Conversation with Cassie Sevigny
2020 Open AIR Artist-In-Residence
in Partnership with the
Rattlesnake Creek Dam
"I am eager to learn more about the creek on a larger scale, and investigate how the dam has affected both the creek and human life over time."
- Cassie Sevigny
Above: Artist-in-Residence Cassie Sevigny holding up a Caddisfly that landed on her finger at Rattlesnake Creek, Upper Greenough Park
Open AIR: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Cassie: I am currently a Master’s candidate in Economics at UM, with an environmental focus. Attending graduate school is my attempt to become specialized in a particular discipline, as I am a committed generalist and a writer/artist at heart. I love stories of all kinds, be it the lives an object has touched, personal and societal histories, and experiences of and with the natural environment. Stories connect us to each other and our surroundings, forming the foundation of our identities. I want to contribute to the formation of identity, especially in context of human-environment interactions.
I spent my childhood in the Midwest, my adolescence in the Pacific Northwest, and as an adult, find myself settled in the West in between. In all places I have been drawn to whatever nature was nearby – mountains, forests, ocean, streams, insects, urban landscaping and wildlife. I have sought to understand human nature and our connection to plants, animals, habitats, and landscapes, both creatively (subjectively) and scientifically (“objectively”). My fascination with human-ecological interactions became the focus of many of the projects and classes I chose as a college student.
Most of my creative projects have been conducted on the side of my academic career, as an outlet for my thoughts, emotions, and curiosities. This residency is a chance to commit time to my artistic development before determining my career path, while continuing to explore the natural world.
Above: Cassie Sevigny's: Fiction is a Mirror, 2015
Open AIR: What drew you to this residency at the dam?
Cassie: The Rattlesnake Creek Dam project entices me because of my prior work with the Watershed Education Network. I have taken measurements of the creek via WEN’s Stream Team project, and taught many local students about river health and ecology at various locations along the creek in Greenough Park. As a swimmer and former resident of the Puget Sound area, I feel a close connection to water. The citizen-led efforts to protect the Clark Fork Watershed, and the success of initiating the defunct dam's removal, inspires me on a civic level. I would love to creatively express the importance of this body of water to Missoulians and beyond, the science behind the effects of dams on river ecology, the politics and history of its installation, abandonment, and removal, and the sheer subjective experience of this human-environment interaction.