Interview: Parke Goodman

Parke Goodman at Mordam Art
109 South Main St.
mordamart.com

When did you start making art? 
Parke started making art in grade school, when his Mom gave him a paint set for Christmas.In high school, he loved to paint modern-looking downhill skiers. 
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Did you always want to be an artist? What are some other jobs you have had? 
He's always had artistic tendencies...  in junior high he helped with landscape design in Boulder, Colorado, where he also designed and built two houses by himself after he graduated in high school.   He was one of the first painters of duck decoys for Big Sky Carvers, and was painting two dozen ducks a week  and working on his landscape paintings when he met his wife Bonnie.

How did you end up in Livingston? 
Parke fell in love with Montana in 1974 when he went to MSU in Bozeman to study architecture.  He was the first artist at The Emerson Cultural Center.  Parke and Bonnie would always have Sunday brunch in Livingston and dreamed of moving there. One day at the Bozeman recycling center they saw a new building going up in the distance and were told it was the new Walmart.  That's when they realized Bozeman had outgrown them, so when Jeff and Shirley (from MounTunes in downtown Livingston) moved to Ohio, they took over the lease, spent 3 month remodeling the place, and opened Mordam Art in the summer of 1997.

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Who inspires you? 
Parke loves all the impressionists, and his favorite is JMW Turner.

What is your soundtrack while you work? 
Most recently, the podcast S-Town.  NPR is usually his background noise of choice.

What’s your favorite thing about Livingston? Where do you like to eat? 
Parke loves  the natural beauty of the place and the eclectic people here! His favorite place to eat is the monthly Live and Let Livingston potluck that takes place a the Senior Center - "Everyone is welcome; you don't have to be vegan - but the food does!"

Any thing else? (hidden talents? Best pets? Are you a magician?) 
Parke loves to garden (flowers, veggies, and weird trees!), is an excellent baker, and is the chief bottle washer at the Live and Let Livingston vegan potlucks. He's been working on the Goodman's house for 20 years, and lives with 9 cats, the best dog in the world (like yours!!) and a parrot that meows. oh yeah!  He also builds AND HAND CARVES his own frames for fun.

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