Taft-Nicholson Center:
An Environment for the Humanities
Jana Cunningham
Director of Marketing and Communications, College of Humanities
As an official extension of the University of Utah campus, the Taft-Nicholson Center, located in Centennial Valley, Montana, works to bridge the arts and humanities with the sciences by increasing environmental literacy, boosting environmental awareness, and inspiring personal connection to nature and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Each summer since 2014, students, teachers, artists, scientists, and community members have been participating in the center’s diverse educational programming—sharing their perspectives on the natural world and preparing themselves to create change in positive and meaningful ways.
“A humanities perspective provides a variety of tools that allow us to reflect on and make sense of complex environmental issues that cross disciplinary boundaries while also providing tools that allow us to work collaboratively with other disciplines,” said Mark Bergstrom, director of the Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Education Center. “The center provides a space to train ourselves and our students to make sense of the world from a variety of perspectives, to do so in a critical and informed way, recognizing different positions and perspectives, considering the moral and ethical implications and outcomes of not only our actions but our thoughts as well. We train ourselves and our students to clearly communicate our understandings in collaborative and effective means.”
“
We stood quietly as a group and appreciated the moment. The cold air, lighting, and peacefulness of the morning while taking in that rare sight is something I will never forget.
The center serves to examine and explore the environment from a humanities perspective, learning about a sense of place, of more fully inhabiting a specific place by knowing its ecology, its human and nonhuman histories, its cultural traditions and its environmental challenges. The programs are designed to provide visitors with a broad-based understanding of social, cultural, ethical, historical, communication, and literary perspectives and with a focus on how they intersect with and influence public policy, scientific, legal, industrial, and corporate concerns.
● ● ●
Expanding a Visual Dialogue
During the summer, visitors of the Taft-Nicholson Center will often find at least a dozen undergraduate students scattered amongst the marsh, lake, and open fields with their easels and paints as they immerse themselves in the views, sounds, and sky of the landscape. This rugged and diverse setting is the very reason Kim Martinez, professor of painting and drawing, continues to bring art students to the area in hopes it will impact their conceptual and formal processes.
“The residency experience is ideal for artists to learn, share thoughts on creativity, solve problems, and experience multiple remote natural environments to expand their visual dialogue,” said Martinez. “Through engagement in traditional and alternative painting processes, interdisciplinary environmental literacy study, and seclusion from the distractions of everyday life, students discover unanticipated research topics that have an impact on their studio practices.”
Nature, Martinez believes, engages students through sight, smell, sound, and touch acting as a catalyst to internal thoughts and emotions in a way that cannot be replicated in a studio. With the intact ecological systems, expansive wetlands, diverse native fauna and flora, and concentrations of rare species, the Taft-Nicholson Center provides a landscape that is well-suited to stimulate and create an expansive mindset that can impact students’ creative expression. Martinez notes that the artwork developed by students’ sensory responses from the environment often results in compelling pictorial space that demonstrates the supremacy and vulnerability of the natural world.
Connecting the arts with humanities, Martinez’s students not only study the landscape, but they explore what it means to be part of it. Their approaches to materials and ideas are augmented by in-depth discussions of issues in historical and contemporary painting and sustainability, affecting how they see the Centennial Valley and the materials they use to create and the impact of those materials on life. Each student completes a series of paintings and site-specific investigations through the lens of language, history, and philosophy.
Wanting to be part of a residency in an inspiring landscape, Victoria Attwood took Martinez’s course in 2017. Her days were filled with plein air paining, sketching, journaling, experimenting with new techniques while also exploring and learning about area to gain a deeper appreciation of the center and the surrounding valley.
“On a 6 a.m. bird watching hike, we happened to see a moose and her calf run across the plains as the sun rose behind them,” recalled Attwood. “We stood quietly as a group and appreciated the moment. The cold air, lighting, and peacefulness of the morning while taking in that rare sight is something I will never forget.”
The multidimensional field experience, Attwood claimed, expanded her horizons when it came to who she is as an artist, and how she wanted to express herself.
“The course happened to be the last class that I took to complete my BFA. I could not have imagined a better class to complete my undergraduate experience. This class not only taught me so much, but allowed me to exercise everything that I had learned in art school, and to be able to apply that knowledge during this trip was truly special. It’s classes like these that are the most enriching and memorable.”
“
There’s time to read, time to write, time to draw, time to walk, and it takes a couple of days to get into the groove and timescale of the landscape. Carve out two hours to just sit on your porch and stare out into the red rocks, wildlife, and wilderness and when they ask you to go bird watching or canoeing the answer is always ‘yes.’
Edgar Archer took the same two-week art residency in 2019 when it came highly recommended to him from previous students. His love for the outdoors and desire to become a better plein air and landscape artist drew him to the Taft-Nicholson Center. Although the experience was challenging due to the busy days— which even included a cattle drive—and required workload, he learned an incredible amount in the short time he was there—how to approach plein air painting, color mixing, maintaining a reference notebook, and participating in critiques.
“The center allowed me to get out of the traditional classroom setting and provided me a venue to enjoy a truly remarkable landscape—important to a landscape painter,” said Archer. “The center offered an environment that allowed me to grow as an artist and gave me the opportunity to study the ecology of a unique area.”
● ● ●
Lasting Bonds
On her most recent trip to the center, Brenda Bowen, professor of geology and geophysics and director of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, created a small but impressive band with her colleagues—her on the drum, fellow professors on the guitar and electric bass—and they would jam every night around the campfire. Although no platinum records were made, Bowen and her colleagues formed a connection that would surpass their time at the center.
“I will forever have a bond with them because of those types of experiences that you just don’t get on campus in Salt Lake,” said Bowen. “I think people at the center really appreciate the chance to connect and anytime I see someone on campus that I met at the center, it’s like we’re old friends. You really get to know people and feel like a part of a community.”
It’s not only the bond with colleagues that has continued to bring her back to the center—Bowen has attended various retreats and most recently completed a faculty fellowship—but the greater appreciation and understanding of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and a richer connection to the humanities.
“At the center, we talk about the link between the humanities and sciences and sustainability and we think about the intersections and the struggle between science and art. We also explore place and human’s place within that. That’s a core part of the center and being in that environment, you can’t help but think about things like ecosystem and places, management, changes and landscapes over time, and the role of humans in shaping that. It’s a natural link between the disciplines."
As a faculty fellow last summer, Bowen’s research focused on how changing environmental conditions influence the composition of sediments, authigenic minerals and fluids in both modern dynamic systems and ancient lithified strata. She collaborated with Wendy Wischer, an assistant professor of art and art history, and prepared for an exhibition of Wischer’s sculptural work that was inspired by Bowen’s research, which focused on the landscape of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Taft Nicholson Summer Fellow Residencies are available to tenure-line faculty in all disciplines for one to three weeks of dedicated writing time for scholarly pursuits of research or creative projects. Fellowships are designed to provide intensive, dedicated, writing time for faculty to work on their research and creative agendas.
"I really appreciate the culture of the College of Humanities in being inclusive and welcoming people from other disciplines but within the context of how you engage with the humanities,” said Bowen.
After frequent visits, Bowen has wise advice for visitors of the center: “Be prepared to have focused time where you can really get into a project. There’s time to read, time to write, time to draw, time
to walk, and it takes a couple of days to get into the groove and timescale of the landscape. Carve out two hours to just sit on your porch and stare out into the red rocks, wildlife, and wilderness and when they ask you to go bird watching or canoeing the answer is always ‘yes.’ Also, be prepared to make new friends.”
● ● ●
Sustaining the Future
The center was made possible the generous and visionary work of John and Melody Taft, and Bill and Sandi Nicholson. These two couples invested their time and resources to purchase Lakeview and lovingly restore its unique and historic buildings. Accommodations include charming and elegant guest cabins, a student dormitory (soon to be refurbished), a large conference room, and a dining hall where guests can engage in lively conversation while sharing a meal and the unlimited vistas of the Centennial Valley.
Recently, Melody Taft established a $1 million arts endowment at the University of Utah’s Taft-Nicholson Center. She has donated her 160-acre ranch in Centennial Valley to the university. The endowment will be funded with proceeds from the sale of the property and will be administered by the director of Taft-Nicholson Center. Earnings on endowment will be used to support the arts programming at the Taft-Nicholson Center, including expenses associated with the Artists-InResidence program and arts programming.
Taft-Nicholson Center:
An Environment for the Humanities
Jana Cunningham
Director of Marketing and Communications, College of Humanities
As an official extension of the University of Utah campus, the Taft-Nicholson Center, located in Centennial Valley, Montana, works to bridge the arts and humanities with the sciences by increasing environmental literacy, boosting environmental awareness, and inspiring personal connection to nature and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Each summer since 2014, students, teachers, artists, scientists, and community members have been participating in the center’s diverse educational programming—sharing their perspectives on the natural world and preparing themselves to create change in positive and meaningful ways.
“A humanities perspective provides a variety of tools that allow us to reflect on and make sense of complex environmental issues that cross disciplinary boundaries while also providing tools that allow us to work collaboratively with other disciplines,” said Mark Bergstrom, director of the Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Education Center. “The center provides a space to train ourselves and our students to make sense of the world from a variety of perspectives, to do so in a critical and informed way, recognizing different positions and perspectives, considering the moral and ethical implications and outcomes of not only our actions but our thoughts as well. We train ourselves and our students to clearly communicate our understandings in collaborative and effective means.”
“
We stood quietly as a group and appreciated the moment. The cold air, lighting, and peacefulness of the morning while taking in that rare sight is something I will never forget.
The center serves to examine and explore the environment from a humanities perspective, learning about a sense of place, of more fully inhabiting a specific place by knowing its ecology, its human and nonhuman histories, its cultural traditions and its environmental challenges. The programs are designed to provide visitors with a broad-based understanding of social, cultural, ethical, historical, communication, and literary perspectives and with a focus on how they intersect with and influence public policy, scientific, legal, industrial, and corporate concerns.
● ● ●
Expanding a Visual Dialogue
During the summer, visitors of the Taft-Nicholson Center will often find at least a dozen undergraduate students scattered amongst the marsh, lake, and open fields with their easels and paints as they immerse themselves in the views, sounds, and sky of the landscape. This rugged and diverse setting is the very reason Kim Martinez, professor of painting and drawing, continues to bring art students to the area in hopes it will impact their conceptual and formal processes.
The residency experience is ideal for artists to learn, share thoughts on creativity, solve problems, and experience multiple remote natural environments to expand their visual dialogue,” said Martinez. “Through engagement in traditional and alternative painting processes, interdisciplinary environmental literacy study, and seclusion from the distractions of everyday life, students discover unanticipated research topics that have an impact on their studio practices.”
Nature, Martinez believes, engages students through sight, smell, sound, and touch acting as a catalyst to internal thoughts and emotions in a way that cannot be replicated in a studio. With the intact ecological systems, expansive wetlands, diverse native fauna and flora, and concentrations of rare species, the Taft-Nicholson Center provides a landscape that is well-suited to stimulate and create an expansive mindset that can impact students’ creative expression. Martinez notes that the artwork developed by students’ sensory responses from the environment often results in compelling pictorial space that demonstrates the supremacy and vulnerability of the natural world.
Connecting the arts with humanities, Martinez’s students not only study the landscape, but they explore what it means to be part of it. Their approaches to materials and ideas are augmented by in-depth discussions of issues in historical and contemporary painting and sustainability, affecting how they see the Centennial Valley and the materials they use to create and the impact of those materials on life. Each student completes a series of paintings and site-specific investigations through the lens of language, history, and philosophy.
Wanting to be part of a residency in an inspiring landscape, Victoria Attwood took Martinez’s course in 2017. Her days were filled with plein air paining, sketching, journaling, experimenting with new techniques while also exploring and learning about area to gain a deeper appreciation of the center and the surrounding valley.
“On a 6 a.m. bird watching hike, we happened to see a moose and her calf run across the plains as the sun rose behind them,” recalled Attwood. “We stood quietly as a group and appreciated the moment. The cold air, lighting, and peacefulness of the morning while taking in that rare sight is something I will never forget.”
The multidimensional field experience, Attwood claimed, expanded her horizons when it came to who she is as an artist, and how she wanted to express herself.
“The course happened to be the last class that I took to complete my BFA. I could not have imagined a better class to complete my undergraduate experience. This class not only taught me so much, but allowed me to exercise everything that I had learned in art school, and to be able to apply that knowledge during this trip was truly special. It’s classes like these that are the most enriching and memorable.”
“
There’s time to read, time to write, time to draw, time to walk, and it takes a couple of days to get into the groove and timescale of the landscape. Carve out two hours to just sit on your porch and stare out into the red rocks, wildlife, and wilderness and when they ask you to go bird watching or canoeing the answer is always ‘yes.’
Edgar Archer took the same two-week art residency in 2019 when it came highly recommended to him from previous students. His love for the outdoors and desire to become a better plein air and landscape artist drew him to the Taft-Nicholson Center. Although the experience was challenging due to the busy days— which even included a cattle drive—and required workload, he learned an incredible amount in the short time he was there—how to approach plein air painting, color mixing, maintaining a reference notebook, and participating in critiques.
“The center allowed me to get out of the traditional classroom setting and provided me a venue to enjoy a truly remarkable landscape—important to a landscape painter,” said Archer. “The center offered an environment that allowed me to grow as an artist and gave me the opportunity to study the ecology of a unique area.”
● ● ●
Lasting Bonds
On her most recent trip to the center, Brenda Bowen, professor of geology and geophysics and director of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, created a small but impressive band with her colleagues—her on the drum, fellow professors on the guitar and electric bass—and they would jam every night around the campfire. Although no platinum records were made, Bowen and her colleagues formed a connection that would surpass their time at the center.
“I will forever have a bond with them because of those types of experiences that you just don’t get on campus in Salt Lake,” said Bowen. “I think people at the center really appreciate the chance to connect and anytime I see someone on campus that I met at the center, it’s like we’re old friends. You really get to know people and feel like a part of a community.”
It’s not only the bond with colleagues that has continued to bring her back to the center—Bowen has attended various retreats and most recently completed a faculty fellowship—but the greater appreciation and understanding of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and a richer connection to the humanities.
“At the center, we talk about the link between the humanities and sciences and sustainability and we think about the intersections and the struggle between science and art. We also explore place and human’s place within that. That’s a core part of the center and being in that environment, you can’t help but think about things like ecosystem and places, management, changes and landscapes over time, and the role of humans in shaping that. It’s a natural link between the disciplines."
As a faculty fellow last summer, Bowen’s research focused on how changing environmental conditions influence the composition of sediments, authigenic minerals and fluids in both modern dynamic systems and ancient lithified strata. She collaborated with Wendy Wischer, an assistant professor of art and art history, and prepared for an exhibition of Wischer’s sculptural work that was inspired by Bowen’s research, which focused on the landscape of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Taft Nicholson Summer Fellow Residencies are available to tenure-line faculty in all disciplines for one to three weeks of dedicated writing time for scholarly pursuits of research or creative projects. Fellowships are designed to provide intensive, dedicated, writing time for faculty to work on their research and creative agendas.
"I really appreciate the culture of the College of Humanities in being inclusive and welcoming people from other disciplines but within the context of how you engage with the humanities,” said Bowen.
After frequent visits, Bowen has wise advice for visitors of the center: “Be prepared to have focused time where you can really get into a project. There’s time to read, time to write, time to draw, time to walk, and it takes a couple of days to get into the groove and timescale of the landscape. Carve out two hours to just sit on your porch and stare out into the red rocks, wildlife, and wilderness and when they ask you to go bird watching or canoeing the answer is always ‘yes.’ Also, be prepared to make new friends.”
● ● ●
Sustaining the Future
The center was made possible the generous and visionary work of John and Melody Taft, and Bill and Sandi Nicholson. These two couples invested their time and resources to purchase Lakeview and lovingly restore its unique and historic buildings. Accommodations include charming and elegant guest cabins, a student dormitory (soon to be refurbished), a large conference room, and a dining hall where guests can engage in lively conversation while sharing a meal and the unlimited vistas of the Centennial Valley.
Recently, Melody Taft established a $1 million arts endowment at the University of Utah’s Taft-Nicholson Center. She has donated her 160-acre ranch in Centennial Valley to the university. The endowment will be funded with proceeds from the sale of the property and will be administered by the director of Taft-Nicholson Center. Earnings on endowment will be used to support the arts programming at the Taft-Nicholson Center, including expenses associated with the Artists-InResidence program and arts programming.