Emerging Artist Beth Korth brings avian whimsy to BPSW

Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild introduced Beth Korth, this year’s emerging artist-in-residence, Sunday, Sept. 6 during the Artist-in-Residence Reception at the Teepee Burner.

The three-week residency program, which kicked off Monday Sept. 7, allows artists to create site-specific pieces drawing on Lincoln’s economic, environmental and cultural traditions, according to BPSW’s website.

“My work contains a lot of animal imagery. I really like to think about how we use animal bodies to tell our own stories, like in fables and kids' stories and little books. Then through those animal bodies, we can conduct how we want to learn about our own moralities, how we want to learn about how we treat each other and what comes back to us,” Korth said.

“I’ll be working on a mural on the old K-Line storage unit and it’ll be about birds, about the local species of birds. It’ll have birds in flight throughout the whole piece, be pretty lively,” she said, “It will reflect proper patterning and coloring of the birds, but it’s going to be more fun, more whimsy, definitely eye-catching, meant to attract.” She added that the interior of the box is designated to serve as a work station for future artists and that the exterior will feature a patio space.

“I’m really excited to get at it. I really, really like doing large scale work, I haven’t had the opportunity to do so in a long time. It’s materials I love. I’ve always used house paint, exterior paint, indoor paint, oops paint, anything I could find cheap and in large quantities. I’ve really enjoyed working with multimedia. It’ll be really, really fun,” Korth said.

Korth previously worked as an education intern at the park in 2016 after earning her Masters in Fine Art from the University of Montana. This year, in addition to the mural on the storage unit, she is again working with the schools and students visiting BPSW as part of the education program.

“I’ll be talking to the schools directly via an artist talk and then I’ll be giving multiple ‘What Is a Sculpture’ talks to all of the schools that are visiting Lincoln. I’ll be having the Lincoln school come out and actually work with me on the mural. Kids are amazing painters, great artists, and it’s so fun to incorporate their marks and what they think,” said Korth.

Her ties to Lincoln aren’t just professional. In 2019 Korth married her husband at BPSW at Tree Circus, the sculpture by Patrick Dougherty.

Korth said that when she interned at Sculpture in the Wild five years ago, she met a volunteer who she hit it off with, and they ended up getting married at Sculpture in the Wild a few years later. “This feels very cyclical. To be back again and to be doing my own work here is really cool. It feels very full circle,” she said.

Korth has been working weekdays at the park and appreciates the visitors who have stopped by while she’s painting.

“I highly encourage people to come by while I’m painting. I love an audience. I’ve done multiple mural works where people just hang out and talk and that’s been awesome. You’re not bothering me. I just definitely want people to know that this is for them, and this is really a piece for the people who live here year-round and get to enjoy it and hang out with it,” said Korth.