The Sparrow: Local Exhibition Partnership Project
Now on View at The Sparrow Hotel
1070 W. Grove St | Boise, ID 83702 | sparrowboise.com
To Talk About Trees: Artwork by Kirsten Furlong
July 11, 2024 – January, 2025
“I create images and objects about human, animal, and plant interactions in places where these relationships are defining the Anthropocene. My recent projects relate to nuclear waste in the high desert of the western United States, declining bird habitat in the grasslands of the Great Plains, and the effects of climate change on species everywhere. In the work, animals and plants serve as emblems of nature and as metaphors for human desires. I use detail, repetition, and patterns inspired by those encountered in the natural world as representational tools, while also using mark making to express empathy, loss, and longing.
“There is such an incredible complexity of ideas tied to the land and species that reside therein, which takes on a particular quality here in the Western U.S., where cultural beliefs related to the hierarchy of species, manifest destiny, and rugged individualism steer many political and social decisions and policies related to the land, humans, and animals. I see my studio practice and vision as an artist as a counter narrative to these ideologies.”
-Kirsten Furlong
Exhibition Organized by the Boise Art Museum
Images (top-bottom): Kirsten Furlong, Hawk in the Anthropocene (installation detail), 2017, ink, acrylic, and colored pencil on Tyvek, Courtesy of the Artist. | Kirsten Furlong, Unchopping a Tree (installation detail), 2013-17, metal leaf, acrylic, ink, hemp twine, thread, and nails on wood, Courtesy of the Artist.
About the Local Exhibition Partnership Project
Boise Art Museum and The Sparrow Hotel are thrilled to partner to initiate this collaborative art exhibition project focused on showcasing contemporary artists who are living and working in Boise, Idaho.
A new exhibition, featuring a Boise artist, will be presented every six months. We are proud to help increase the opportunities for Boise artists to take creative risks and expand their artistic practices.
