Upcoming Events
Embellished Wooden Thread Spool Ornaments with Susan Lenz in Hamilton, MT
This workshop takes place in Hamilton, MT at Explore the Arts’ workshop studio
Free
Join Artist-in-Residence Susan Lenz for a festive workshop.
Susan will guide the creative project of embellishing wooden thread spools. All supplies are provided but feel free to bring any treasured wooden spools or buttons with you.
Register through Explore the Arts, here.
About the Artist:
Susan Lenz
Susan Lenz uses needle and thread for self-expression. She articulates the accumulated memory inherent in discarded things, seeking a partnership with her materials, their purposes, values, and familiar associations. She indulges a passion for old textiles, book arts, and 3D found object assemblages. Anonymous photos are an obsession. Giving new life to old things is a driving force. Her work has appeared in national publications, numerous juried exhibitions, and at fine craft shows, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Craft Shows. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Textile Museum and the Department of Interior Museum, both in Washington, DC. Susan has been awarded fully funded fellowships to art residencies, including The Anderson Center (MN), Hot Springs National Park (AR), Great Basin National Park (NV), Guadalupe Mountains National Park (TX), the Studios of Key West (FL), and Homestead National Monument (NE). Susan is represented by the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville.
Brown Bag Lunch: Open AIR Artists-in-Residence at Butte Archives
Join us for lunch! All are welcome.
Free
Open AIR's place-based Artist-in-Residence program connects artists from across disciplines with culturally, historically, and ecologically significant locations through partnerships across the state. From remote wilderness to historic communities, artists engage deeply with place, environment, and people.
This Fall, four Open AIR artists are in residence in Butte from September 29 – November 2, 2025: Olivia Berkey, Tess Fahlgren, Aubrey Edwards, and Richard Opper. During this special Brown Bag presentation, each will share their work, creative process, and experiences engaging with the Butte community.
The Brown Bag presentation will begin at noon on Wednesday, October 8th, 2025, and will last about an hour. The presentation will be held in the auditorium at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, located at 17 W. Quartz Street. Guests are encouraged to bring a sack lunch. Coffee and water will be provided.
Brown Bag Lunches are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. Upcoming lectures will focus on topics of local interest. For more information, contact the Archives at (406) 782-3280.
About the Artists:
Aubrey Edwards
in-residence in Butte, MT
The Clark Chateau | Butte Silver-Bow Public Archives
Aubrey is a visual artist, collaborative anthropologist, educator, storyteller, and memory worker with heartstrings tied to New Orleans and presently running wild in Wyoming. Her socially engaged practice spans the academic, creative, applied, and public spheres, exploring intersections of culture, history, and community. She has a deep love for collaborative storytelling practices that unearth buried labor narratives of the west, celebrating the folks who built the places we call home. She is presently earning her PhD in Public Humanities at the University of Wyoming.
Tess Fahlgren
in-residence in Butte, MT
The Clark Chateau | Butte Silver-Bow Public Archives
Tess Fahlgren is a graduate of the University of Minnesota MFA program. Her work has appeared in Montana Quarterly, Joyland, Blue Mesa Review, and elsewhere. She writes from her rural Montana hometown, where her nonprofit just donated a skatepark to the city.
Richard Opper
in-residence in Butte, MT
The Clark Chateau | Butte Silver-Bow Public Archives
Painting is healing. To observe a scene for its colors, values, and shapes is to see things in a new way. It helps strip away the judgements, preconceived notions, or biases I may want to project onto it. Painting requires me to see the subject for what it is rather than for what I might expect it to be. In that sense, it’s a way to get me closer to the truth and to observe more deeply the beauty that surrounds me - beauty I might have otherwise missed.
Olivia Berkey
in-residence in Butte, MT
Hungry Hill Art Center
Olivia Berkey is an artist working in ceramics, performance, and choreography. Her dances, often solo in practice and presentation, are conceived of as an imagined duet with unseen and sometimes inanimate partners: the dreamt presence of other bodies, mountains, rocks, desert fields, herself in duplicate. Her ceramic work, too, investigates the relationship between body and earth, human and geologic time. “
Born and raised in North Carolina, she was first exposed to the region’s rich history of woodfired ceramics at age eighteen. Upon graduation from Bard, she moved to Taos, New Mexico, to apprentice with local woodfire artist Logan Wannamaker. In Taos, she has remained—digging, kiln building, walking, dancing. Her ceramic work has been represented at galleries and art markets around northern New Mexico, and she was a recent ceramic Artist-in-Residence with Arquetopia Foundation in Puebla, Mexico.
Flathead Lake Bio Station Arts Conference
Open to all ages | Free
Join us for the FLBS Arts Conference, featuring free, hands-on presentations with artists-in-residence Terry Conrad, Olivia Gorham, Eva-Maria Maggi, and Annabelle Sigmond. This special day celebrates the residency of these four artists’ time spent in the Flathead area with various research being done at the Flathead Biological Station.
Each artist will lead an individual session to share insights into their creative process and inspirations, along with hands-on activities. Attendees are welcome to join individual sessions or participate in the full conference.
Additional highlights:
Opportunities to meet and interact with the artists
Snacks and beverages provided
Time to explore and engage with the creative work
Stay tuned for more details.
The Optional Registration link is here.
MINE: Excavating Ecologies- Brown Bag Presentation
MINE: Excavating Ecologies – Brown Bag Presentation
Open AIR’s place-based Artist-in-Residence program connects artists from across disciplines with culturally, historically, and ecologically significant locations through partnerships across Montana. This fall, we welcome artists Eric Jensen, Lane Chapman, and Manette Bradford to share their creative process and experiences during their recent residencies in the Upper Clark Fork region.
Jensen and Chapman completed residencies in partnership with the Clark Fork Coalition, sharing a studio at the Cottonwood Field Station for close collaboration and creative exchange. Bradford’s residency took place at the Hungry Hill Art Center in Butte, Montana, a location deeply rooted in the region’s mining heritage.
About the Artists
Manette Rene Bradford – Artist-in-Residence at Hungry Hill
Raised in a family of visual artists, Manette developed a deep understanding of craftsmanship and creative process from an early age. She earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001 and was awarded the Montana Art Gallery Director's Association Exhibition Sponsorship for Unsettled Lands, a touring show (2024–2026) appearing at institutions including the Montana Museum of Art and Culture and C.M. Russell Museum. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in San Francisco, Chicago, and across Montana, and was featured on Resounds: Arts and Culture on the High Plains in 2023. She lives and works in Red Lodge and Billings, Montana.
Visit Manette's Website »Eric Jensen – Artist-in-Residence at Cottonwood Field Station
Eric is an abstract landscape painter interested in uniting diverse ways of understanding the natural world. Drawing from science, spirituality, and contemporary art, his work seeks to inspire ecological preservation and shift cultural values toward sustainability. Born in Utah and raised in Virginia, Eric earned his MFA in painting from the University of Montana and now lives outside Missoula. His practice critically examines how society perceives the land and integrates art with conservation efforts.
Visit Eric's Website »Lane Chapman – Artist-in-Residence at Cottonwood Field Station
Originally from small-town Arkansas, Lane began as a painter and illustrator before moving into ceramics. She earned her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2017, followed by residencies at the Flower City Arts Center (NY), The Clay Studio of Missoula, and Wildfire Ceramic Studio. Currently an MFA candidate at the University of Montana, Lane’s work continues to explore form, function, and material experimentation in clay.
Visit Lane's Website »
Event Details
The Brown Bag presentation will be held at noon on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, in the auditorium at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives (17 W. Quartz Street). The program lasts about an hour. Guests are encouraged to bring a sack lunch; coffee and water will be provided.
Brown Bag Lunches take place on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month, featuring topics of local interest. For more information, call (406) 782-3280.
Tess Fahlgren's Writing Workshop, Butte
Artist-in-Residence, Tess Fahlgren will lead a writing workshop for ages 18+.
About the Artist:
Tess Fahlgren
in-residence in Butte, MT
The Clark Chateau | Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
Tess Fahlgren is a graduate of the University of Minnesota MFA program. Her work has appeared in Montana Quarterly, Joyland, Blue Mesa Review, and elsewhere. She writes from her rural Montana hometown, where her nonprofit just donated a skatepark to the city.
More details to come!
Butte Arts Conference
Open to all ages | Free
Join us for the Butte, MT Arts Conference, featuring free, hands-on presentations with artists-in-residence Olivia Berkey, Tess Fahlgren, Aubrey Edwards, and Richard Opper. This special day celebrates the residency of these four artists in Butte over the past month. Their work has been shaped by collaborations with our residency site partners: Hungry Hill Ceramics Center, the Clark Chateau, and the Butte Silver-Bow Archives Museum.
Each artist will lead an individual session to share insights into their creative process and inspirations, along with hands-on activities. Attendees are welcome to join individual sessions or participate in the full conference.
Additional highlights:
Opportunities to meet and interact with the artists
Snacks and beverages provided
Time to explore and engage with the creative work
Stay tuned for more details.
The Optional Registration link is here.
Susan Lenz Artist Presentation in Hamilton, MT
Join us on Tuesday October 28 at 5pm, at Explore the Arts, for an artist presentation with Open AIR's Artist-in-Residence Susan Lenz. Snacks will be provided.
Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
About the Artist:
Susan Lenz uses needle and thread for self-expression. She articulates the accumulated memory inherent in discarded things, seeking a partnership with her materials, their purposes, values, and familiar associations. She indulges a passion for old textiles, book arts, and 3D found object assemblages. Anonymous photos are an obsession. Giving new life to old things is a driving force. Her work has appeared in national publications, numerous juried exhibitions, and at fine craft shows, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Craft Shows. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Textile Museum and the Department of Interior Museum, both in Washington, DC. Susan has been awarded fully funded fellowships to art residencies, including The Anderson Center (MN), Hot Springs National Park (AR), Great Basin National Park (NV), Guadalupe Mountains National Park (TX), the Studios of Key West (FL), and Homestead National Monument (NE). Susan is represented by the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Julianne Denny
When: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Artist Info Incomming
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Kaylene Big Knife
When: Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Artist Info Incomming
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Ivan and Ivy MacDonald
When: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Artist Info Incomming
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Courtney Little Ax
When: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Artist Info Incomming
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Valentina LaPier
When: Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Artist Info Incomming
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
Open AIR Open: Mini Golf, Major Impact
The Open AIR Open is a one-of-a-kind, artist-designed mini-golf course—right here in Missoula! The Open AIR Open Mini Golf Tournament is the Open AIR 2025 annual fundraiser; all proceeds will go to supporting Open AIR.
Sunday, September 21 | 10AM–8PM | Fort Missoula
This One Day Only event will be filled with CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION, and CONNECTION. You can look forward to:
⛳️ A competitive mini-golf course
🏌️♀️ A family-friendly course
🎶 Live music
🎨 A silent auction
🍔 Food trucks
🎈 Kid zone
🍻 Beer garden
🎟 Raffle, costumes & prizes!
Click here for more details, tickets, to set your tee-time, or to get involved.
If you want to volunteer, let us know by filling out this form.
Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Presentation with Marita Growing Thunder
When: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at Noon
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Topic Description:
Marita Growing Thunder describes her background as a beadwork artist. This will include her history and interest in art, how it relates to her identity as a Sisseton Wahpeton woman, and how beadwork shapes her life. Marita will also be explaining how she gained mentorship and learned through intergenerational education through a short slide presentation.
About the Artist:
Haŋ mitákuyepi! My name is Marita Growing Thunder. I am an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. I am an alumni of the Political Science program at the University of Montana. I have been working professionally in beadworking for two years under the guidance of the Growing Thunder Collective.
Register Here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/252436280155050
Upon registration, a meeting link will be sent to you.
The Indigenous Art, Indigenous Minds Speaker Series is a project of Open AIR’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee, established to elevate Indigenous Leadership and creative practices in Montana and beyond. All presentations are available on Open AIR’s YouTube Channel.
First Friday at Missoula Symphony
It’s First Friday, and the Missoula Symphony is hosting Open AIR’s exhibit Open, Open, Open! Join us downtown between 5–7pm! Enjoy live music, great company, and a sneak peek at our upcoming annual fundraiser—a one-of-a-kind, artist-designed Mini Golf course! Our participating artists are currently building their imaginative mini-golf obstacles in preparation for the big event on September 21. Come check out their sketches, explore the history of golf at Fort Missoula, and play a little putt-putt while you're at it! Big thanks to Missoula Mini-Golf for their support and to the Missoula Symphony for hosting us. See you downtown! Open, Open, Open! Artists:
Casey Schachner, “Shrimping Ain’t Easy” (*Featured Above)
Mo Burki, “Empty Nesting”
Kelly Kling, “Zenith”
Zola Kell, Kaitlynn Webster, Alyssa Kennamer, Yve Holtzclaw, Sarah Cook, & Taylor Stein, “Jurassic Putt”
Lauren Norby & Caitlin Hofmeister, “The Three Billy Goats Grolff”
Abby Meyer, Rachel Hutchins, Ken Rand, Alyssa Kennamer, “Vultures' Just Desert”
Taylor Stein, Kaitlynn Radloff, Jules Lucero, “PeliCAN not PeliCAN’T!”
Gilmore McLean, Kaitlynn Radloff, “How it Feels to Love in 2025”
Shanley Swanson, Kim Brown-Campbell, “Mini Mental Health”
Amanda Krolczyk, “Beaver Hole”
Kimberly Spence & Family, “The Best Nest”
Jennifer & Matt Ogden, "Learn the Tale of a Mouse Stabile!"
Also on view is a retrospective look at Gaku Tsutaja's work from her 2019 residence at Fort Missoula, "Beautiful Sky Golf Course".
MINE Opening Reception at The Archives
Join us for an opening reception of MINE: Excavating Ecologies. MINE is an exhibition inspired by the Upper Clark Fork Ecosystems featuring artists Eric Jensen, Lane Chapman, and Manette Bradford.
Artists, Jensen and Chapman completed their residencies in partnership with the Clark Fork Coalition, where they shared a studio space at the Cottonwood Field Station, allowing for close collaboration and creative exchange. Manette Bradford held her residency at the Hungry Hill Art Center in Butte, Montana, a location rich with the mining heritage that continues to shape the region’s identity.
Manette Bradford, Artist
Manette Rene Bradford (b. 1978, St. Paul, MN) was raised in a family of visual artists. This early exposure to art allowed her to develop an understanding of craftsmanship and the creative process and to develop a lifelong relationship with her own practice. Manette earned a BFA in 2001 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2022, she was awarded the Montana Art Gallery Director's Association Exhibition Sponsorship for Unsettled Lands, which will tour Montana from 2024-2026. She will exhibit at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, C.M. Russell Museum, Hockaday Museum of Art, Schoolhouse History and Art Center, and MonDak Heritage Center, and has exhibited in both solo and group shows in San Francisco and Chicago. Manette was interviewed as the subject of an episode of Resounds: Arts and Culture on the High Plains, which aired on May 22, 2023. She has lived and worked in Chicago, the Bay Area, and lives and works in Red Lodge and Billings, Montana.
Visit Manette's Website Here: https://manetterenebradford.com/home.html
Eric Jensen, Artist
Eric Jensen is an abstract landscape painter with an interest in unifying different modes of understanding our world. Combining unlike methodologies like science and spirituality, he hopes to empower ecological preservation efforts and establish new cultural values through art. His practice is built from a contemporary art education, a critical perspective of religion in the west, and a passion for being close to nature. He has formed a landscape painting practice that looks critically at how our society perceives the land and is working to unify his practice with environmental conservation efforts. Born in Utah, raised and educated in Virginia, Eric now lives outside of Missoula, MT, after finishing an MFA in painting at the University of Montana.
Visit Eric's Website Here: https://www.ericjensenpaintings.com/
Lane Chapman, Artist
Lane Chapman:Hailing from small town Arkansas, Lane Chapman started as a painter and illustrator until she transitioned into clay in college. She received her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2017. After graduating, she moved to Rochester, NY, for a two-year residency at the Flower City Arts Center. She then moved to Missoula, MT, for a residency at The Clay Studio of Missoula for two years from 2019-2021 and then a resident at Wildfire Ceramic Studio from 2021-2022. Lane is currently a MFA candidate at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Visit Lane's Website Here: https://lanechapman.wixsite.com/my-site-2
Open AIR is best known for its unique place-based Artist-in-Residence program that connects artists from all disciplines and origins, with culturally, historically, and ecologically significant locations through collaborative partnerships in Montana. With innovative opportunities available in places such as remote wilderness areas to historically significant sites closer to town, artists have the opportunity to draw inspiration from a regional community dedicated to preserving place, environment, and the arts.
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Join Open AIR every Thursday at the Philipsburg Public Library this Summer!
Explore watercolor, soft pastels, poetry, interactive art and more! Featuring Open AIR alum Amanda Bielby and Taylor Stein.
Audience: These workshops are suitable for ages 6+.
What to bring: Everything you need will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
MINE: Excavating Ecologies at Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
MINE: Excavating Ecologies
August 21 - October 20
Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
MINE: Excavating Ecologies, showcases both new and existing work by Montana-based artists Eric Jensen, Lane Chapman, and Manette Bradford, all participants in Open AIR’s 2024 Artist-in-Residence program.
Jensen and Chapman completed their residencies in partnership with the Clark Fork Coalition, where they shared a studio space at the Cottonwood Field Station, allowing for close collaboration and creative exchange. Bradford held her residency at the Hungry Hill Art Center in Butte, Montana, a location rich with the mining heritage that continues to shape the region’s identity.
The exhibition, titled MINE, explores themes of place, extraction, ecology, and personal connection to the land.
Amanda Bielby Plein Air Workshop Series Session Five
Plein Air along the Clark Fork Watershed - Amanda Bielby Workshop Series
Five guided sessions with artist Amanda Bielby
When: Every other Thursday from June 26th - August 21st, 2025
Session One: June 26th - Enhance Your Soft Pastel with Watercolors
Session Two: July 10th- Find Your Color Palette With Grey Scale
Session Three: July 24th- Loose Watercolor Landscapes
Session Four: August 7th- Nature's Molecular Abstract Patterns in Watercolor
Session Five: August 21st- Speed-Scapes
Session Time: 9am - 12pm
Place: Varying locations along the Clark Fork Watershed- each destination will be approved by MT FWP. All locations will be sent out via google maps leading up to the workshop.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Camp chair, water bottle, sunscreen, all workshop materials will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated! All participants will need a MT FWP issued conservation License.
https://form.jotform.com/251315585689166
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Free kids workshop ages 6+
more info coming soon!
Kids Workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Join Open AIR every Thursday at the Philipsburg Public Library this Summer!
Explore watercolor, soft pastels, poetry, interactive art and more! Featuring Open AIR alum Amanda Bielby and Taylor Stein.
Audience: These workshops are suitable for ages 6+.
What to bring: Everything you need will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
Amanda Bielby Plein Air Workshop Series Session Four
Plein Air along the Clark Fork Watershed - Amanda Bielby Workshop Series
Five guided sessions with artist Amanda Bielby
When: Every other Thursday from June 26th - August 21st, 2025
Session One: June 26th - Enhance Your Soft Pastel with Watercolors
Session Two: July 10th- Find Your Color Palette With Grey Scale
Session Three: July 24th- Loose Watercolor Landscapes
Session Four: August 7th- Nature's Molecular Abstract Patterns in Watercolor
Session Five: August 21st- Speed-Scapes
Session Time: 9am - 12pm
Place: Varying locations along the Clark Fork Watershed- each destination will be approved by MT FWP. All locations will be sent out via google maps leading up to the workshop.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Camp chair, water bottle, sunscreen, all workshop materials will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated! All participants will need a MT FWP issued conservation License.
https://form.jotform.com/251315585689166
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Open AIR & Missoula Symphony Exhibition
Open, Open, Open!
Missoula Symphony
200 N Higgins Ave
5-8pm
It’s First Friday, and the Missoula Symphony is hosting Open AIR’s exhibit Open, Open, Open! Join us downtown between 5–8pm!
Enjoy live music, great company, and a sneak peek at our upcoming annual fundraiser—a one-of-a-kind, artist-designed Mini Golf course! Our participating artists are currently building their imaginative mini-golf obstacles in preparation for the big event on September 21. Come check out their sketches, explore the history of golf at Fort Missoula, and play a little putt-putt while you're at it!
Big thanks to Missoula Mini-Golf for their support and to the Missoula Symphony for hosting us.
See you downtown!
Open, Open, Open! Artists:
Casey Schachner, “Shrimping Ain’t Easy” (*featured above)
Mo Burki, “Empty Nesting”
Kelly Kling, “Zenith”
Zola Kell, Kaitlynn Webster, Alyssa Kennamer, Yve Holtzclaw, Sarah Cook, & Taylor Stein, “Jurassic Putt”
Lauren Norby & Caitlin Hofmeister, “The Three Billy Goats Grolff”
Abby Meyer, Rachel Hutchins, Ken Rand, Alyssa Kennamer, “Vultures' Just Desert”
Taylor Stein, KRad, Jules Lucero, “PeliCAN not PeliCAN’T!”
Gilmore McLean, KRad, “How it Feels to Love in 2025”
Shanley Swanson, Kim Brown-Campbell, “Mini Mental Health”
Amanda Krolczyk, “Beaver Hole”
Kimberly Spence & Family, “The Best Nest”
Jennifer & Matt Ogden, "Be Nice 2 Mice"
Intro to Junk Journaling with Taylor Stein
Open AIR Artist-Led Workshop
Introduction to Junk Journaling with Taylor Stein
Register Here! https://form.jotform.com/251605864385161
About the Workshop:
If you'd like to turn your sketches, scribbles, postcards, pamphlets--all of life's detritus that is just too good to throw away--into a meditative, multimedia arts practice, this is the class for you. Artfully preserve your memories and clear your mind with this popular, accessible craft. Please bring in materials you'd like to work with, such as letters, pictures, ticket stubs, stickers, pressed flowers, maps, the sky is the limit!
About the Artist:
Taylor Stein (she/her) is a writer and mixed-media artist based in Missoula. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Montana in 2018, where she served as Fiction Editor for Cutbank Literary Magazine. Her short stories have appeared in Word Dog Quarterly and in Duplicitous: A WriteHive Compilation. Her innovative arts books combine 3D elements with story and play. Taylor is currently producing and directing a puppet theater production, Excuse Us, co-written with Bob Giordano, which will debut at Free Cycles in September and close a series of free arts workshops.
Taylor is also a teacher with the Free Verse Writing Project, which brings writing and art into Montana jails and prisons, and has taught creative writing workshops through Open AIR, Word Dog, the Missoula Writing Collaborative, Arts Missoula, and the University of Montana's MOLLI program. She also does freelance editing and creative coaching. Her latest adventure is the Wonder-Gizmos, a Snail Mail Creative Writing Club and Whimsy Machine. Please hop over to her website, https:// taylorwstein.wixsite.com/my- site/projects, for more information.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Journal and anything you'd like to work with from home.
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
Registration: Registration is required and will close 24 hours before the workshop begins.
Cancellation: If you are registered and cannot attend the workshop, please let us know at program@openairmt.org so we can open the spot for another participant!
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Free kids workshop ages 6+
More info coming soon!
MINE Closing Reception and Panel Discussion
MINE: Excavating Ecologies
Closing Reception and Panel Discussion
Monday, July 28 6-7:30 pm
co-presented by Open AIIR and the Clark Fork Coalition
4th floor, Missoula Public Library
Join us for a closing reception of MINE: Excavating Ecologies. MINE is an exhibition inspired by the Upper Clark Fork Ecosystems featuring artists Eric Jensen, Lane Chapman, and Manette Bradford.
We will celebrate with food, drinks, and a facilitated panel discussion with the artists and representatives from Clark Fork Coalition.
Artists, Jensen and Chapman completed their residencies in partnership with the Clark Fork Coalition, where they shared a studio space at the Cottonwood Field Station, allowing for close collaboration and creative exchange. Manette Bradford held her residency at the Hungry Hill Art Center in Butte, Montana, a location rich with the mining heritage that continues to shape the region’s identity. The Clark Fork Coalition’s impact reaches beyond restoration, employing a wide range of science-based strategies to tackle the complex challenges facing the Clark Fork Watershed. In this case, CFC collaborated with Open AIR in support of creative interpretations of those challenges, evidenced in the artworks featured in this exhibition.
The panel discussion will feature reflections on the artists' residency experiences and the role of art in engaging with environmental narratives.
Panelists
Manette Bradford, Artist
Lane Chapman, Artist
Stoney Samsoe, E.D. Open AIR
Brian Chaffin, E.D. Clark Fork Coalition
Open AIR is best known for its unique place-based Artist-in-Residence program that connects artists from all disciplines and origins, with culturally, historically, and ecologically significant locations through collaborative partnerships in Montana. With innovative opportunities available in places such as remote wilderness areas to historically significant sites closer to town, artists have the opportunity to draw inspiration from a regional community dedicated to preserving place, environment, and the arts.
The Clark Fork Coalition, founded in 1985, works to restore and protect the Clark Fork River and its tributaries. Montana’s largest river by volume and the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River, the Clark Fork River serves as a critical lifeline for communities, fish, and wildlife across the region. CFC aims to bring Western Montana’s rivers and streams back to health and protect them in perpetuity.
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Join Open AIR every Thursday at the Philipsburg Public Library this Summer!
Explore watercolor, soft pastels, poetry, interactive art and more! Featuring Open AIR alum Amanda Bielby and Taylor Stein.
Audience: These workshops are suitable for ages 6+.
What to bring: Everything you need will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
Amanda Bielby Plein Air Workshop Series Session Three
Plein Air along the Clark Fork Watershed - Amanda Bielby Workshop Series
Five guided sessions with artist Amanda Bielby
Register Here: https://form.jotform.com/251315585689166
When: Every other Thursday from June 26th - August 21st, 2025
Session One: June 26th - Enhance Your Soft Pastel with Watercolors
Session Two: July 10th- Find Your Color Palette With Grey Scale
Session Three: July 24th- Loose Watercolor Landscapes
Session Four: August 7th- Nature's Molecular Abstract Patterns in Watercolor
Session Five: August 21st- Speed-Scapes
Session Time: 9am - 12pm
Place: Varying locations along the Clark Fork Watershed- each destination will be approved by MT FWP. All locations will be sent out via google maps leading up to the workshop.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Camp chair, water bottle, sunscreen, all workshop materials will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated! All participants will need a MT FWP issued conservation License.
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Kelsey Dzintars Artist Presentation
Join us on Wednesday, July 23rd, at the Lolo Brewery & Grill for an artist presentation with Open AIR's Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Artist-in-Residence Kelsey Dzintars. Snacks will be provided. Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
https://form.jotform.com/251314891218153
Kelsey Dzintars is a versatile fine artist, tattooist, muralist, and illustrator rooted in Bozeman, Montana. Growing up pursuing art and music in Rapid City, South Dakota, she followed her creative passion to Montana State University, earning a BFA in Graphic Design in 2009. Dzintars’ acrylic paintings draw from her personal experiences in the wilderness, weaving together expressive landscapes and surreal portrayals of nature’s divine feminine essence. Her work often merges with the mission of outdoor-centered brands and nonprofits, aiming to nurture and protect both the wilderness within us and the wild places beyond. She also spent time as a guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, which deeply influenced both the visual and symbolic narratives of water in her work. When not creating in her studio at the Emerson Center in Bozeman you'll find her snowboarding, on the river (probably in costume), or engaged in a deeply philosophical—yet entirely pointless—Seinfeld-esque debate with her partner, Aaron, and their mischievous mutts, Neko and Ripley.
Kids Workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Join Open AIR every Thursday at the Philipsburg Public Library this Summer!
Explore watercolor, soft pastels, poetry, interactive art and more! Featuring Open AIR alum Amanda Bielby and Taylor Stein.
Audience: These workshops are suitable for ages 6+.
What to bring: Everything you need will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
Molly Burki Artist Presentation
Join us on Thursday, July 17th, at Home Resource for an artist presentations with Open AIR's Home Resource Artist-in-Residence Molly Burki. Snacks will be provided. Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
https://form.jotform.com/251314891218153
Molly Burki is an artist, educator, baker, and friend who is passionate about creating uplifting environments through community building and intentional and accessible resources. They are a weaver of many forms, primarily floor loom and basket weaving, and are committed to spreading awareness of accessible death care options and how weaving can guide us during those transitions. They are inspired by patterns, cycles, and the natural world's ease of flowing through them. Through playful exploration and devoted connection, they have hope we can, too.
Eleanor Qull & Deborah Dohne Artist Presentation
Join us on Tuesday, July 15th, at the G.W. Marks Exploration Center in the Balsomroot room for two artist presentations with Open AIR's Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium Artist-in-Residence Eleanor Qull and Rocky Mountain Gardens Artist-in-Residence Deborah Dohne. Snacks will be provided. Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
https://form.jotform.com/250627326609156
Eleanor Qull - [Alias Eleanor Tullock, Delano Roosevelt] is a maker, sound artist, and Australian exile based in California and the western states.
After graduating with a Master of Architecture in Design, Eleanor has put formal design training under scrutiny and intense stretching - to experiment with free-form creative practice in experimental audio, sculpture, writing and theoretical inventions. This has included large scale projects such as ‘Flog’ (an architecture magazine), the Graham Foundation supported ‘Never Discuss Politics at Home’ (an attempt to make architecture TV) and a daily practice of making objects both small (dueling gloves, horns, instruments) and large (a 40 ft X 28 ft hand painted kabuki drop curtain, ‘The Mountain’ for a performance in the Festival of New Works, Red Cat Theatre 2021).
She moved to the Western states to explore the complex intersections between the landscape, the built world, ecology, and diverse, and sometimes secret, communities.
Deborah Dohne - is a visual artist and environmental advocate with an art practice rooted in sustainability. Her artwork is a reflection on the meaning of place, its histories, truths and interconnected human and ecological communities. She works with fibers, mixed media, beach plastic, wood, and other biodegradable materials. Deborah also engages place through participation in public science research projects.MFA, Ohio State University. Recognitions: Greening USA Community Advocacy Sustainability Award, Levine Award for NYS Ornithological Association illustrated journal article. New York State Council on the Arts Grant, Artist Trust Grant, Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship.
Kids Workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Join Open AIR every Thursday at the Philipsburg Public Library this Summer!
Explore watercolor, soft pastels, poetry, interactive art and more! Featuring Open AIR alum Amanda Bielby and Taylor Stein.
Audience: These workshops are suitable for ages 6+.
What to bring: Everything you need will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated!
Amanda Bielby Plein Air Workshop Series Session Two
Plein Air along the Clark Fork Watershed - Amanda Bielby Workshop Series
Five guided sessions with artist Amanda Bielby
When: Every other Thursday from June 26th - August 21st, 2025
Session One: June 26th - Enhance Your Soft Pastel with Watercolors
Session Two: July 10th- Find Your Color Palette With Grey Scale
Session Three: July 24th- Loose Watercolor Landscapes
Session Four: August 7th- Nature's Molecular Abstract Patterns in Watercolor
Session Five: August 21st- Speed-Scapes
Session Time: 9am - 12pm
Place: Varying locations along the Clark Fork Watershed- each destination will be approved by MT FWP. All locations will be sent out via google maps leading up to the workshop.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Camp chair, water bottle, sunscreen, all workshop materials will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated! All participants will need a MT FWP issued conservation License.
https://form.jotform.com/251315585689166
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Anne Yoncha Artist Presentation
Join us on Wednesday, July 9th, at the Moon Randolph Homestead for an artist presentations with Open AIR's Moon Randolph Homestead Artist-in-Residence Anne Yoncha. Snacks will be provided. Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
https://form.jotform.com/250627326609156
Anne Yoncha - Anne Yoncha (US) is currently Assistant Professor of Art + Painting Area Coordinator at Metropolitan State University Denver. She was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. After earning her MFA at the University of Montana in 2019, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, working with restorationists to make collaborative art-science work about former peat extraction sites outside Oulu. Her practice combines digital sensing technology, such as bio-data sonification, and analog, traditional processes, including painting with ink she makes from locally-sourced plant matter. Her ongoing research with the HAB (High Altitude Bioprospecting) working group began in Fall 2019 at Field_Notes, a residency of Finland’s Bio Art Society at Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in subarctic Lapland, where she worked with artists, biologists, and programmers to detect high-altitude microbes using a heli-kite. Outside the studio she can often be found doing another kind of environmental “research” via bicycle.
Nikki Cully Artist Presentation
Join us on Tuesday, July 1, at Garden City Harvest (GCH) for an artist presentation with Open AIR's GCH Artist-in-Residence Nikki Culley. Snacks will be provided. Let us know if you'll be joining us with the optional registration form linked here.
https://form.jotform.com/251314891218153
Nikki is a documentary photographer from Manchester UK who shares stories of people, place and community. Nikki first learned manual photography on an art foundation course at Sunderland University in 2004 but pursued a first career as a journalist in London.
In 2015, Nikki returned to visual storytelling, studying a masters degree in History of Art Photography at Manchester University and building a darkroom in her home.
Currently, Nikki is working on long-term projects with; women working the land and at sea in remote areas of Iceland; and, with male fighters in mixed martial arts communities in UK cities. She has had on-location assignments across the UK, in Tanzania, India and Iceland, with photographs published in a raft of magazines, for the BBC and shown at exhibitions for various galleries and festivals.
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Free workshop for kids ages 6+
More info coming soon!
Amanda Bielby Plein Air Workshop Series Session One
Plein Air along the Clark Fork Watershed - Amanda Bielby Workshop Series
Five guided sessions with artist Amanda Bielby
When: Every other Thursday from June 26th - August 21st, 2025
Session One: June 26th - Enhance Your Soft Pastel with Watercolors
Session Two: July 10th- Find Your Color Palette With Grey Scale
Session Three: July 24th- Loose Watercolor Landscapes
Session Four: August 7th- Nature's Molecular Abstract Patterns in Watercolor
Session Five: August 21st- Speed-Scapes
Session Time: 9am - 12pm
Place: Varying locations along the Clark Fork Watershed- each destination will be approved by MT FWP. All locations will be sent out via google maps leading up to the workshop.
Audience: This workshop is suitable for individuals 18+.
What to bring: Camp chair, water bottle, sunscreen, all workshop materials will be provided!
Cost: The workshop is free, but a suggested donation is appreciated! All participants will need a MT FWP issued conservation License.
Register Here: https://form.jotform.com/251315585689166
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Anne Yoncha Artist-Led Workshop
| Improvisations With The Trees: Drawing, movement, sound, and taste explorations in collaboration with Moonrandolph Homestead Orchard |
More about the workshop:
Join artist Anne Yoncha for 12 immersive experiences combining drawing, movement, sound, and taste in the Moon Randolph Homestead Apple Orchard. Through these experimental exercises, you'll explore deep listening and use elements like sound, shadows, and wind to inspire your drawings among the trees.
About the artist:
Anne Yoncha (US) is currently Assistant Professor of Art + Painting Area Coordinator at Metropolitan State University Denver. She was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. After earning her MFA at the University of Montana in 2019, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, working with restorationists to make collaborative art-science work about former peat extraction sites outside Oulu. Her practice combines digital sensing technology, such as bio-data sonification, and analog, traditional processes including painting with ink she makes from locally-sourced plant matter. Her ongoing research with the HAB (High Altitude Bioprospecting) working group began in Fall 2019 at Field_Notes, a residency of Finland’s Bio Art Society at Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in subarctic Lapland, where she worked with artists, biologists, and programmers to detect high-altitude microbes using a heli-kite. Outside the studio she can often be found doing another kind of environmental “research” via bicycle.
Register Now: https://form.jotform.com/251314933108148 Questions? Email program@openairmt.org
Taylor Stein Artist-led Workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
FRAGMENTS FIND FORM: Glimpses, Story, & Creative Play with Taylor Stein
Thursday, June 19
6:00 - 7:30p
Philipsburg Public Library
Philipsburg, MT
18+
Free
Register: https://form.jotform.com/251605864385161
Kids workshop at Philipsburg Public Library
Free kids workshop ages 6+
More info coming soon!
Eleanor Qull Artist- Led Workshop
| FLY: a kite-making workshop to explore the shapes and sounds of insect futures |
About the workshop:
Learn to make a singing kite and maybe communicate with local insects and butterflies.
Findings about insect wing patterning, flight, and behavior can suggest new approaches on how we cohabitate with insects and can apply to a creative kite making process – experimenting with pattern, shapes, movement and sound.
This workshop is an open discussion through direct insect observation, conversation, and three-dimensional hands-on kite making, on xenobiotic and environmental changes that are affecting and changing insect behaviours and biology, and how we can respond to those changes.
About the Artist:
Eleanor Qull [Alias Eleanor Tullock, Delano Roosevelt]
Maker, sound artist, and Australian exile based in California and the western states.
After graduating with a Master of Architecture in Design, Eleanor has put formal design training under scrutiny and intense stretching - to experiment with free-form creative practice in experimental audio, sculpture, writing and theoretical inventions. This has included large scale projects such as ‘Flog’ (an architecture magazine), the Graham Foundation supported ‘Never Discuss Politics at Home’ (an attempt to make architecture TV) and a daily practice of making objects both small (dueling gloves, horns, instruments) and large (a 40 ft X 28 ft hand painted kabuki drop curtain, ‘The Mountain’ for a performance in the Festival of New Works, Red Cat Theatre 2021).
She moved to the Western states to explore the complex intersections between the landscape, the built world, ecology, and diverse, and sometimes secret, communities.
Register Now: https://form.jotform.com/251475301226146
Questions? Email program@openairmt.org