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Nature Baby Outfitter works to provide parents with quality products to fit their unique parenting adventure. From Car Seats to Cloth Diapering and Carriers and everything between we help find solutions to make their parenting journey easier. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff truly do love what we are able to do for the community.

Elyse Marks is a multidisciplinary artist and designer who specializes in creating engaging experiential environments. She has built a career developing spaces and live experiences for large brands worldwide. With nature as her biggest inspiration, Elyse loves exploring her home base of Montana alongside her lovely husband and pup.

collaboration biography

“Flow” is an immersive landscape inspired by the protective canopy of trees and the trails that run below. It represents the criss-crossing trails of child rearing adventures through which Nature Baby Outfitters guides parents with their thoughtful, natural products and services. Created from recycled offcuts from the fabric industry, this installation gives new life to material that would otherwise go to waste - just as old furniture is repurposed as decor in the shop.

The Book Shelf. As an avid escapist reader Mary bought The Bookshelf in 2014. It was her hope to merge a deep personal love of books with a fun way to make a living and as a bonus get a break from social work. During her time at the store she was fortunate enough to find a partner who was even more of a bibliophile than her. The timing was perfect and in 2016 Kyle took over as Manager and 'Counter Guy' full time. This allowed Mary to return to her true calling and be an active advocate for people in our community. Mary and Kyle strive to bring their community and books together in all aspects of their business by holding fundraisers for local causes, hosting book signings with local authors, working with local non-profits, and of course matching the perfect book to the perfect reader!

Mark Kornick ”I can get really excited talking about art. For me, discovery is the ultimate rush. Finding then putting into position found objects becomes the challenge. Art projects that showcase the objects used, as much as the image or feeling the placement evokes is the goal and where satisfaction lies. I am also fascinated with how things work; how the stones used in the projects came to be. I really am geeky about the geological history of places I live, and the glacial till of recent Ice Ages provide beautifully smooth and polished sedimentary rock formed long before the ice arrived. The Flathead valley has exposures of this stone and any free moment could be spent poring over wave swept shores or gravel bars for the gems. I have a hard time while on the riverbank or lakeshore on fishing or camping trips remembering to look up from the incredible color and striations under my feet……”

Insty Prints has been a Kalispell Main Street business for over 34 years. Currently owned by Tamara Williams, she has been with the company for 33 years, working from customer service & graphic design to small business ownership. Insty Prints offers a wide variety of print and marketing services, focusing on building positive, service-oriented relationships with their customers. Proud to be a part of our great community, the Insty Prints team enjoys volunteering and giving back to the community that supports them!

Joy Schiele is a self taught, multi-medium artist, who grew up loving art. As a kid she always dreamed of being a professional artist, now Joy has done multiple commissions for businesses and individuals. Being a high school student Joy still has a much to learn, and lots has of room to grow and develop her artistic skills. Follow Joys art journey @_artbyjoy_ on Instagram.

collaboration biography

Joy and Tamara had a great meeting, sharing stories and the history of Insty Prints. Joy shared her passion for art from an early age, expressing her interest in all mediums Of art form. After the “interview” Joy toured the shop, looking for that premium window location to showcase her work. After a couple of days, Joy shared her initial concept with Tamara. It was a fabulous idea, telling the Insty Prints everyday story in creative fashion. Cannot wait to share it with the community and have people stop by and admire Joy’s vision and work!

Imagination Station’s second location in downtown Kalispell was opened 19 years ago this month! Denise’s goal is to both support downtown business as well as offer educational and child development toys to support the growth of the local children. Denise’s daughter Veronica runs the Kalispell location while Denise handles business at the Whitefish location. The Whitefish location began 25 years ago, and in the beginning was a resource for teachers in the area. You can find Imagination Station online at montanatoys.com.

Dixie Turner is a local artist primarily a landscape artist working in oil and pastel paint. She works en plein air (painting outside, observing from nature.) Dixie has worked toward raising her family and family business for many years, and has recently made a life change to make art professionally. You can find her works at dixieturner.com Dixie loves to shop at Imagination Station for her 11 grandchildren.

A&E is a multidisciplinary design firm with four offices in MT (Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, and Kalispell), and Seattle, WA. As one of the largest and longest-standing design firms in the region, we hold a unique perspective on the creative process. We blend design disciplines to explore ideas that challenge convention. By fusing a myriad of creative talents, we use each distinct skill to shape a more dynamic end result. As a collection of innovators, we are united for a single purpose: To create impactful experiences for our clients. We offer architecture, interior design, historic preservation, and graphic design in one, comprehensive package. Together, we are a team of 71 diversely talented professionals with a strong commitment to client satisfaction, quality design, and improving the world around us.

Nancy Kaumeyer my fiber business is a work in progress as each year I add another component to it. Most recently, I have expanded into purchasing and processing fleece, and dying it with plant materials to use raw and to spin into yarn. The process is time-consuming and my intention is to focus on smaller pieces that stand alone or can be joined into larger pieces to tell a story. My work as a fiber artist is to create a feeling or tell a story through color and texture. I like putting small color and texture surprises in my work to make them a visual feast for the eyes. The viewer might think they need to look again in case they missed something. I am constantly evolving and expanding my interests and skills to develop as an artist.

Their collaboration

After meeting with Shane Jacobs at A&E, I decided to focus on the fact the business has many different facets to it but combined together they create the operation. The title of my piece, All the Parts Make the Whole, uses a triptych approach that connects visually together, in addition to bits and pieces of fiber placed throughout to illustrate the parts make the whole theme. I kept the pallet neutral but used different textures to add interest and to weave a tapestry that illustrates my style and approach.

When we first met, Nancy was describing her process and what she does and shared her successes and struggles with natural dies and that she would be on the hunt soon for goldenrod, which has created a wonderful yellow. That color just so happens to match A&E’s branding, so it became an obvious opportunity to incorporate color into the pallet of neutrals and textures. We also felt that there was no need to purposefully represent a building per se- whether art or architecture, it starts abstract and the principles of good design come through in the resulting composition

Bias Brewing was founded in 2018. Bias Brewing is an owner engineered, built, and operated all electric brewery that brews experimental and traditional beers, sours, and seltzer’s. Our mission is to build community through craft brewing by providing a safe and welcoming space for community members to gather. We are focused on sustainable manufacturing and philanthropy. In our first two years of oppression, we organized fundraisers that raised over $50,000 for local nonprofits. Our mission is to build a sustainable company while supporting and strengthening the community we love.

Jessy Hanson is a mixed media artist born and raised in the Flathead Valley. She draws inspiration from nature, being a mother, and the shared experiences of life. She is passionate about family, community, and cultivating joy.

Their collaboration

Inspired by Bias’ use of recycled materials and artful innovation in creating a community space, Jessy Hanson’s piece uses some of the very wood used in the building of the local brewery.