Distinctly Montana Magazine

101 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m into a homogeneous sludge, then poured the sludge into a huge eight-foot rectangle. When it dried, she was left with beetroot paper, 500 sheets of it to be exact. She was worried the beige alone would be dull, so she made 500 more sheets of paper out of old blue jeans. These sheets of paper she then dipped into a clay slurry, and formed her sculptures from there. Some of the sculptures appear rooted to the earth, thanks to hefty "wedding cake" stands formed from striations of clay sourced from six wild clay pits around the state. Other sculptures seem more pre- carious, softly touching the floor with rounded bottoms. Hutchinson explains that as an artist, she has always been par- ticularly sensitive to the forms that "home" takes on the land- scape, whether it be human- or animal-built. When her daugh- ter was born, she found that her artistic focus moved to "looking at how species were providing care. I really zeroed in on archi- tectural nesting structures, insect structures, I love the beaver dams, but I think all of the birds I saw in Montana, that was real- ly monumental, and that is about nurtured space. Home, surviv- al, cautiousness, carefulness, safety." From paintings of Native American encampments nestled on riverbanks, to soddies built of hewn prairie turf, to magpie nests assembled of anything and everythings within reach, Hutchinson's research for Embedded clarified for her how a "home" can touch space with purpose and sensitivity at the same time. Embedded in the Overlap remains on view at the Yellowstone Art Museum through January 9, 2027. Housed in the historic county jail, YAM sits at 401 North 27th Street in downtown Bill- ings and is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am through 5 pm (8 pm on Thursdays). Admission is free for Yellowstone County residents, $8 for adults, and $6 for seniors. YAM is also a self-guided destination for attendees of the annual Montana History Conference, hosted by the Montana Historical Society and running this year in Billings from September 24-26. Celebrating the Beauty of the Mineral Kingdom (406) 333-3050 ◆ windywayrockshop.com 5237 US-89 #13 Livingston, Montana 9:30am – 5:30pm (Mon-Sat) Sunday Closed 2026 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F i

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