FLOW
Press Kit
Flow is a socially-engaged project where the art exhibition sets the framework and jumping off point for community conversations around water issues, rights and usage during related, interactive events. Dr. Leanne Gilbertson and Sherri Cornett, as gallery director and artist, respectively are creating opportunities for community interaction, where the gallery will be treated as a laboratory - a space for experimentation, dialogue and collaboration. With the exhibition and event, we encourage viewers, participants, artists, river users and civic leaders to think outside their own understanding and establish a more comprehensive perspective about how water affects our lives and livelihoods.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
November 7, 2016, 1-3 p.m. Youth Outreach with Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming Discussion and Panel Making Workshop Liberal Arts Building, Montana State University Billings January 28 - March 18, 2016 Flow Exhibition Northcutt Steele Gallery, Liberal Arts Building Montana State University Billings
Free and Open to the Public Gallery Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment Thursday, February 11, 2016, 5-7 p.m. Words on Water: Poetry and Jazz in Concert Readings and Musical Improvisation Under the direction of Tami Haaland (Faculty, English, Philosophy & Modern Languages) and John Roberts (Faculty, Music) and their students Northcutt Steele Gallery, Liberal Arts Building Montana State University Billings Free and open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser. Thursday, February 18, 2016, 5-7 p.m. "Mixing Oil and Water" Film Screening/Discussion In collaboration with Northern Plains Resource Council, this evening provides an opportunity for our community to learn more about oil and gas development and its effects on water resources. A screening of Eric Warren's "Mixing Oil and Water" will be followed by a facilitated audience discussion with comments from Sue Beug and Becky Mitchell. Library Room 148 & Liberal Arts Building First Floor Montana State University Billings Free and Open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser. Thursday, February 25, 4:30-8:30 p.m. “Voices of the River” Symposium/Community Discussion and Public Reception Liberal Arts Building & Northcutt Steele Gallery, MSUB 4:30 - 5:30 Youth Outreach Reception & Gallery Reception 5:15 - 7:15 Symposium and Community Discussion Panelists and audience will dialog to broaden collective understanding of environmental and geologic aspects of and policy perspective in relation to the Yellowstone River. Presentations include results of the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis.
Free and Open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser. CONTACTS
 Sherri Cornett
Sherri Cornett
Artist/Curator/Flow Director sherricornettart[at]gmail.com With degrees in political science and art as well as a long history of advocacy, activism and campaign work around issues of human rights, women's rights, environment, education and the arts, both as an employee and in board leadership, Cornett combines these experiences in sculptural and video work that brings attention to social and environmental issues  Leanne Gilbertson, Ph.D
Leanne Gilbertson, Ph.D.
Gallery Director, Northcutt Steele Gallery Leanne.Gilbertson[at]msubillings.edu Leanne Gilbertson is Director of the Northcutt Steele Gallery and Assistant Professor of Art History at Montana State University Billings. She earned her M.A and Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from University of Rochester, and an M.A. in Art History from University of Iowa. She has served as Curatorial Assistant at the Andy Warhol Film Project, Whitney Museum of American Art, and has worked in various capacities at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts Gallery, and University of Iowa Museum of Art. She has been invited to present her research at a number of regional, national, and international conferences and art institutions, and her writing has been published in Art Journal, InVisible Culture, Pastelegram, and Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Studies. Montana State University Billings
Patricia Vettel-Becker, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Art Professor of Art Montana State University Billings 
Liberal Arts Building, 1st Floor 1500 University Drive Billings, MT 59101 Dr. Leanne Gilbertson, Gallery Director 406-657-2903 Leanne.Gilbertson@msubillings.edu Northcutt Steele Gallery Web Page Northcutt Steele Gallery Facebook Page "Voices of the River"
Symposium and Community Discussion 
Susan Gilbertz, Ph.D
Director, Environmental Studies Program Montana State University Billings Director, Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (2006) sgilbertz[at]msubillings.edu Susan grew up on a cattle ranch in northeastern Wyoming. She earned bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Wyoming. In 2002, Susan earned her Ph.D. in Geography from Texas A&M University. She serves as the Director of Environmental Studies at Montana State University-Billings. Susan’s area of interest is in how individuals become attached to particular places and how those attachments influence environmental philosophies and actions. As the principle investigator for the project, “The Yellowstone Cultural Inventory—2006,” she oversaw interviews with three hundred people living near the Yellowstone River. Over 200 of those recorded interviews are now archived with the Western Heritage Center. She has examined how local committees influenced development along the Upper Yellowstone, the Madison and the Big Hole Rivers of Montana. Another focus area has been the superfund clean-up at Milltown, Montana. Most recently she has been studying community perceptions of risk to water resources in the Bakken area of eastern Montana. Her most recent activity was with the University of Luxembourg (Summer 2015).  photo by Dewey Vanderhoff
Carrie La Seur, Ph.D., J.D.
Attorney and Author Billings, Montana http://carrielaseur.com Carrie practices energy and environmental law on behalf of farmers, ranchers, and Native Americans, and does a little writing, from an office in Billings, Montana. In 2006, Carrie founded the legal nonprofit Plains Justice, which provides public interest energy and environmental legal services in the northern plains states. Carrie and Plains Justice have played a key role in halting several new coal plants, enacting clean energy reforms, and launching the Keystone XL pipeline campaign. She is the author of "The Home Place". Her work has appeared in such diverse media as Grist, Harvard Law and Policy Review, The Huffington Post, Mother Jones, and Salon. 
Warren Kellogg
Chair, Technical Advisory Group, Yellowstone River Community Effects Analysis Clancy, Montana warrenkellogg[at]q.com Raised on a dryland farm/ranch west of Conrad, near the Rocky Mountain Front, Warren Kellogg has been actively involved in natural resource management his entire life and with Yellowstone River Basin issues since 1981.He earned BS degrees in Agronomy and Soil Science from Montana State University and completed graduate studies for a Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of Montana.He as coordinated and organized stream/river restoration projects and riparian corridor assessments over the last 40 years. He retired in 2008 after 31 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Kellogg currently runs a private consulting business that provides watershed coordination, natural resource assessments, and project development assistance to Montana organizations and residents. 
Kayhan Ostovar
Associate Professor of Biology & Environmental Science Rocky Mountain College kayhan.ostovar[at]rocky.edu Before Ostovar’s teaching career, at Rocky Mountain College, he worked in Africa conducting safaris and helped run a community-based conservation organization. In 2007 he was the Scientific Director on a multinational team tasked with conducting a two month biological survey on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. Ostovar loves rivers and biodiversity and for that reason finds MT as great place to work and live. He is particularly interested in engaging communities in conservation and working with citizen scientists. He organized the first BioBlitz (a massive 24 hour survey) in MT on the Yellowstone River in Billings, as well as the first BioBlitz in Yellowstone National Park. As a founding member of the Yellowstone River Research Center at RMC, and past Director, Ostovar helps spearhead many student research projects on the Yellowstone River and surrounding watersheds. Recent work has included prairie fish studies examining the effects of barriers (dams), water toxicology studies with osprey, spiny soft shell turtles and snapping turtles, aquatic invasive species investigations, bat ecology and forest carnivores. 
Burt Williams
Fishtail, Montana burtwms[at]nemont.net Burt Williams has had a long and varied career in natural resource management. Beginning professional life as an archaeologist he had stints in college teaching, state government (Colorado), and federal government (BLM in Montana) moving from archaeological research to cultural resource management. Eventually Burt decided to take a wider role in planning and managing natural resources and spent four years as chief of renewable resource management in BLM’s Lewistown office in the late 1980’s. Burt finished his BLM career in 1997 as manager of the Billings Field Office, where he was able to pursue a longtime interest in the Yellowstone River. His responsibilities included Pompeys Pillar, a well-known site on the Lewis and Clark Expedition trail and he was instrumental in adding recreation and riparian preservation sites bordering the Yellowstone near Billings (Four Dances Natural area) and Laurel (Sundance Lodge Recreation area). Burt’s final career stop was The Nature Conservancy, where he pursued community conservation opportunities on the Yellowstone River until retirement in 2012, working to improve riparian natural conditions and fisheries projects in the Yellowstone watershed. Since his formal retirement Burt continues his active involvement with Yellowstone River conservation issues. He also gets to live on and manage the family ranch near Fishtail, where his grandparents homesteaded, and he has learned just how difficult it can be to put values into management action. Readings and Musical Improvisation
Tami Haaland
Chair, Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages Professor, Creative Writing Montana State University Billings Poet thaaland[at]msubillings.edu Tami Haaland is the author of two books of poetry, Breath in Every Room and When We Wake in the Night. A professor of creative writing at Montana State University Billings, Haaland chairs the Department of English, Philosophy, and Modern Language. She taught creative writing at Montana Women’s Prison from 2008 to 2013 and was instrumental in founding a writing-in-the-schools program for Arts without Boundaries. Her poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies and has been featured on the Writers’ Almanac and American Life in Poetry. She was Montana’s fifth poet laureate. 
John Roberts
Assistant Professor of Low Brass Montana State University Billings Musician john.roberts10[at]msubillings.edu John Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Low Brass Music at MSU Billings, with 18 years of experience recording and touring internationally with Soul, Jazz, World Music and Orchestral ensembles. He is active in the Montana, New York and Los Angeles Music scenes, most recently recording on the Hollywood Blockbuster, “Straight Outta Compton,” and is producing Jazz, World Music and Americana projects in Montana and Los Angeles. John is passionate about sharing an open-minded, real-world view of music performance, business and education with his students and the community. "Mixing Oil and Water" Film Screening and Community Discussion
Eric Warren
Life's Fast Films Filmmaker and Editor lifesfast[at]gmail.com Eric Warren never went to film school. Rather, he received his professional training in photography and creative writing. He began his film career in the travel industry shooting a web series about Maine and then shooting a sizzle reel for a TV show about beer brewers traveling the US in search of beer recipes. From there, he began producing films for Matador Network including a documentary-series about Chile’s controversial dam project. After moving back to Montana, his projects have revolved around Montana subjects, such as a film about water quality in areas of oil and gas production and a film about the Montana Art Mobile. He is currently working on a feature-length documentary about atmospheric carbon sequestration in soil. 
Sue Beug
ssbeug[at]gmail.com "I grew up in Colorado on a farm on front range and attended Colorado State. I've been a resident of Red Lodge since 1974 working in a veterinary practice with my husband. I have always been interested in environmental issues and joined Carbon County Resource Council because of that interest. We have both oil and gas development on our farm in Colorado and when there was a renewal of interest in further development here I became concerned. I am especially concerned about maintaining water quantity and quality in the face of oil and gas development. I feel that water is a resource we take for granted and often fail to protect. As we face dryer conditions and more and more threats of pollution we must take a stand to protect that which is necessary for life itself." 
Becky Mitchell grew up along the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Montanan and has a great love for the landscape and quality of life in Montana. Becky was attracted to Northern Plains Resource Council through concerns for clean air, water, and beautiful landscape. A member of Northern Plains for 5 years, Becky is a past chair of Northern Plains’ Billings affiliate, Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council, and is the current Treasurer of Northern Plains Resource Council. Becky works as a social worker at St. John’s Lutheran Ministries.
"Living in Harmony on the Yellowstone" - An Video Interpretation and Response to the Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory
Bonny Beth Luhman Director bb.luhman[at]gmail.com My name is Bonny Beth Leah Luhman, but you can call Bonny Beth or "BB" for short. I was born in Jacksonville, Florida. My parents moved to Rosebud, Montana when I was three years old. I graduated from Rosebud High School and attend Miles Community College to receive my A.A. and A.S. degrees. I continued my education at MSU Billings and will be graduating with my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree May 2016. My favorite mediums include photography, cinematography, painting, and ceramics. I also love theatre/acting. I enjoy playing the piano, fishing, dancing, and hanging out with my family and friends! 
Ariel Grossfield
Editor/Producer thebeautyinsymmetry[at]gmail.com My name is Ariel Rebecca Grosfield! I was born in Miles City, Montana and raised in Billings, Montana. I am currently earning my Bachelors degree in elementary and art education at MSU Billings, and will graduate spring of 2016. My passions include photography and cinematography, but my greatest ambition is to educate young minds by integrating art into the curriculum! My best friend and business partner, Bonny Beth and I found the Flow project to be a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the community and get people from all over the state involved with the project because our connections to the river. It has allowed us to expand our knowledge of the river and has been a challenge for us to leave our comfort zones and try new things. We are excited to exhibit the conceptual art piece we created for the Flow project at the Northcutte Steel Gallery. Exhibition Artists
Michelle Dyk/Peter Tolton/Luke Kestner
Michelle Dyk was born in Englewood Colorado. She spent half of her childhood in Lille, France before moving to Billings, Montana, where she grew up and received her degree in Fine Art from MSU Billings. She works out of Billings Open Studios located in the heart of downtown. Additional work by Michelle Dyk can be currently found in the Yellowstone Art Museum's Consignment Gallery. michelledykart[at]gmail.com 
Peter Tolton is a Billings native who freelances in video, graphics, writing, and editing when not working his day job as a paralegal. Sometimes art happens to him, too. He is currently promoting a documentary film project he co-produced, titled Makoshika. More information can be found at makoshikadoc.com.
Luke Kestner is the Instructor of Percussion Studies at Montana State University-Billings. He completed his Bachelor of Music from MSU Billings and received his Masters of Music from UNLV. Luke served as Principal Percussionist for the Billings Symphony for 8 years and has also performed with numerous ensembles including the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Henderson Civic Symphony, Rimrock Opera Company, Billings Studio Theatre and Venture Theatre. Luke has been a clinician and adjudicator for many music festivals throughout Montana. He was a national finalist in the collegiate division of the 2005 MTNA competition, received outstanding soloist awards for festivals in Los Angeles and New Orleans, and has been a featured soloist with the Billings Symphony. Luke has performed throughout the United States and Australia.
Patrick Williams
patrickwilliams[at]mac.com Patrick Williams stumbled into a summer job as a graphic artist between his sophomore and junior years of college as an art major, and accidentally ended up working as a graphic artist and illustrator for thirty years, as well as spending time as a web designer, computer programmer, and data analyst. He's currently completing his long-overdue fine art degree at MSU Billings, as well as working as a multimedia designer for MSUB's University Relations. |
 "Flowing Streams", "Falling Water" and "Cascades" from Sherri Cornett's Grottoes Series
EXHIBITION
This exhibition features an installation of Sherri Cornett's Grottoes Series (13 wall-mounted, mixed media, 3D sculptures including video meditations on water) in Northcutt Steele Gallery, Montana State University Billings. The goal of this installation is to create a backdrop for conversations about water rights and conservation - where the sculptures and their videos are visual reminders of water as common ground. Juried artworks and installations by Karin Calabrese, Reno Charette, Michelle Dyk/Peter Tolton/Luke Kestner, Tabetha Rindahl, Stephanie Slavin/Joel Miller, Patrick Williams and Dylan Woods further encourage viewers to consider the role of water in their lives. "Living in Harmony on the Yellowstone" - a video interpretation of Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory by Bonny Beth Luhman and Ariel Grossfield Water-themed 5 x 7 panels - Interpretations of water by Girls Scouts of Montana and Wyoming and the Boys & Girls Club of Billings and students from Will James Middle School Event Web Page 
Video still/animation
"LIVING IN HARMONY ON THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER"
Bonny Beth Leah Luhman and Ariel Rebecca Grosfield Digital Media
6 minutes This film was inspired by the Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (2008), which is part of the 16 year Cumulative Effects Analysis (CEA). Copies of the Recommended Practices, which constitute a small portion of that study, are available for viewing in the gallery. In Living in Harmony on the Yellowstone, all creatures, big and small, work together to create an environment sustainable for co-existence. This short film represents perspectives of different fish, including catfish, minnows, and the pre-historic Pallid Sturgeon that is unique to the Yellowstone! The film also represents mammals such as beavers, birds, and elk, along with the perspectives of people from the five different River User Groups mentioned in the study which include: a recreationalist/fisherman, agriculturalist/farmer, residentialist/rancher, a civic leader, and a Native American. The film offers an opportunity to contemplate the significance of the river—how it affects everyone and everything that lives next to it, and how we must all live in harmony. Dr. Susan Gilbertz (Director of the Environmental Studies Program, MSUB) and colleagues conducted the Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (2006) (full cultural study accessible here). For more information about the video, please go here. YOUTH OUTREACH
Art education students from Montana State University Billings brought the Flow project to the area K-8 students, asking them to create 5 x 7 inch panel depictions of water. These will be displayed in the Outer Gallery at the university from January 28 - March 18, 2016, in conjunction with an installation of Cornett’s Grottoes Series and the juried artworks and installation from the MSUB community.
Event Web Page 
WORDS ON WATER: POETRY AND JAZZ IN CONCERT
Readings and Musical Improvisation February 11, 2016, 5 - 7 p.m. Northcutt Steele Gallery Free and Open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser. Tami Haaland (Faculty, English, Philosophy & Modern Languages) and John Roberts (Faculty, Music) and their students will present a series of water-related readings and musical improvisation related to the exhibition. . Public reception follows.
MSU Billings Creative Writing students Amelia Bacon, Desiree Kling, Thomas Mendenhall, Sierra Parcel, and Sarah Williams are writing responses to the works in the FLOW exhibition and researching poems from well-known poets that address themes of water. MSU Billings Music students Tyler Briceno (drums), Juanilla Chavis (bass) and Drew McDowell (guitar) accompanied by John Roberts will improvise responses toeach reading. Additional jazz selections will be performed after the readings. Event Web Page 
"MIXING OIL and WATER"
FILM SCREENING AND COMMUNITY DISCUSSION Thursday, February 18, 2016, 5-7 p.m. Free and Open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser. In collaboration with Northern Plains Resource Council, this evening provides an opportunity for our community to learn more about oil and gas development and its effects on water resources. A screening of Eric Warren's "Mixing Oil and Water" will be followed by a facilitated audience discussion with comments from Sue Beug.
Event Web Page 
This evening is in collaboration with Northern Plains Resource Council. Northern Plains Resource Council is a grassroots conservation and family agriculture group that organizes Montana citizens to protect our water quality, family farms and ranches, and unique quality of life. Northern Plains protects Montana’s greatest assets: the quality of our natural resources, the character and viability of family-based agriculture, and the ability of citizens to shape the public policies that affect our land, our water, and our lives so that we may pass them on, unimpaired, to future generations.
Northern Plains members work to ensure the long term health of Montana by putting community interests above oil and gas profits and empowering communities to guide development. Members work at the state policy and local level to implement laws and permitting practices that ensure responsible development that protects our water and communities from the potential negative effects of oil and gas development. Contact: Larry Winslow, 406-248-1154 
"VOICES OF THE RIVER"
SYMPOSIUM AND COMMUNITY DISCUSSION Thursday, February 25, 2016 Liberal Arts Building 1st Floor and Library Room 148 MSU Billings 4:30 - 5:30 Youth Outreach and Gallery Reception 5:15 - 7:15 p.m. Symposium and Community Discussion 7:15 - 8:30 p.m. Gallery Reception, Rocky Mountain College Science Student Poster Presentations, Informal Discussions Free and Open to the Public Free parking on campus after 4:30 p.m. Guests may park in STUDENT LOTS ONLY. (parking map) Reminder: visitor lots always require a visitor permit from the on-site dispenser Background of the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis
The Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis, of which Dr. Susan Gilbert's Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory is a part, is the culmination of an internationally unique, multi-agency, comprehensive watershed study that arose from the effects of the floods of 1996-1997. The data collected in this study addresses hydrologic, socioeconomic and biological issues on the Yellowstone River. This analysis has included an interdisciplinary scientific characterization of relationships between human activities and associated river system responses. Based on this analysis, recommendations were developed for management practices and actions that will provide sustainability to socioeconomic interests while maintain the long-term biological and physical integrity of the river system. Symposium Focus Presentations and audience discussion will focus specifically on the riparian and channel migration zones of the river, which were identified as the least understood aspects of the river, but which have major impact on future use of the river by land owners, recreationalists, and agriculturists as well as survival of species. This discussion will seek to broaden understanding and enlighten planning efforts by user groups, civic leaders and policy makers. Panelists Include: Susan J. Gilbertz, Ph.D. Director, Environmental Studies Program Montana State University Billings Director, Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (2006) Warren Kellogg Chair, Technical Advisory Group, Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis Carrie La Seur, Ph.D., J.D. Attorney for energy and environmental issues on behalf of farmers, ranchers, and Native Americans Kayhan Ostovar Associate Professor of Biology & Environmental Science Rocky Mountain College Burt Williams Manager, The Nature Conservancy (retired) Member, Technical Advisory Group, Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis Prior Member, Resource Advisory Committee, Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Analysis Event Web Page 
Symposium Sponsored by Yellowstone River Research Center
The Yellowstone River Research Center (YRRC) is a multidisciplinary research institute composed of geologists, ecologists, wildlife biologists, geographers, and social scientists at Rocky Mountain College (Billings, MT). The center is positioned in an area that is a microcosm of the northern Rocky Mountain region, where some of the nation’s most pristine environments coincide with ongoing processes of resource extraction, agriculture, industrial activity and increasing human settlement. YRCC Goals:
READING AREAS
The MSUBillings Library will pull from their collection to create a display of water-related materials in the library entrance and in reading areas, including the Young Adult and Children's area. Precious McKenzie, Author and Assistant Professor, English, Rocky Mountain College, donated her books to the MSUBillings Library for its collection and to be displayed during the Flow exhibition. Event Web Page |