Tippet Rise teams up with local schools to create eco-conscious art
May 1, 2019
Since last September, Tippet Rise Art Education Coordinator Beth Huhtala has spent many days on the road, visiting the region’s elementary and middle schools to lead arts-related workshops for children. One of these schools is located in the tiny hamlet of Luther, Montana, between Fishtail and Red Lodge. The result of this collaboration is an exhibit of the students’ work in downtown Red Lodge.
With help from Beth, students at Luther School took old computer parts and other electronic waste—material that was destined for the landfill—and repurposed them. They considered shape, scale, texture and form to create art depicting natural environments. Inspired by Tippet Rise’s green building and sustainable land management efforts, the students considered how technology and the waste it creates can be used to beautify our world, rather than tossed away to degrade it.
Earlier this year, Tippet Rise received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the environmentally sustainable design and systems used to build and run the Olivier Music Barn. Beth led discussions with each of the art classes at Luther School about sustainability at Tippet Rise, and about the land art and music at the art center. Her goal was to inspire students to create an artistic response to these ideas.
As a follow-up to their experiences in the classroom, Luther School students will visit Tippet Rise in May to tour the sculptures and learn about the art center’s sustainability efforts first-hand. And the artwork the students created is on exhibit: at Honey’s Café in downtown Red Lodge from now through May 31. If you live nearby, we invite you to stop in and take a look!