The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture is pleased to host its newest shows featuring emerging artists from our community.
Montana photographer Christopher Campbell showcases Caldera in the Weaver Room gallery. A selection from a much larger series, he comes up with projects or series as he works, not the other way around. He discovers his intention through the photographs.
“My method is slow, but once moving through the land I work assuredly and intuitively, I find there is little equivocation over what to photograph. I question little when moved to expose a sheet of film. The questions come after,” his artist statement reads. “I believe there are always far more questions than answers. The heavy lifting, after I put a photograph out into the world, is up to the viewer. If I have done my job the weight should be manageable in its own way by anyone willing or able to take the time.”
Montana-based artist Kirsten Kainz unveils Mutual in the Lobby, Galleria Hall and Jessie Wilber galleries. The new exhibition invites visitors into a vivid and thought-provoking exploration of our interconnected relationship with the natural world.
Kainz channels her enduring fascination with nature into a dynamic range of work, including bejeweled sculptural pieces, collage, and a striking “hall of heads” installation in the Lobby Gallery. In Galleria Hall, a powerful large-scale polar bear set within an arctic environment anchors the pop-up space, offering a poignant reflection on fragility, adaptation, and survival in a changing world.
Using unexpected, everyday materials, Kainz creates sculptural creatures that invite viewers into a more personal and emotional connection with the living world. Her work suggests that we are inherently wired to respond to beauty and that losing sight of it can have profound consequences.
Both exhibits are open the public, on display through June 30th. For gallery hours and more information, please visit www.theemerson.org. Located at 111 S Grand Ave., the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture serves as a primary resource for the arts, arts education, and cultural activities in Southwest Montana. •
