HELLO
Kelsi Turner is a writer and visual artist who makes art as a way to deeply observe, delight in and steward place.
After a lifetime of continuous, frantic moving left her feeling like a skipping stone – skimming over places and experiences but rarely touching down – she has finally made her home in Montana. She believes that staying in place can be a radical rather than a conservative act.
Her work has its roots in the curious treasures with which her children fill their pockets, still life paintings, abstraction and the field journals of early explorers.
She seeks to live the explorer’s life in place. Highly sensitive to landscapes and seasons, Kelsi is inspired by the wildness that surrounds her.
She is delighted when art, science, conservation and wonder overlap.
Kelsi is currently enrolled in the Natural Science Illustration certificate program at the Rhode Island School of Design and serves as the Ambassador of Wonder for Random Acts of Silliness.
STEWARDSHIP
She volunteers through the Gallatin Watershed Council (where she was named the Gallatin Watershed Steward of the Month in January 2022) to help restore the Indreland Audubon Wetland Preserve. She is a Montana Master Naturalist. She helped organize the Bozeman Teen Book Fest. She completed the Montana State University Forest Stewardship Program in 2023.
EXHIBITIONS
2022 Journey to Abstraction, Livingston Center for Art and Culture, Livingston, MT
2023-2024 (November - April) Misco Mill Gallery, Bozeman, MT
RESIDENCY
Artist Residency in Motherhood - October 2022 to March 2023
Erik's Ranch Artist Residency - February 2024
Hawthorne Elementary School, Artist in Residence for Celebration of the Arts - February and March 2024
Hawthorne Elementary School - photography workshop series, October 2024
EDUCATION
Kelsi graduated from the University of Iowa with a master's degree in journalism with a focus in biology.
CONTACT
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities and collaborations. Let's connect.