Joe Halko story
Great Falls 01/22/2010, Page L01
‘A Tribute to Joe Halko’
Galerie Trinitas to host show honoring late artist
By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
Joe Halko was an artist, a taxidermist, a wildlife lover and a gentle man who was right at home in Montana.
On Sunday, a show in his memory, “A Tribute to Joe Halko,” opens at Galerie Trinitas on the University of Great Falls campus.
“He always really admired Sister Trinitas and enjoyed her enthusiasm,” Joe’s widow, Margaret, said. “He liked helping her on her projects and learned a lot from her. She improvised and so did Joe.”
Halko died in March at the age of 68.
Early in his career, Halko left Montana for the Fisk Studios in New York and then for the Scottsdale (Arizona) School of Art. But he never forgot his roots.
He eventually returned to the area he loved: the ranch he grew up on near Stockett, his high school alma mater in Centerville, and the University of Great Falls, where as a stu& shy;dent he studied art under Sister Mary Trinitas Morin.
His artistic inspiration often came from the wild things — bears, deer, antelope, rabbits and geese — he saw outside his home in Choteau.
“Joe understood the anatomy of animals; he knew their bodies,” Margaret explained. “He worked outside or in the studio every day.”
Halko began as a taxidermist at the Great Falls Sporting Goods store. It was during this time that he started creating sculptures with his colleague and friend, Tuffy Berg. “My father, Cliff Rumford, taught Joe how to be a taxidermist,” said Leslie Stafford, recalling the early years at the family store.
Halko was a lifelong friend to the Rumfords. Among the Halko memorabilia the Rumfords treasure is a bronze of a pigmy owl and a picture of the family’s first dog that Joe did.
Halko was involved in the C.M. Russell Art Auction for years and was recognized as the Peoples’ Choice sculpture award winner in 1979 and 1983.
A year ago, Halko completed the Stations of the Cross bronzes installed in the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Great Falls.
According to Carol Fitzpatrick, her husband, Stan, bought the first piece Halko ever put in an auction. It was a pen and ink drawing of a herd of elk.
The Fitzpatrick family farmed in the Stockett area
See HALKO, 2L
TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO/STUART S. WHITE
Joe Halko describes his sculpture at the 2005 Russell Auction at the C.M. Russell Museum.
POLLY KOLSTAD PHOTO
A show in Halko’s honor opens Sunday at Galerie Trinitas.
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