A MOSS Master Naturalist Success Story
An interview with MOSS certified Master Naturalist, Artist and Editor Katie Shepard Christiansen
Back in 2012, I (Molly Ward, MOSS’ Education Director) was working for the Project WET Foundation. One of my co-workers there was taking what sounded like a very cool class in the evenings through MOSS. I remember asking her about it at the time. Years went by, jobs changed and Katie, my coworker, left Bozeman to pursue a Master’s Degree at Yale. We vaguely stayed in touch via social media enough that I knew she was working on a book. It turns out that book came out in May 2021 and is an amazing collection of art work that grew from idea hatched from nature journaling in MOSS’ Master Naturalist course. I tracked Katie down to sign a copy for me and fill me in on how Master Naturalist led to her becoming a published editor.
CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? WHAT YOU DO, WHERE YOU CAME FROM, YOUR BACKGROUND AND YOUR FAMILY?
I am an artist, writer, conservationist, and mother. I have lived in the GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) for most of the last decade between Bozeman and Jackson, though am currently based in Boulder, CO. I grew up in Northern Michigan along the shores of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I spent a lot of time outdoors in wild places through my childhood and have continued the tradition here in the Rockies.
I am the artist-in-residence at the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, which is based in Jackson. I am drawn to interdisciplinary projects that engage communities around shared values in nature. For example, I created the interpretive panels appearing throughout Bozeman’s Story Mill Community Park -- painting, writing, and designing the content to appear on each sign in collaboration with local conservation and community partners.
I have been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts grants for development of artful interpretive resources in GYE natural areas: Story Mill Park (Bozeman) and Astoria Park Conservancy (Jackson). Much of my art takes the form of intricate wildlife portraits created in watercolor, and my paintings appear in books, galleries, and in natural areas across the country.
I have worked for environmental NGOs for most of my career, spanning science, policy, management, education, outreach, and the arts. Through my organization, Coyote Art & Ecology, I have collaborated with such groups as the Trust for Public Land, National Geographic, the WILD Foundation, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, and AMB West Ranches. I have my Masters from Yale’s School of the Environment, where I co-taught Yale undergrad courses on Yellowstone and Global Change, and traveled with student groups to guide them in exploration and study of the biological, social, and policy contexts of the region.
I spend my free time trail running, climbing, hiking, and nature journaling, though these days my explorations keep me in nature closer to home: watching birds with my young son and awaiting a new baby arriving this summer.
YOU TOOK MOSS’ MASTER NATURALIST COURSE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, RIGHT? WHEN DID YOU TAKE IT AND WHY?
I took MOSS’ Master Naturalist course in 2012 and absolutely loved it. At the time, I was still getting my bearings after a somewhat recent move to Bozeman and felt that my own explorations of nature here had been maxed out given my knowledge of this region’s natural history. I was seeking the next level of knowing this place, and for that I turned to MOSS.
I have always been a lover of natural history, but the Northern Rockies is a very different ecology than my childhood home ground of the Northern Great Lakes. So I had a lot to learn.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN YOUR INSPIRATION FOR CREATING THE ARTIST’S FIELD GUIDE TO YELLOWSTONE AND HOW MOSS’ MASTER NATURALIST COURSE TIED INTO THAT?
I was inspired to create The Artist’s Field Guide to Yellowstone given my love of natural history, my interest in the arts, and my desire to better know my new home, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I was motivated by a belief that a beautiful, artful field guide might inspire continued preservation of this very special place, and in a slightly unique way as compared to traditional field guides or natural history resources. My nature journals have always included both notes about my adventures in wild places along with sketches or artistic depictions of these experiences. So it made a lot of sense for me to have natural history and art connected in this book. But I hoped that by engaging other local artists and writers in the project that we might transcend the bounds of typical natural history guides and make something out-of-the-ordinary and striking.
I had been imagining a project of this sort as I entered into my Master Naturalist class, but my ideas weren’t well formed, just more of a sense that I wanted to create a project at this intersection of natural history and art. But as I began the course and continued on week-by-week learning the intricacies of this place, my ideas around this project took more form while at the same time as my passion for doing something productive to contribute to the preservation of this place grew considerably. I write about this dual growth in knowledge and love of Greater Yellowstone in the preface of my book, and this really occurred during and through my Master Naturalist course.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF MOSS’ MASTER NATURALIST COURSE?
I loved so many things about it, from the relationships formed with classmates with whom I still keep in touch, to our field trips near and far, to our guest speakers, to our concluding field note project. I still have my field journal that I kept during my class, and I am grateful for that accounting of what I explored and learned during those few months. I really enjoyed that component of the experience and the emphasis on using both art and writing to record my nature explorations.
HOW DID THE BOOK PROJECT GET OFF THE GROUND?
Slowly, and thanks to a lot of patience and optimism from many people. I started sharing my idea for this project with local artists and writers shortly after completing my Master Naturalist course (nearly a decade ago!). The challenge was recruiting fifty storytellers to be a part of this project far ahead of finding a publisher. But folks were keen on the concept and graciously joined the effort as it was still taking form. At the same time, I was actively seeking funding and a publisher, while also creating content for the collection--namely the numerous natural history-style watercolor illustrations that appear throughout the book. After the book came together, we faced some major delays regarding publishing that were unfortunately out of our hands. But we have a book now, which is reason to celebrate! The process has reinforced my belief that good things which seek to improve the world for human and wild communities, such as this project, are well worth the fight to make them realized.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR NEW BOOK? WHY?
I am taken by the individual stories of each of the fifty artists and writers who contributed to this project. Every painting, every essay, and every poem is a story from the heart of someone who makes this special place home and has committed their life to being Yellowstone’s storytellers. I find it incredibly inspiring to have all these stories and ways of knowing presented together in this collection. They come together as a unified call for awe of and respect for the wild that is our backyard here in Greater Yellowstone. But it’s what they each represent and convey individually that I find especially compelling.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR NEW BOOK? WHY?
I am taken by the individual stories of each of the fifty artists and writers who contributed to this project. Every painting, every essay, and every poem is a story from the heart of someone who makes this special place home and has committed their life to being Yellowstone’s storytellers. I find it incredibly inspiring to have all these stories and ways of knowing presented together in this collection. They come together as a unified call for awe of and respect for the wild that is our backyard here in Greater Yellowstone. But it’s what they each represent and convey individually that I find especially compelling.
ANY PARTICULARLY INTERESTING OR FUNNY STORIES THAT HAPPENED IN PUTTING THIS BOOK TOGETHER?
I recall attending a special event around the time of the release of the Yellowstone issue of National Geographic, so sometime in 2016. At the time I was in graduate school and making progress on the book, and was fortunate to get an invite to a gathering occurring at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History where the issue and more generally the concerted effort to raise public awareness of Yellowstone were being recognized.
At the event I found myself in conversation with one of the leaders at National Geographic along with Arthur Middleton, a contributor not only to my book but a major contributor to the Yellowstone NG issue. Arthur began sharing about my book project, and what it meant for him to write the piece about the elk from his perspective as a research scientist. He then went on to describe the artwork created by the elk artist, Monte Yellow Bird Sr., which would accompany Arthur’s written piece. Monte is a Native American ledger artist who created an emotional, complex artwork full of symbolism and layered with stories. Arthur conveyed that he was moved by this artwork and found the collaborative experience of creating such distinct stories about the same creature poignant and meaningful.
As the creator and editor of this project, I realized then that this effort was not just setting out to engage with readers on such matters as nature, being, and coexistence. It was also creating experiences for the contributors, experiences that might influence their own senses of themselves and the world, and that might play out in their work. It was a powerful moment for me in realizing the depth of influence a project like this might impart on our Greater Yellowstone community.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THE ARTIST’S FIELD GUIDE TO YELLOWSTONE?
There is so much to discover in the book: fine artwork of a wide array of styles and genres (from a grizzly bear mama wearing a flower crown to a contemporary Native American-styled pika to traditional Western artworks of a wolf and mountain goats), prose and poetry equally diverse and each rich with information, field notes for each highlighted species containing identification and wildlife watching clues, and natural history illustrations throughout the book of featured and associated species to offer a look into the complex dynamics of our ecosystem. It’s a book rich in narrative of various kinds and I believe offers something to discover for anyone interested in nature or the arts.
HOW CAN PEOPLE GET THEIR OWN COPY OF THE BOOK?
The book is for sale at local bookstores across the region including throughout Yellowstone National Park, various online retailers, as well as from the publisher, Trinity University Press. Folks can find signed copies for sale on my website.
