Noelle Sullivan and teaching artist, Tess Fahlgren, speaking at West Yellowstone school in October, 2017
Artist statement
I’ve been fascinated with dead trees this year. Trees—like emotions, like landscapes—root in the remains of what’s come before, and in the seeds of what’s yet to be. A lodgepole forest grows from fire, its seeds settling into rich ash. This tree I’ve painted, on Fir Ridge just inside Yellowstone National Park, was hit by a bolt from the blue. It stands tall and shocked in the way that I’ve seen my family stand, rocked by sudden changes, or my town wary and nervous in the face of a raging fire. Paint what you know. Sometimes, it isn’t a story of survival.
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