In-Habit

Selected works from the 2023 Artist-in-Residence group exhibition

American Prairie

  • While I was at both sites of the residency, one of my daily practices was to quickly select seven words that came to mind in response to an encounter I had with the place and to arrange and rearrange them, one word per line, until they reflected various and open meanings. Of course, the maps were also part of my daily practice in that I spent a great deal of time outdoors. The poet's way of mapping is more intuitive than the cartographer's. Which one is truer?

American Prairie Sun Prairie

poems on map of American Prairie

2023

American Prairie PN

Poems on map of American Prairie

2023

  • I was influenced by the color relationships of the land and the silhouette of animals that inhabit American Prairie. With this piece, I was influenced mainly by how I spent my days. "Running on Indian Time" is a stereotypical phrase that correlates Native people with running late/not being on time. Other meanings are, "you leave/arrive whenever the spirit moves you" and "it will be done when it is meant to be done." Time didn't really exist during my residency. I had nothing to be late to when I was out on American Prairie (Blackfoot, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Metis, Ocheti Sakowin, and Apsaalooke land). On cold mornings, I would get out of my sleeping bag when the spirit would move me to find a warm spot by the fire. I would start or finish my hikes and bike rides when I was meant to. I didn't need to be in a hurry to get somewhere or do something. I ran on my time.

Runnin' on Indian Time (Front)

quilt

2023

Runnin' on Indian Time (Back)

quilt

2023

  • During the residency, I walked between 4-6 hours a day entirely without constraint--I never hit a property boundary or had an obligation--and used the time to meander and wonder, taking notes or making sketches. Then I would make art for an hour or two in the afternoon and sometimes after dinner. The pieces I made sit between abstraction and representation and are taken from the things I saw while I was there--piles of bones or antlers, a spine with ribs, feathers, animal paths, ridges and gulches, rivers. All have bifurcated forms, stemming off a main channel or trunk into distributaries. Somehow, the pieces I made all divided along a central axis and were about mirroring, twinning, reflection, pattern, and repetition.

Prairie Drawing: Antler Shed

Ink and Gesso on paper

2023

Prairie Drawing: Large Draw, Little Sag

Ink and Gesso on paper

2023

Flathead Lake Biological Station

  • While in residency at FLBS, I explored ideas of home/place as data, a domestic experience, and a tactile object. These investigations resulted in data-based weavings of lake level change drawing upon FLBS lake monitoring, needlepoint on a repurposed heating vent, and garments documenting time and tension on the body.

Delta

Yarn, lake level data

2023

HOME/LAND

Yarn, heating vent

2023

  • These photographs were all taken during my time with OpenAIR. “They Fly Like Tiny Angels” and “Driftwood Ladder” were part of an outdoor installation at Flathead Lake Biological Station. Painted on upcycled window screens, owls take flight in the forest, sometimes visible and sometimes invisible. I build driftwood ladders and sprinkled them throughout the site, offering different vantage points for those looking to meander off the trail. After spending time banding and releasing owls with a scientist from the Owl Research Institute, I wanted to capture the breathlessness I felt being so close to the little birds. “The Belly of the Beast” was taken along the highway back from Glacier National Park. I had just driven along the Going to the Sun road, which was a bombardment of awesome landscape and golden hour trees. I pulled my car over, which you can see in the photograph, to take a closer look at the dead cow stuck in rigor mortis on the side of the road. It almost looked playful, like it was rolling in the grass.

Driftwood Ladder

Archival inkjet print of 35mm photograph

2023

The Belly of the Beast

Archival inkjet print of 35mm photograph

2023

They Fly Like Tiny Angels

Archival inkjet print of 35mm photograph

2023

Garden City Harvest

  • To prepare for my residency at Garden City Harvest, I reflected on the impact that local, pesticide-free food has had on my own health and researched the national and global effects. I wanted to create a large-scale sculpture that elevated the importance of vegetables and herbs in its scale and form. Then, during my time working on site at the River Road farm, I was inspired directly by volunteering with the farmers and connecting my hands to the earth. I added actual dirt from the farm to my sculpture and came up with an important addition to the piece after listening to the farmer Greg Price explain cotyledon leaves while we were planting squash starts one morning.

Farmer's Friend

Found object, wire, fabric mache, paper mache, paint

2023

Home ReSource

  • The work I made in Missoula was informed by both the material exploration of gleaning from a salvage & reuse center, as well as my daily life for a month in a small town 1300 miles north of where I live. During my time there, autumn put on a showy performance while a particularly violent chapter of a long, one-sided war unfolded on the other side of the world. I mostly heard people only speak of one of these things. When I could brave the cold, I moved around by bike. I was lonely, but I think it was good for me. The Clark Fork was a solace. Full, falling foliage and the texture of decomposition still weigh heavily on my mind.

River (Finger)

acrylic and gouache on panel

2023

Pressure Regulator

salvaged light fixture, grout, acrylic, marker, text, false brick, timer

2023

  • BT Livermore is an artist who works in a variety of mediums, from sign painting, printmaking, and graphic design, to functional and interactive sculptural objects. Whenever possible, BT uses vintage and reclaimed objects and materials for their work. BT also manages the community printmaking studio at the Imagine Butte Resource Center, and loves to share knowledge and resources with other artists whenever possible.

Safe and Sound

Sign painted light box

2023

Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium

  • These pieces were made while in residence at the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium in the fall of 2023. They are each various species of moths created from studying specimens in their collection. They were partially inspired by a short story from Melissa Faliveno's memoir Tomboyland.

Celestial Navigation Study (Silver)

Watercolor on paper

2023

Celestial Navigation Study (gold)

Watercolor on paper

2023

  • The library's laser engraver became an invaluable tool, influencing my Indigenous Plains ledger art and enabling me to adapt my designs culturally.

    It served as a bridge between the ancient techniques of ledger art and modern innovation, enabling me to blend tradition with contemporary expression and ultimately enriching my artistic journey.

Missoula Public Library

Sxʷčmtéws ‘Horse Rider’ 7/10

Colored pencil, alcohol markers, and light use acrylic paint

2023

Sxʷčmtéws ‘Horse Rider’ 2/10

Colored pencil, alcohol markers, and light use acrylic paint

2023

Sxʷčmtéws ‘Horse Rider’ 9/10

Colored pencil, alcohol markers, and light use acrylic paint

2023

  • This is the work that inspired me to pursue the artist residency. It influenced and organized the subject matter I used for my work in the Missoula Public Library Makerspace. This artwork is about interactions with the natural world and the existence of humans within it. I made the pigments from rocks I found in my yard and around my home. I drew with some of the rocks directly onto the canvas, and certain ones behaved like a pastel. I used drawing charcoal I made from Willow trees, and I made some of the paint using clay from Jemez Pueblo, which was gifted to me some time ago by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. The painting is about time, place, growth, material, process, ancestral and contemporary technology, and connection. It was made post-pandemic, as I made significant career changes in my life, as we built a new home, and as I first began to read about AI. I titled it Place dream, tʔe t čen nspsuppsm. I tried to capture an overwhelming daydream about a particular place (in all of its different meanings) that I was in.

Place dream, tʔe t čen nspsuppsm

Mixed Media, Oil paint (natural pigments), Inkjet printed image

2022

  • My time in the MPL Makerspace was one of reflection. I had just left a position as a library’s Makerspace coordinator, so it was incredibly special to be able to utilize a Makerspace and its resources rather than show others how to utilize them. I hosted an amazing workshop while in residence that helped remind me of the expanse of definitions that a quilt can have, which influences the shift in dimension of this piece. Being in Montana in itself was a huge inspiration for this piece. From the time I stepped into the state, I was entranced by the landscape and wanted to reflect in this piece what my mindset was within this experience.

Both Sides Now

Quilting cotton, reclaimed cotton, glass beads

2023

  • Justine Tamiko Lai is an artist and filmmaker based in Queens, NY. Raised in Sacramento, CA, she received a BA in English and Studio Art from Stanford University and an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA), the Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA), and Gawker Media (New York, NY).

Moon Cycle

16mm direct animation transferred to video

2023

Montana Natural History Center

  • The Natural History Center inspired my work directly with reference materials. It was great to have large, life-sized models to draw from. Working within the realm of dinosaurs really took me back to my childhood fascination with prehistoric creatures, and influenced my research during my residency. Drawing in the public space of the Natural History Center with so many children and museum goers moving around also influenced me in a positive and energetic way.

Meeting of the Birds

Marker on paper

2023

Moon-Randolph Homestead

  • My residency at Moon-Randolph helped me do exactly what I intended for my residency -- come back home to my artistic practice, after a momentary pause during the pandemic.

    I was graced with the expansive (cell service-free!) grounds of the Homestead to read, wander, and dance through rain and sunshine, on this historical land.

    This video is the synchronistic result of noticing my phone camera on the ground below me, catching a surprise perspective of myself, while my sound designer, Curtis Tamm, was setting up his equipment to start our rehearsal.

Under__The Field

2023

  • Kerri Rosenstein is an interdisciplinary visual artist who collaborates with various communities as an educator, facilitator, creative director, and wilderness guide. Her personal practice tends to be contemplative and rooted in ecological values. She is dedicated to ongoing learning and has degrees in Visual Arts and Psychology.

bearing drawing (homestead - wall tent east)

colored pencil on paper

2023

bearing drawing (homestead - wall tent north)

colored pencil on paper

2023

bearing drawing (homestead - wall tent ground)

colored pencil on paper

2023

Philipsburg, MT

  • While in Philipsburg, I was particularly struck by the valley's landscape and wildlife. It is such a rural community surrounded by such stunning scenery that I couldn't help but be influenced by its landscape. At the same time, Philipsburg has a deep history of resource extraction, like much of Montana. As the forest fire season settled in, I started to think about all of the unique wildlife here and how precarious the ecosystems are here in Montana. This piece is part of a series of native species to Montana that are threatened by climate change, human encroachment on habitat, and industrial extraction projects.

    Although the Belted Kingfisher is still common and widespread, its population is decreasing in some areas due to habitat loss. Kingfishers are sensitive to disturbance, particularly during their nesting season, and may abandon breeding areas when faced with too much human activity. With failing fish populations in Montana, the Kingfisher is put at greater risk.

    Ravens were nesting by my housing in Philipsburg, and I watched them raise their young and forage for food around town, taking advantage of tourists who leave food out. Ravens are often treated like pests in the West, but they are important scavengers and predators, and a sign of a healthy ecosystem. In wilderness areas, they are known to follow other predators to scavenge off their kills. Wolves and Bears often follow Ravens to find downed elk and other food sources.

Kingfisher

Linocut on Mulberry Paper

2023

Raven

Linocut on Mulberry Paper

2023

Selway Bitterroot Wilderness

  • This work questions and considers how worth is assigned to labor and production. Daily chores took on new meaning while away from work, society, and routines. Conveniences, like fresh or hot food, became coveted luxuries towards the end of the 10 days at Castle Butte. Life slowed down and became more contemplative, a contrast to working in the fast-paced food industry in East Glacier earlier in the summer.

Service Value

Colored Pencil on Found Guest Checks

2023

Traveler’s Rest State Park

  • I studied the Corps of Discovery's expedition to the Pacific while at Travelers' Rest State Park in Lolo, Montana. I was aided by their staff and library, as well as by the residential historians of Montana. As I was filled in on the journey's details, my impressions of what York might have been feeling and experiencing developed. Thus, these fabricated journal entries were written by myself in hopes of providing a fuller account of York for our historical record.

Excerpt From Four diary entries, written by York

fiction

2023

Excerpt From Four diary entries, written by York

fiction

2023