Farmers Market Spotlights: Kokoro Flowers and Ozment Art

Ozment Art

By Mira Brody EBS STAFF

Brett Ozment of Ozment Art, is a multimedia artist in Big Sky. Ozment Art provides a multi-platformed art experience by collaborating with two other local artists, photographer Jonathan Stone and musician Brad Thorton.

At his booth at the Big Sky Farmers Market, you will be graced with unique pieces of jewelry made from a mix of nature-inspired materials, such as feathers copper, wood and even guitar strings. Ozment Art also features succulent planters made from whiskey barrels, centerpieces and totems from animal bones, wooden bow ties and framed sketches as well as t-shirts, hoodies and belt buckles.

“Most of my free time is spent around hunting and fishing and foraging for morel mushrooms and antler sheds and I find myself in a lot of situations where nature and I are in close contact in beautiful settings in Montana that are almost always photograph worthy,” said Ozment.

Starting in July, Ozment plans to host an “market within a market,” in which visitors to his Farmers Market booth can come into a faux living room, listen to music, and experience the full range of artistic talent of Ozment Art in an immersive way.

Kokoro Flowers

By Bella Butler EBS STAFF

Amidst the tables of produce and artisan crafts, a vibrant pop of color draws Big Sky Farmers Market strollers into the Kokoro Flowers booth. Meara Cassidy and Travis Cox, co-owners of the 6-year-old flower farm, greet patrons with sunny smiles as they prepare unique arrangements that will later adorn dining room tables. 

Though Cassidy has been a farmer for 10 years, she didn’t become involved with flowers until a farm she was working on encouraged her to use some of their space to develop her own business. To add diversity to the vegetable farm, she opted for growing flowers. 

Cassidy said that while flowers can be considered a luxury item, she’s learned how much flowers can really fit into people’s lives. 

“The value and brightness and happiness it brings—I guess I never expected it to be so significant,” she said. 

Cassidy is half Japanese and said she sees Kokoro, named for the Japanese word meaning to have heart, as a marriage between the day-today use of flowers customary in Japan with the way wildflowers are engrained in the culture of the Mountain West. 

In addition to their Community Supported Agriculture boxes, Cassidy and Cox sell their flowers at local farmers markets. Stop by the Kokoro booth at the Big Sky Farmers Market to arrange your own bouquet of early-season blooms like Lupine and Buttercups.