big sky dreams

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Montana on Etsy | Grain Elevator, Wilsall, Montana

Along with Paper and Canvas, I also found this building fascinating; you can see my photograph, taken in 2009, here. More about grain elevators; an icon of the American west here.

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Grain elevator, Wilsall, Montana.  2009

More written about this photograph and grain elevators in Montana on a previous post.

Grain Elevators

An icon of the American West, grain elevators do not simply punctuate sweeping landscape photographs encapsulating the vastness of the west; they are also a testimony to the legacy of back-breaking work that has been poured into the land.  

Larry Blackwood’s black and white Elevations series is an excellent study of the architectural and textural details of these giants on our horizon.

During a trip to Montana in 2009, I attempted to pay homage to these structures by photographing a grain elevator in Wilsall, Montana.  I especially appreciate the wonderful worn type and colors on this particular building.

Historical societies like the Country Grain Elevator Society, of Bozeman, are doing much to preserve and document these structures.  The imposing Montana grain elevators provide a wonderful backdrop for location shoots.  

While grain elevators represent the history of The American West, architects like Clark Stevens who designed The Silo House, (located in a special place -  East River Road, Paradise Valley) are inspired to use these functional forms as a springboard for modern architecture.

Byoung Cho, Professor of Architecture at Montana State University, states “agricultural buildings aren’t really designed, someone just made them. I try to design like that—so it looks like it’s not designed at all, it’s just there.”  

You can read more about his Cho’s work in Dwell Magazine, or see a gallery of his projects at BCHO Architects.