{"product_id":"song-of-the-ancient-forest","title":"Song of the Ancient Forest painting","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSong of the Ancient Forest\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 60\" x 46\" acrylic on canvas painting completed by artist Monte Dolack in 2026 as part of a commission for The Montana Project. A limited edition fine art print was also produced for The Montana Project and is available for sale by The Montana Project. Details on how to purchase the print are available by following the link below:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.dolack.com\/products\/song-of-the-ancient-forest-limited-edition-fine-art-print\" title=\"Song of the Ancient Forest Limited Edition Fine Art Print\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSong of the Ancient Forest Limited Edition Fine Art Print\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003ePlease read the following essay by award winning Montana author Rick Bass to learn more about how and why the painting was created:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\"We know his work instantly. The swans and cranes, wolves and geysers, bison and bears, trout and woodpeckers. Like no other artist I know, his work moves easily between the real and surreal that, well, is no longer surreal, but is instead such a seemingly effortless representation of the spirit of each animal that we see a new part of them. He doesn’t do this by giving the animals human characteristics-his portraits of animals are often composed of dignity, joy, and sometimes no small amount of mischief, but it is not human-like, and instead seems to be a fuller, more complete habitation of these qualities. I think what makes his animals so unique is we understand in even a glance that their emotions are tied directly to their native habitat. Their joy comes in good part from that fittedness of self to place; that craft. And joy is a kind of love, of course.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSong of the Ancient Forest\u003c\/strong\u003e—commissioned by the Montana Project to help support the designation of the “Black Ram” region of the Yaak as the nation’s first Climate Refuge—came from an amazing trip Monte made into the ancient inland rainforest in the Yaak, along with painter Clyde Aspevig. I was so privileged to walk along these master artists, each working at the peak of their craft, and each joyous to be seeing the old forest for the first time, and to be acting on its behalf. To listen to them speak quietly to one another about art, humbled by the enormous trees all around them, was an unforgettable experience.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003eThey saw art and fit in the old forest where most would have seen chaos and disorder. They “got” the complex ecology as perhaps only painters and poets can.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-tab-count: 1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eWhat is a Climate Refuge? It’s a place dedicated to maximizing the amount of above-ground carbon stored in the long-term safekeeping of old and mature forests, while serving also as a focal point for increased scientific as well as artistic inquiry into the effects of climate change on sensitive species including our own. The old inland rainforests of the Yaak are climate lifeboats, buying all living things time: time to adapt, and change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSong of the Ancient Forest\u003c\/strong\u003e is singular, even for Monte, in at least a couple of regards. Rare is the human in his paintings; the figure we see here, with his back to us, is an amalgam of Jeff Bridges, who commissioned the Black Ram guitar, after hearing master luthier Kevin Kopp’s guitar from the same forest, same tree—and Rob Quist, another Black Ram supporter, whose song for the old forest appeared in an earlier issue of Whitefish Review.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003eSingular also is the sheer number of species in a single painting by Monte. But that’s how it is, in the Yaak, where roughly 25% of all of Montana’s species of concern are found in this one national forest—the Kootenai—alone. I’ve studied this painting for dozens of hours but would not be surprised if there’s something I’ve missed in the jungle that is the Yaak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSong of the Ancient Forest\u003c\/strong\u003e belongs to all of Montana, just like the Black Ram guitar, also a voice from the forest. As a fundraiser for the campaign, the painting—enormous, even by Monte’s standards—is available for 12-month adoptions to be hung in public spaces; contact montanaproject.org or \u003ca href=\"mailto:rickbass27@gmail.com\"\u003erickbass27@gmail.com\u003c\/a\u003e for more information. The Montana Project, the Forest Refuge Alliance, and all the other organizations working to help protect old-growth forests, are grateful to Monte and all the many other artists and scientists who are bringing their talents to a concentrated point in this most worthy of campaigns: and not least among them, the Whitefish Review. Thank you for your continued support.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 200%;\"\u003eRick Bass July 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Monte Dolack","offers":[{"title":"60\" x 46\" \/ 60\" x 46\" \/ 2026","offer_id":44453884919896,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0152\/3417\/files\/SongoftheAncientForestPaintingAdjusted_96961500-02a3-4198-9dc2-5ffdb9db3e02.jpg?v=1785260104","url":"https:\/\/www.dolack.com\/products\/song-of-the-ancient-forest","provider":"Monte Dolack Fine Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}