Wouldn't it be cool to do a series of woodblock prints using the alphabet to bring to life Montana's natural wonders and cultural history?
There are stories in the land - some obvious and some unknown, she mused. Wouldn't it be cool to seek out those stories and put them to print in a way that captures the everyday beauty and magical colors that surround us in Montana?
A is for Alpine, B is for Barn, C is for Cottonwood. Down the alphabet she went, and when she got to H she wrote Homestead.
Emery didn't necessarily have a vision for a particular homestead or where it might be. As with the other letters, she wrote down what came to her in that initial flurry. As the years rolled by, she kept the vision alive even through a series of moves from art studio to art studio, often brainstorming more ideas for each letter.
Eventually, she began putting the concept to print, beginning at the beginning. And then a harmonic convergence happened.
Caitlin DeSilvey, a caretaker of Missoula's Moon-Randolph Homestead, came seeking help: Would Emery do a woodcut print as a fundraiser for the homestead?
Emery's reply? A resounding “yes.”
H, she knew, was waiting for its turn to come to life.
So with sketchbook and pencil, Emery spent long hours last year drinking in the homestead, observing its place in the rolling landscape of Missoula's North Hills, taking notes on the wide range of life that moves through the property, walking its grounds, examining the rough-hewn buildings made from scrap wood and imaginative problem-solving with whatever materials were cheap and on hand during the homestead's early life more than a century ago.
DeSilvey's only request of Emery: Capture as many details as possible of life on the little homestead hidden in a draw just north of Interstate 90.
Like the bedpost that is the garden's gate, and the railroad ties in the fence; like the shelving made of old crates in the homestead's original two-room house and the ancient apple orchard; and the short-eared owl that has made the homestead home, and the sheep, the chickens, the foxes and badger that live there, too.
“I wanted her to capture all these different elements that come together - past and present - the things that makes this place special,” DeSilvey explained.
Through the winter Emery worked, carving out her vision, which shows the vantage of the Homestead's hay and milk barn looking southwest, with a hilltop angle of the garden, the harness shed and the Moon cabin.
On Monday, in the presence of schoolchildren from Rattlesnake Elementary who hiked to the homestead, up over the North Hills from their school along Pineview Drive, the print was unveiled.
In vibrant colors and stark, yet whimsical, relief was the Moon-Randolph Homestead carved from wood. Along the bottom edge of the image: “H is for Homestead. Learning from a homemade life.”
“It's beautiful - I adore it,” DeSilvey said. “It captures the richness of the history up here and the tradition of the past moving into the present.”
“You did really good,” said one of the second-graders in Maribeth Rothwell and Betty Smart's classes.
“It's so pretty,” chimed another.
“I'm glad you got the scarecrow in, it looks just like the one in the garden,” came another young vote of approval.
“I'm just so happy my project came together to connect with this homestead project,” Emery said. “I love working on projects that bring conservation, education and the landscape together.
“I want to help wake people up and engage with the beauty of the land.”
Coming home
The Moon-Randolph Homestead in Missoula's North Hills is open to the public on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., May through October. Private tours are available upon request by contacting the caretakers at 728-9269 or at moonrandolph@
montana.com.
To help fund this public treasure, 25 limited edition woodblock prints created by Missoula artist Claire Emery and titled “H is for Homestead” are now for sale at $200 apiece. One of the prints will be raffled off sometime this summer at the homestead. Tickets for the raffle are $10 each and can be purchased only at the homestead. To purchase one of the limited edition prints, call 728-9269.
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