KIRSTEN FURLONG
Kirsten Furlong is a Boise-based visual artist whose work examines the ecological and poetic bonds between humans, animals, and plants on the lands we inhabit together. Approaching these themes through the lens of her identity as a mixed-race (Black/white) woman in the American West, she creates drawings, prints, and installations that speak to the fragile interconnections between species and the urgent effects of human intervention on natural systems. Her practice often uses detail, repetition, and pattern as both representational and metaphorical tools, echoing forms found in tree rings, bird nests, spider webs, and animal tracks.
Furlong’s projects are rooted in empathy, loss, and longing. Animals and plants function in her work as both emblems of the natural world and metaphors for human desires, revealing the elegiac traces of what has been diminished or altered by human activity. From exploring nuclear waste in Idaho’s high desert to documenting the disappearing bird habitats of the Great Plains, her work highlights the irreversible impacts of climate change and ecological disruption, while simultaneously offering poetic spaces for reflection and connection.
Read More
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in both solo and group shows and supported by numerous residencies and fellowships, including the Alexa Rose Foundation, the Montello Foundation, the Good Hart Artist Residency, the Jentel Foundation, the Great Plains Art Museum, Denali National Park, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. These immersive experiences in diverse landscapes have deeply informed her ongoing investigations into the relationship between humans and the environments they shape and inhabit.
In addition to her studio practice, Furlong serves as Lecturer and Gallery Director at Boise State University, where she fosters dialogue around contemporary art and ecology. Through her teaching, curatorial work, and artistic practice, she continues to explore how art can function as both a mirror and a bridge, reflecting our changing landscapes while asking us to reimagine our responsibilities to them.
