George Gogas

George Gogas, passed away at home on September 6, 2025. He was 96.

George was an artist, scholar, teacher, horseman, husband and father. He was born in Missoula, Montana to John and Kiki Gogas, both Greek immigrants, on July 21, 1929. He lived in Missoula most of his life and has stated he would live nowhere else.

As a young boy, George loved horses and art. His father hung a Charlie Russell preproduction, “The Horse Hunters,” in George’s bedroom, and it still hangs in George’s bedroom today.

George attended Central Elementary School. His father passed away when George was 12 years old. Kiki, became a single parent who was able to raise George during the Great Depression with the help of the close-knit Greek community.

After attending Missoula County High School, George attended the University of Montana. He joined the rodeo club, was an ΣAE and majored in art. It was at the U of M that he met his wife of 72 years, Marilyn Erb. Lynn, a Billings native, shared his love of horses and was also an art major.

Upon graduating from the U of M in 1951 with a BA, he spent two years in the U.S. Army Infantry as a noncommissioned officer under the ROTC program. He served in the Korean War the winter of 1952-53 as 2nd Lieutenant with the 5th Regimental Combat Team.

George and Lynn married in September 1953, then moved to the Seattle area so he could attend a graduate program at the University of Washington. There, he began learning how to create abstract art; cubism and abstract expressionism being popular movements at the time. He earned his MFA in 1954.

After graduation, George taught at the South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Washington, from 1955 to 1957, but he missed Montana, so George and Lynn moved back to Missoula. George began his 28-year career as an art teacher with Missoula County High School in 1957. First at Hellgate High School, then at Big Sky High School when it opened in 1980.

From 1960 to 1984, George trained and showed Quarter Horses. George was on the committee to form the Western Montana Quarter Horse Association, and he was a director for the Montana Quarter Horse Association. He served as Ring Steward at the first American Quarter Horse Association Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1974 and 1975, and Oklahoma City, 1977. He was an AQHA judge from 1977-1985.

George retired from teaching in 1985 and began a second 20+ year career as a freelance artist. He spent eight hours a day in the studio thinking and working on his paintings.

In 1987, George completed a painting that had been revolving in his mind for some time. The basic composition was taken from Charlie Russell’s painting “Jerked Down” and was painted in a Picasso cubistic style on a large 59” x 84” canvas. The title “Judith Basin Encounter: When Charlie Met Pablo on the Open Range” symbolizes the conflict between realistic western art and contemporary art.

In 1994, George had a show of the first six Judith Basin Encounter series paintings at the Missoula Art Museum; now there are sixty-four. From 1995-1997, the group toured Montana with the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association to 11 venues. The Judith Basin Encounter paintings are in permanent collections of museums nationwide.

George went on to produce the “Too Lazy to Work” series picturing bull riders in colorful action, and a large abstract series titled “When Charlie Joined Pablo’s Rock and Roll Band”.

George was the 2016 honoree for Odyssey of Our Stars at the University of Montana.

George continued to work on abstract and realistic art until his late eighties when he retired. He was always exploring, never satisfied to stay with one style of art. His art has been exhibited in over one hundred and fifty museums and galleries, and toured Mexico, China, Ireland, and Germany.

George is survived by his wife, Lynn, and his son, John (Carol).

A memorial will be held at the Missoula Art Museum, 335 North Pattee, on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, from 7-9 pm

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in George’s honor to the Missoula Art Museum.