Shan Graf

I create my artwork as a means of both reflection and escape, constructing spaces where memory, identity, and emotion exist in flux. Working primarily in oil paint, I blend impressionism and realism to explore emotional states through vivid, atmospheric color. My use of saturation heightens memory and abstraction, enabling each piece to transcend fixed narratives.

Influenced by ideas of performative and fluid identity, my work examines the tension between interior and exterior selves. Themes of mental health, personal history, and environment recur throughout my practice, shaped by my upbringing in Montana's expansive landscape.

Through painterly experimentation and emotional resonance, I aim to create spaces that invite contemplation and connection - works that mirror the shifting nature of self while contributing to a broader conversation about identity, place, and presence within contemporary art.

Lauren Woods

Lauren Woods was born and raised in the Mad River Valley of Central Vermont, where in high school she got access to the clay studio and ceramics class. Upon graduation Lauren rented studio space in her hometown, before moving north to Burlington Vermont where she volunteered, and eventually taught at Burlington City Arts in their clay studio. Then in 2015 Lauren, her dog and now husband moved to SW Montana, and decided to call Bozeman home! Within a few months Lauren began as a volunteer at The Emerson, and within a year began teaching children and adults at The Emerson Clay studio, where she still teaches to this day. In 2017 Lauren opened her own personal clay studio in an alleyway in downtown Bozeman, she then began renting space to other local potters and artists. In 2020 Lauren moved just around the corner to 16 South Tracy, moved her clay studio and opened a shop, Inner Alchemy. Lauren is a potter by profession, a teacher by trade and an Astrologer by desire. She enjoys trail running, hiking, reading in the sun with her dog, and spending time outside.