings and recently, granite statuary in cemeteries near Barre, Vermont has begged attention as subject matter.

Christine lives with her husband, John, and two children in rural Vermont.

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Jennifer Matthews

Jennifer Matthews Jennifer discovered beading a few years ago (along with a few other thousand people) and has been hooked ever since. However, very quickly her originality in sense of design and attention to detail set her way in front of the pack. Jennifer uses precious and semi-precious stones with only sterling silver or gold findings. She spends hours scouring through shops and gem shows for vintage beads or unusual pieces from far away places such as Tibet or the Balkans. Only the finest and rare quality are chosen for her work. This obsession with detail, quality, and her highly original designs make most people associate her jewelery with the Art Deco period, a time at the turn of last century when each piece of art, glass, pottery, lamps by Tiffany, or even furniture by Stickley was prized for its individual design and craftmanship. Indeed, when you purchase a piece from Jennifer you are choosing an art piece, a one of a kind to be treasured now and for the future.

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Invited Artists