Gregory L Wilhelmi

http://billingsgazette.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/visual/roundup-artist-uses-moth-to-a-flame-passion-to-paint/article_0f8c285c-0817-5b9d-bdb0-760d88962541.html 

Roundup artist uses 'moth to a flame' passion to paint nostalgic Billings scene 

JACI WEBB jwebb@billingsgazette.com Oct 27, 2016  

Artist Greg Wilhelmi never drove a hot rod in the 1960s, but he does remember siphoning gas from his friend’s car and driving to Billings to join hundreds of teenagers who were burning the point. 

He grew up in Roundup where teens in the 1950s and '60s were dragging Main Street to show off cars to impress the girls. But once in a while they’d come to downtown Billings to experience the scene. Roundup High School played West High in basketball in 1960 because it was West High’s first year and the school had only sophomores, and Wilhelmi remembers the excitement of playing basketball in the new West High gym. !" 

So when Wilhelmi was commissioned to paint "Burn the Point" to help raise money for the Chase Hawks Memorial Fund, he tapped into the thrill of being downtown on a Saturday night. 

He said he imagined himself in the crowd outside the Babcock Theatre as he painted what the scene would have looked like in 1960. He researched the kind of cars that would have burned the point and included some classic cars that still burn the point every Labor Day weekend in the popular Chase Hawks event. 

“It’s nostalgic, but it’s also historic,” Wilhelmi said. “It’s amazing the fact that they do this event every year. I’m surprised by how many people who go.” 

The framed oil painting, valued at $15,000, is being raffled off to raise money for the Chase Hawks Memorial Association's Community Crisis Fund. 

Wilhelmi chose 1960 to set the painting so he could include teenagers in letterman jackets from Senior, West and Central high schools. He had to take some creative license to put “Rebel Without a Cause” on the marquee at the Babcock, but he thought it was worth fudging because the film defined the era. “Rebel Without a Cause” came out in 1955 and James Dean died in a car wreck that same year, but he lives on as one of the teenagers in the painting. 

Wilhelmi’s family operated the Riverside Dance Hall and a trailer park in Roundup. He gravitated toward painting urban scenes and the humble side of life when he turned to painting professionally. 

He studied with Ben Steele one year at Eastern Montana College, then spent a year studying art at Montana State University before heading to Cheyenne, Wyo., to work on a missile site. He eventually graduated from the University of Denver with an art degree and traveled to Europe and Mexico to paint. 

Wilhelmi started his fine art career in an East Colfax Studio painting everything he saw, including the strip club down the street. In the early 1990s, he and his wife, Cheryl, moved to Roundup to raise their twin daughters. They moved to Arizona when their daughters were teenagers so they could perform music, and when he returned a few years ago to Roundup he was able to take a fresh look at his hometown. 

“As a boy and a young man, I developed this love of place. It never left me," Wilhelmi said. "It was like getting reacquainted with a dear friend. After all the years I could see it anew, and through the eyes of a more mature artist.” 

Since returning to Montana, Wilhelmi has worked to re-establish himself with regional galleries. He submits works to the C.M. Russell auction, the Missoula Art Museum auction and the Yellowstone Art Museum auction. After a solo exhibit at the YAM in 2006, the YAM purchased one of his detailed oil paintings for their permanent collection. 

“I’m thrilled that I get to keep painting,” Wilhelmi said. “I love what I do.” 

Wilhelmi described his life as being like a "moth to the flame," ever curious and hungry for new experiences. 

“Growing up in the 1940s, I was able to see the change and have the ability to see so many more things than an artist used to be able to see,” Wilhelmi said. “I’d be like, ‘Wow!’ everywhere I went.” 

Jaci Webb 

Jaci Webb covers entertainment for The Billings Gazette.