OBSERVATION IS CRITICAL TO THE CREATIVE PRACTICE of artist, writer, and naturalist James Prosek. Observation, and what American biologist E.O. Wilson described as “biophilia,” the instinctive bond between humans and other living systems. As Prosek explains, it’s a fascination with life and its diversity, “a...
ANYONE WHO'S EVER STRUGGLED WITH RELATIONSHIPS would probably benefit from studying the dynamic between bronze sculptors and their patineurs. Because it’s a slow, complicated, and involved process, many artists prefer to turn that work over to other artisans so they can, instead, devote their time...
THROUGH HIS DEPICTION OF SIMPLIFIED LANDSCAPES, painter Travis Walker speaks to a problematic perspective of the modern West. By reducing the intricacies of peaks and crevices, solitary doorways and empty streets, Walker clears the way for a new kind of narrative — one which exchanges...
THEY'RE FAST, ELEGANT, SENSITIVE, AND STRONG, with wild manes and tails that touch the grass. At times they seem otherworldly, mythological, like the four-legged inhabitants of fairy tales. Yet here they stand, living among us, helping with the most practical of endeavors while offering emotional...
THE PROBLEM WITH INTERVIEWING JULIA GALLOWAY is that she’d rather talk about anything other than herself. Anything, that is, having to do with clay. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” she says. “I don’t really know much about anything else!” Whether entirely accurate or not, the statement encapsulates...
IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE AMBLING in the vicinity of Wyoming Blue Eyes, the painting by representational artist Carrie Ballantyne, prepare for a double take. The oil depicts a young woman whose wavy blond hair spills from a loose braid below a flat-topped, wide-brimmed hat....
BUTTE, MONTANA, HAS A CERTAIN ALLURE for photographer Janie Osborne. First drawn there for a personal project, to research and photograph the Berkeley Pit — the Superfund conundrum that dwells in its backyard — she became captivated by the charm of a community that, in...
I CAN'T SAY FOR SURE EXACTLY WHERE THE IDEA CAME FROM, but I can tell you the approximate location of the when, which was sometime in my 50s; and me, a child of the 1950s. I’m a hunter-gatherer by blood and disposition, hardwired to take...
A SUMMER EVENING IN THE FOOTHILLS of Montana’s Little Belt Mountains, I sit outside to watch the sun sink. A breeze rustles the grass. Birds zip through the air, enjoying a few final flights before bedtime. One, a swallow with striking blue feathers, catches my...
ON DAY ONE OF A 45-MILE CANOE TRIP through the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Central Montana, our group of 10 moms and daughters found ourselves standing before archaeologist Kevin O’Briant. We were gazing at an ancient rendering of a horse — perfectly...