Conversation with Sandra Marker
2020 Open AIR Artist-In-Residence
in Partnership with the
Flathead Lake Biological Station
I am excited to have six weeks dedicated to painting outdoors with the incredible views at Flathead Lake Biological Station on Yellow Bay, the history and work of founder Morton Elrod, and the opportunity to interact with and observe the research done by the scientists and interns there."
- Sandra Marker
Artist-in-Residence Sandra Marker by Flathead Lake
Open AIR: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sandra: I grew up in the farmlands of central Indiana. I have camped and fished since childhood. I moved to California's San Fernando Valley as a teen - yes, I was a "Valley Girl." I earned a B.A. in English/Education from UCLA.
I lived alone for a year on the outskirts of a remote native village on Yap Island in Micronesia. I had no power, no phone or radio, pumped water from a catchment system, and cooked on a one-burner kerosene camp stove. I drove a motorcycle to work at the Island's medical clinic. My husband had been stationed there as Commander of a LORAN station. However, wives were not permitted to join their husbands. I independently obtained a job though the US Department of Interior to enable me to live there and see my husband on the weekends. We free dove on the reefs (no compression equipment available for oxygen tanks). I have an extensive quality shell collection from Yap, the Virgin Islands and other parts of the world where we dove.
I completed a Masters in Public Administration degree from USC where I worked extensively with police and military personnel. I then pursued a career in municipal government, where I was a police chief for 5 months. I managed to raise two children while serving as City Manager of Belvedere and Mayor of Corte Madera. After battling cancer, I decided to "retire" early. I worked as a part-time Project Consultant; helped organizations convert to desktop/server computer technology (portables were the size of a suitcase at that time); helped a start-up DVD company develop its business; and provided logistical support to a non-profit organization that promoted new technologies.
I spent my spare time leading hikes and video taping wildlife. The first video I produced was used successfully in public presentations to help procure and develop a trail that provides an urban greenbelt connecting communities to nature preserves. That trail has since been named after me. I enjoyed making videos so much that I started my own production company and worked with the local public access television station. Just before moving to Montana in 2000 I produced and broadcast a ten-part television series showing how then cutting-edge technologies were changing the ways we work, learn and live. Those technologies have now become part of our every day life.
My late husband had roots in Montana, and our family spent many summer and winter vacations here in Glacier country. We bought our home on Peaceful Bay in 1979 and finally moved to the place we love best in 2000. I had never felt a sense of "home" until moving here, where a full double rainbow greeted us on our first day of arrival.
It distresses me to see this current generation experiencing events similar to those I had in my 20’s. I was personally caught in the Watts Riots while going to the USC library with my husband. At USC I was support staff for an 8-week program comprised of City Mangers and Police Chiefs grappling with demonstrations and riots over racism and the Viet Nam War. It began with the assassination of Martin Luther King and ended with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. I co-wrote an article about the “Hot Summer Seminar” (as we dubbed it); the article was subsequently published.
Open AIR: What projects do you hope to focus on during your residency?
Sandra: On June 16th I met with Tom Bansak and Jim & Monica Elser to discuss my residency and potential projects. I am very excited and already have ideas for what I want to paint and photograph.
The staff were receptive to my idea of having the Plein Air painters I know come down to paint with me with the idea of trying to put together a themed exhibit at the Bigfork Art & Cultural Center in 2021. The selected paintings would promote the missions of FLBS to prevent pollution and preserve the ecosystems of fresh-water lakes through their research and education programs. Many of my associates are professional artists and instructors, and I am confident we would have some fine artwork to display.
Other projects I personally may like to pursue include:
- Paintings/photos from the photographs at the locations founder Morton Elrod took at Yellow Bay, Flathead Lake & Glacier Park
- Abstract photos and paintings based on microbes studied by researchers at FLBS
- Portrait of Morton Elrod
- Paintings of the butterflies Morton Elrod studied
This Residency was made possible by a partnership between Open AIR and the Flathead Lake Biological Station, the second oldest biological field station in the US and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. They have one of the oldest, contiguous lake datasets in the world.