When visitors enter the new Charles M. Bair Family Art Museum through the glass door portico they’ll be greeted by a grand foyer with tall dramatic interior walls and stone tile floors. The spacious lobby invites the viewer to further exploration. The modern climate-controlled, fire-resistant structure is elegant yet functional, designed to showcase and preserve the priceless art, photographs and Native American pieces collected by the Bair family during the early 20th century.

The project’s principal architect, Kim Olsen of O2 Architects in Billings, said the exterior of the $3.1million museum is designed to blend with existing structures on the property, while the interior is a contemporary space, thoughtfully created to exhibit the numerous collections of art gathered by family members who had unique and diverse interests and tastes.

The 7,000-square-foot structure includes gallery space for Charlie Bair’s western art collection of work by Charlie Russell and Joseph Sharp as well as a separate gallery for the Bair sister’s American and European paintings. A specially-designed gallery space shows the valuable, but light sensitive photographs of Edward Curtis – work never previously displayed in the Bair home. Climate and light controlled glass display cases hold the more fragile Native American art and artifacts.

In addition, the art museum includes a temporary gallery space for revolving exhibits and a concrete vault for storing pieces during the off-season.

Other features include:

• motion sensor activated lighting system that dims when no one is present in a gallery space;
• green building elements to enhance the museum’s indoor environmental quality;
• incorporation of native stone in both the building and landscaping;
• continuation of the red roofs of the existing barn and original Bair family home;
• interior walls painted rich blue and burgundy that reflect the Bair daughters’ passion for bold, vibrant colors;
• a large concrete courtyard situated between the museum, barn and home that offers visitors an ideal spot to rest and admire the panoramic view of rolling hills that lead to the Crazy and Little Belt Mountains.

The refurbished barn houses an expanded Museum Shop and displays of the early sheep ranching operation. The barn is also as the gathering area for visitors who wish to take a guided tour the Bair home.