Open AIR Open’s artist-designed course will be created by the following artist teams:
Casey Schachner & Amy Petit, “Shrimping Ain’t Easy”
Casey Schachner is an Associate Professor of Art in 3D at the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at Georgia Southern University. She received her BFA in Sculpture from Baylor University and her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Montana. Casey was born and raised in the southeast United States, growing up in Florida and coastal South Carolina.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, ranging from temporary site-specific installations to permanent public artworks. In 2011, she served as an Artist in Residence at the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art in Cortona, Italy, and in 2012 as an Artist in Residence at the Carving Studio & Sculpture Center (CSSC) in Vermont. She was selected as the 2017 UM Emerging Artist for Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild (BPSW), an International Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Montana. In 2018, she exhibited at the Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, where she received a People's Choice award. Casey was one of three recipients of the 2022-2023 Georgia Sea Grant for Artists, Writers, and Scholars program; her design was selected for the COVID-19 monument in Chicago, Illinois, and she recently participated in the 2025 Nashua International Sculpture Symposium.
Amy Petit is an artist living and working in the Pacific Northwest. She earned a BFA in studio art from the University of Idaho and worked as a graphic designer for many
years before returning to school. She holds an MFA in sculpture from the University of Montana and an EdM in Adult & Higher Education from Oregon State University.
Through an observation of present day communication and changes in human interaction, Amy explores themes of memory, loss, and transition. As a sculptor, she uses a variety of materials such as metal, wood, fabric, glass, and concrete. With a balance of materials both permanent and impermanent, she explores the memories we carry, the traces we leave, and the role the object plays in this dynamic.
KLZ, “Zenith”
KLZ has been an artist their entire life, creating and selling art from a young age. From graduating with a B.F.A. in Fibers to becoming a professional artist for 20 years, art has always been part of their identity. After a big life transition, Kelly has been learning & living in rural Montana, creating a life drenched in nature. They have recently found their way back to their artful self and are excited to be part of Open AIR Open!
Lauren Norby & Caitlin Hofmeister, “The Three Billy Goats Grolff”
Caitlin Hofmeister and Lauren Norby are two Missoula-based artists working in a variety of media. Caitlin is a writer, who also works in video and podcast production. Lauren is a filmmaker and zine-maker, although he is frequently caught stepping outside those categories. The duo has collaborated on a variety of projects over the years, including performance and installation art, and more recently making two children!
Taylor Stein, Kaitlynn Radloff, Jules Lucero,
“PeliCAN not PeliCAN’T!”
Jules Lucero is a printmaker residing in Missoula, Montana. Lucero graduated from the University of Montana in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing and a Minor in Art History and Criticism. After graduating Lucero worked on an OpenAIR residency in Philipsburg, Montana, where she continued to practice traditional printmaking techniques, during her time she began drawing her inspiration from the rich history of Montana, and printmaking.
Lucero's work centers around the mediums of relief printing and textile work, utilizing fabric, paper, linoleum and wood as her primary materials. Her process involves a deliberate approach, as each piece is carefully crafted through a combination of traditional and contemporary techniques. By utilizing the versatile medium of printmaking, she creates multi-layered visual narratives that convey a sense of depth and tactility. Through her work she brings to life intricate images of creatures that inhabit her surroundings. Lucero's prints depict the diverse life cycles of these creatures, highlighting the delicate balance of existence.
Taylor Stein (she/her) is a writer and mixed-media artist based in Missoula. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Montana in 2018, where she served as Fiction Editor for Cutbank Literary Magazine. Her short stories have appeared in Word Dog Quarterly and in Duplicitous: A WriteHive Compilation. Her innovative arts books combine 3D elements with story and play. Taylor is currently producing and directing a puppet theater production, co-written with Bob Giordano, which will debut at Free Cycles in September.
Taylor is also a teacher with the Free Verse Writing Project, which brings writing and art into Montana jails and prisons, and has taught creative writing workshops through Open AIR, Word Dog, the Missoula Writing Collaborative, Arts Missoula, and the University of Montana's MOLLI program. She also does freelance editing and creative coaching. Her latest adventure is the Wonder-Gizmos, a Snail Mail Creative Writing Club and Whimsy Machine.
Kaitlynn Radloff, KRad is an artist, educator, and musician based in Missoula, Montana. She is the founder of Sabertooth Studio, a multimedia arts initiative dedicated to activating communities and environments, raising awareness of social and environmental issues, and creating work that honors and celebrates the natural world. Originally launched in 2020 as a community-focused print shop supporting Queer and BIPOC youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sabertooth Studio has since evolved into a dynamic platform for creative activism and education.
With over a decade of experience as a public school educator, Kaitlynn now works as a teaching artist and remains deeply committed to community engagement through the arts. She serves as Co-President of the National Art Education Association’s LGBTQ+ Interest Group and is a 2025 recipient of an Arts Missoula Grant, which will fund the launch of Sabertooth Studio’s Mobile Print Shop, a traveling printmaking project designed to engage and empower local communities.
Shanley Swanson and Kim Brown-Campbell, “Mini Mental Health”
In addition to being an artist, Shanley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Addictions Counselor living on Bitterroot Salish land at the southern end of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana. She has specialized in criminal justice advocacy, addiction recovery, behavioral health including maternal substance use disorders, and resolving secondary trauma for professionals for the past decade. She has also worked as an interdisciplinary team member for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribal Defenders Office, collaborating with Tribal Behavioral Health.
Shanley has a small private practice - located at Zootown Arts - offering counseling and consulting services, as well as clinical supervision for pre-licensed therapists. Her private practice work focuses on long-term healing by integrating trauma recovery, spirituality, LGBTQ2S+ allied care, dreamwork, and expressive arts.
Kim Brown-Campbell maintains a private practice as an art therapist in a downtown studio in Missoula, and works with individuals of all ages, including work with families and group process art therapy. Kim has worked in the field of mental health care provision for 30 years and as an art therapist for 24 years. She acts as a supervisor and adviser to Shanley’s private practice sessions.
Kimberly Spence & Family, “The Best Nest”
Kimberly Spence has been working with the avian crowd since 2014. She sees the art of Taxidermy as an opportunity to quietly listen to every bird’s story, while learning, respecting, and hoping to connect viewers with the journey. A Taxidermist on staff at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County taught Kimberly this skill. The time she spent working and volunteering at the museum was impactful and continues to influence her day-to-day life. While at the Natural History Museum, she fostered a sense of responsibility, respect, and wonder for our natural world.
Today, Kimberly is lucky to spend her days mothering two little birds of her own, Saoirse and Soleil plus continue her passions through volunteering. Whenever Kimberly is able, she lends her hands and heart to Wild Skies Raptor Center and many other conservation organizations to help wild birds and places thrive.
Mo Burki, “Empty Nesting”
Molly Burki is an artist, educator, baker, and friend who is passionate about creating uplifting environments through community building and intentional and accessible resources. They are a weaver of many forms, primarily floor loom and basket weaving, and are committed to spreading awareness of accessible death care options and how weaving can guide us during those transitions. They are inspired by patterns, cycles, and the natural world's ease of flowing through them. Through playful exploration and devoted connection, they have hope we can, too.
Zola Kell and team, “Jurassic Putt”
Zola Kell (she/her) is a queer mixed-media artist, and everything she makes is a celebration and a declaration of her queerness. She is currently fascinated by creating playful objects, working with textile media and salvaged materials to give life to sculptural forms. Recently, she has been experimenting with tufting, a rug-making technique. Curating these built forms into spaces and incorporating digital technology and alternative photographic processes to build up layered imagery and textures, her installations serve as reflections of her interior world. One of her passions is facilitating space and time for others to develop their practice, and her long-term goal is to open an Artist-in-Residence program.
Zola has put together the ultimate team, including Kaitlynn Webster, Alyssa Kennamer, Yve Holtzclaw, and Sarah Cook, to create Jurassic Putt!
Abby Meyer, Rachel Hutchins, Ken Rand, Alyssa Kennamer, “Vultures' Just Desert”
Abby is a vegetable farmer and a dabbler in many art and craft forms, ranging from ceramics, quilting, natural dyeing, furniture building, dance, sewing clothes, and knitting. They lived in the desert of SE Utah for many years and found a home on the land there, deep in the canyons and high atop the cliffs.
Rachel grew up among the sky islands of Arizona in a town of 900 people, near the ocotillo, saguaro, and vultures. She enjoys novelty, baking, synchronized swimming, shapes, movement, and surprises. Her garden this year features pink celery and blue sweet corn.
Ken is good at making zero-budget contraptions out of reused material, something from nothing. Last summer, he made a swamp cooler. He's a photographer, T-shirt maker, and general tinkerer. Ken used to go to the desert for spring break every year.
We are all connected by friendship, the desert, and our love for mini golf.
Gilmore McLean and Kaitlynn Radloff,
“How it Feels to Love in 2025”
Gilmore McLean is a full-time leatherworker based in Butte, Montana. Her art is informed by natural forms and her previous work as a marine science educator, an employee in Yellowstone National Park, a residential zen buddhist practitioner, as a graduate student of environmental philosophy, an illustrious career as a Birkenstock repair person at Missoula’s oldest shoe store, and a strong sense of empathy for the world around her. Her business, Wilder Creations, employs a bartering system and a sliding scale to make her work available and accessible to everyone. She donates proceeds from certain items to the Western Montana LGBQIA+ center and various pro-choice organizations.
Gilmore will be opening a brick-and-mortar store called Work in Progress in uptown Butte this August, featuring her work and the work of other Montana artists, and will also serve as a resource and teacher for other members of the community who might be interested in trying out leatherwork. She loves to teach and use traditional tooling styles to create non-traditional forms. She spends her free time baking bread for the people of Butte, gardening, pickling, and watching too much Star Trek!
Kaitlynn Radloff, KRad is an artist, educator, and musician based in Missoula, Montana. She is the founder of Sabertooth Studio, a multimedia arts initiative dedicated to activating communities and environments, raising awareness of social and environmental issues, and creating work that honors and celebrates the natural world. Originally launched in 2020 as a community-focused print shop supporting Queer and BIPOC youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sabertooth Studio has since evolved into a dynamic platform for creative activism and education.
With over a decade of experience as a public school educator, Kaitlynn now works as a teaching artist and remains deeply committed to community engagement through the arts. She serves as Co-President of the National Art Education Association’s LGBTQ+ Interest Group and is a 2025 recipient of an Arts Missoula Grant, which will fund the launch of Sabertooth Studio’s Mobile Print Shop, a traveling printmaking project designed to engage and empower local communities.
Amanda Krolczyk, “Beaver Hole”
Amanda Krolczyk is a woodworker and ceramic artist based in Missoula, Montana. Her artistic practice is deeply rooted in the natural beauty and rugged landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, which have profoundly influenced her choice of materials and thematic elements across her diverse body of work.
Amanda earned her BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Montana in 2014. Following her graduation, she immersed herself in the local art scene, serving as a curator for a gallery in Missoula before joining Opportunity Resources Inc., where she taught ceramics to adults with disabilities.
In 2017, Amanda founded Plaid Beaver Co., her own business dedicated to creating and selling artwork. Since then, she has been a prominent figure in Montana's art community, with her work featured in numerous curated and juried exhibitions and publications throughout the West.
Jennifer & Matt Ogden, "Be Nice 2 Mice"
Jennifer Ogden is a Montana collage artist and seasoned K-12 art educator. She selects up-cycle paper for color and pattern and uses it via collage or paper mache sculpture to create her own scenarios. Her work is about place, belonging, and the fusion of topics.
Matt Ogden is a botanist currently working as Plant Production Manager for the CSKC Tribal Forestry Nursery in the Flathead. He is handy with a spatula, but also with household projects. Jennifer and Matt have been an item for over three decades and have learned to collaborate. They are hoping to create something fun!