Montana Natural History Center Artist-In-Residence
Sitting in the main gallery space of the Montana Natural History Center and cheesing bit time beneath my mask!
This summer, I had the immense honor of participating in my first ever residency program and was the Artist-in-Residence at the Montana Natural History Center in Missoula, Montana. This residency was part of the Open AIR non-profit residency program that places artists in spaces all around Missoula and Montana. For four weeks, I lived in an AirBnB with four other artists and spent my days at the Montana Natural History Center (MNHC) perusing their collections and displays for inspiration and simply creating art!
While in Missoula, I was lucky enough to visit the Philip L. Wright Zoological Collection on the University of Montana campus and even prepped a few birds for their collection! This visit along with my time at MNHC inspired me to create specimen-based art and even play around with the idea of sculpting and painting my own bird specimens.
A Black-headed Grosbeak I sculpted out of polymer clay.
Western Tanager I sculpted and painted as a replica study skin.
Sketching specimens at the Philip L. Wright collection.
Sketchbook Pages
In addition to creating work in my sketchbook, I spent a lot of time working with charcoal and pastel as a fun and fast medium to capture birds in black and white. For my final piece that I donated to the program, I wanted to show five species of birds in the form of specimens from the MNHC. These specimens were part of the center’s teaching collection and sat across from my work space every day. This piece is simply titled Assorted Birds from the MNHC.
Assorted Birds from the MNHC in progress.
My summer in Montana is one that I will never forget. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to spend time simply creating, but also to meet other artists who are so incredibly inspirational and talented. I look forward to seeing how my time in Montana continues to shape me as an artist.
Ecstatic to be at the Montana Natural History Center!
Enjoying drinks with my fellow artists!
A forever thank you to Stoney Samsoe for running and creating Open AIR and giving me this opportunity! And another thank you to Angela Hornsby for allowing me to use the Philip L. Wright collection and prep some birds. And of course a massive thank you to my fellow housemates and artists Gillian Harper (especially for sneaking away to Glacier NP with me!), Rachel Frank, Emily Schubert, and Miya Hannan. May our paths cross again.