On June 15th, 2024, Tinworks Art, a non-profit art space in Bozeman, Montana, launched its 2024 Season exhibition, The Lay of the Land. Inspired by Tinworks’ Director Jenny Moore’s personal experience and struggle in developing a connection to place during her first season in Bozeman, The Lay Of The Land emphasizes a connection to land and how the West is represented in art.
Inside Tinwork’s main building, situated in a repurposed warehouse, visitors can find exhibits by Lucy Raven, Stephen Shore, and James Castle. Lucy’s series of works, titled Depositions, were crafted by lining containers with silk and recreating the conditions of a dam break. The sediment on silk “paintings”, accompanied by films of the process, examine the forces of pressure, industry, and material transformations that mark the Southwest and Mountain West regions of America. Stephen’s photographs of Montana landscapes, some captured utilizing a drone, emphasize the contrast of sky and land, and the intersecting of the natural world with human presence. James’ collection of drawings using saliva and soot from his family’s fireplace in rural Idaho reveal a deep connection to environment, translated from the experiences of a deaf person born into an agricultural family.
Outside Tinworks’ warehouse space, in the center of the site, visitors will see an installation by Layli Long Soldier, titled Day Poem: Sun Mirrors. The sculpture-meets-poetry piece joins language with relationship to land. A second longterm installation by Layli, titled I don’t trust nobody but the land, installed on the former grain building at Tinworks, speaks for itself. At the back of the property, Robbie Wing used discarded railroad ties, pulled from Tinworks’ adjoining field, and recordings of the vibrations from the log and Tinworks’ site to overlay past with present and create Cross Tie’s Song. Tinworks’ 2024 artist in residence is Wills Brewer. Wills’ ceramics, often made of wild clay, are shaped using techniques based on traditional brick making and earth building methods.
To the south of Tinworks’ building, is one of the pillars of this season’s exhibition – Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground. In 1982, Agnes created one of her most celebrated works, Wheatfield—A Confrontation. Planted in New York City, in the then fallow ground that is now Battery City Park, Wheatfield—A Confrontation asked onlookers to consider the value we place on land. Now, forty years later, in a community that’s losing agricultural land to development at an alarming rate, Agnes reimagined her original work to form Wheatfield—An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground. The field of Bobcat Winter Wheat, a variety developed by Montana State University, was planted by the VanDyke brothers, fourth generation Montanas familiar with the struggles of land access as farmers and ranchers. Packets of wheat donated by AERO were distributed by Tinworks to community members, who were tasked with planting the wheat in any fallow ground in solidarity with the goals of Wheatfield—An Inspiration. In the fall, community members are invited to bring their wheat to be collectively processed with the wheat from the Tinworks site, and baked into bread by local bakery Wild Crumb, located a block away from Tinworks. Additionally, Agnes invites community members to participate in Questionnaire, an adjoining project posing questions about the most pressing issues facing humanity. As an added bonus, visitors can view more of Agnes’ work inside Tinworks’ main building.
Read more about Wheatfield—An Inspiration in the 2024 Local Food Guide. For more information about the The Lay of the Land exhibition, and a calendar of complementing programs and events, visit tinworksart.org.
To see Wheatfield—An Inspiration for yourself before it’s harvested, visit Tinworks at 719 N Ida Ave Between E Cottonwood and E Aspen Bozeman, MT 59715. The 2024 Exhibition, The Lay of the Land, is open June-October, Thursday to Sunday, 10 am–6 pm. Visiting is free!
