Cassens fine art presents: "Entr'acte"

"Entr'acte" is a solo exhibition of new oil paintings by Nic Fischer. this collection focuses on the fleeting intervals between seasons, painted by an artist who has spent his life learning to see what most people pass right by.

HAMILTON, Mont. Cassens Fine Art presents "Entr'acte," a solo exhibition of new oil paintings by Nic Fischer. The exhibition opens with an artist reception on Friday, April 17, from 5-7 p.m., and will remain on view at the gallery and online through May 15.

“Entr'acte,” French for the pause between acts, is the word Fischer chose because nothing else in English quite captured what he was after. Every painting in the show depicts a transitory state, the act of becoming something else. Nine works, each one made at the exact moment everything is about to change.

"Every painting is of what I consider to be a transitory state," says Fischer. "This is a collection of spring promises, where I find the patterns of snow melt in worn fields and protected cliffs irresistible. The mountains reopen, and days become longer."

Fischer is a Narrative Landscape painter based in the Greater Yellowstone region, where he has spent the last decade hauling his easel into the backcountry to paint on site. His work is impressionism and abstract expressionism, applied to the landscapes of the American West. He paints exclusively in oils, a medium he says is the only one with "the elasticity for spontaneity and the opacity to be absolute."

"Nic has a rare ability to put you inside a moment you didn't know you were missing," says Michelle Cassens, owner and curator of Cassens Fine Art. "Standing in front of his work, you feel the cold of early morning, the light shifting, the season on the edge of turning. That is not easy to do, and he does it every time."

Cassens Fine Art invites the community to see "Entr'acte" and to join us in welcoming Nic Fischer to the Bitterroot Valley on Friday, April 17, from 5-7 p.m.

Event Details:

Exhibition: "Entr'acte" by Nic Fischer

Dates Displayed: April 17 - May 15, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, April 17, 5-7 p.m.

Location: Cassens Fine Art, 215 West Main St, Hamilton, MT