As summer continues to be hot in the Gallatin Valley, water as a resource or for recreation is top of mind for many. Good timing for the next installment of Mountain Time Arts WaterWorks series. WETLANDS opens Friday, July 21 with a video installation in the Dry Creek Schoolhouse in Belgrade, Montana from 12-6 pm daily.

Running for ten days, the event will feature celebrated Cheyenne artist Bently Spang. The latest from his MODERN WARRIOR SERIES: War Shirt #6 – Waterways interprets wetlands in a new large-scale video art installation using 27 video and still screens in a 22 ft. long x 8 ft. high steel-welded framework in the shape of a war shirt.

Spang said about his work, “My intention is not to re-create an actual war shirt but, as in past work in this series, to use conceptual framework of this form and expand the scale to signify the importance of our water to my homeland”.

One of a four-part series, Wetlands uses public art to raise awareness about water. Alongside the exhibit, naturalists will lead tours of a nearby restored wetlands from both Western and Indigenous perspectives. Events are free and open to all.

Both the art exhibit and tours are offered daily from July 21-30, 2017.

Exhibit                                                          

July 21-30, 2017, open daily 12-6 pm

Walking Tour of Wetlands

Tours of nearby Pheasant Farms restored wetlands accompany Bently Spang’s video installation. Naturalist tour guides will speak from both a western science and native science perspective on the importance of wetlands to the health and abundance of our water and the bird, plant and aquatic life that depend on them. Tours are one hour and less than one mile of moderate walking.

Tour Schedule

Daily at 10:30 a.m., except on Monday and Wednesday when the tour will be offered instead at 5:30 p.m.

To take a tour, meet at the Dry Creek Schoolhouse at 101 Dry Creek School Road in Belgrade (25 minutes from Main Street Bozeman.) A van will shuttle you about three minutes to the tour site. Group tours available, call 406-215-1533 to schedule.

Anyone interested in taking a tour is encouraged to sign up on the MTA website: mountaintimearts.org

More information about WETLANDS is available at www.mountaintimearts.org.

The mission of Mountain Time Arts is “to produce bold, engaging public art projects that explore history, culture and environment in the Rocky Mountain West.”