By Michael Somerby EBS STAFF
GALLATIN GATEWAY – When Tika Altemoeller first stepped onto
the Bozeman airport tarmac in 2001, she was struck by, of all things, the air.
It was so fresh, so pure, tinged with inexplicable notes of Christmas.
The sensation was curious—it felt like coming home, despite
the thousands of miles between the Gallatin Valley and her native Germany.
“I remember that air … I was like, ‘Wow, OK. I’m here,” said
Altemoeller, setting a fresh cup of herbal tea onto her Gallatin Gateway
kitchen table, a worthy companion to a colorful plate of German Christmas
cookies at its center. “I’ve always had this feeling of home here, from the
very first moment I arrived.”
Today, Altemoeller lives with her husband in Gallatin
Gateway, an often-discounted township that in reality—and quite
naturally—boasts the very best of both Big Sky and Bozeman. Complete with
wide-open spaces, varied terrain, impressive views and plenty of access to the
two populations and amenities it splits, sans the incessant crush of
out-of-towners, the original spirit of Montana is alive and well in Gateway.
And their home, custom-made from repurposed shipping containers, is tactfully positioned in a sprawling field of grasses to allow maximum synthesis with the environs that cradle it.
It’s there, bordered by aspen groves and the foothills of
the Gallatins, Altemoeller’s art has evolved, manifesting into the “Montana
Collages.”
“More than anywhere else, I get the feeling that I’m at home
here because we built this house, and it was such a cool process to do it,”
Altemoeller said. “I was like, ‘I can make collages about Montana with the
theme of home.’”
Her first consistent foray into collage began with
Japanese-stylized pieces inspired by “Instructions for The Cook,” a roughly
800-year-old text written by Dōgen Zenji, a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer,
poet, philosopher and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen.
Those pieces recruited an amalgamation of Japanese
characters and magazine cutouts, which Altemoeller cut and shaped with
precision.
But with the her most recent series, “Montana Collages,” she
worries less about hard edges, focusing on combining texture, original photographs
of Montana, color, text and fashion magazine rippings into unique pieces that
honor her perceptions.
“I like to just rip it (magazine pages) and see what
happens,” she said, underscoring the wildness of the spaces that inspire the
pieces. “Sometimes, I’ll see the pieces begin to make a collage on their own on
the table.”
For Altemoeller, the process of collecting those intimate
imprints of Montana is not complicated—she simply heads out into the abundant
landscapes with an iPhone, snapping shots that catch the eye.
“I never pretend I’m a photographer,” she said. “I have my
phone, I see things, I take a picture of them.”
Working from a rustic, barn-like studio space roughly a mile
from her home, she assembles those snapshots and clippings and words into
working compositions—each rendered unique with its own tones and celebrations
of Montana.
Even the mundane, such as a street sign and a stop sign, are
essential, and the end result is a snapshot of her insight into The Last Best
Place.
A stalk of grass; a delicate pile of snow; the crusted metal
of a bridge; a field traced by telephone pole lines; these are all worthy features,
no matter their inconspicuous presence. To quote a Montana Collage:
home
sky, mountains,
rivers, grass
not this, not that
within
Along with making
collages in homage of Montana, Altemoeller is regularly commissioned for custom
pieces; for more information and to purchase a collage, she can be reached at tika.altemoeller@gmail.com,
her website thestudiotika.com, or via her Instagram account @tikaelliot