
06/12/2025
Welcome to the residency Kirsten Furlong
Kirsten is a multidisciplinary artist based in Boise, Idaho whose work explores the complex interactions between humans, animals, and plants in ecologically and culturally significant landscapes. Rooted in the American West, her drawings and installations reflect on environmental degradation, species loss, and the deep imprints of climate change. Through repeated patterns and natural motifs like bird migrations, tree rings, or spider webs, Kirsten expresses a poetic response to ecological crisis, grounded in empathy and an ethic of care.
Recent projects investigate nuclear waste in Idaho’s high desert, habitat loss in the Great Plains, and the broader impacts of environmental disruption on wildlife. Her work positions animals and plants as both literal and symbolic figures, emblematic of nature and reflective of human desire. As a mixed race woman in the American West, Kirsten’s practice challenges dominant ideologies such as manifest destiny, species hierarchy, and rugged individualism, offering instead a counter-narrative grounded in observation, connection, and resistance.
Furlong earned her BFA in Studio Art from the University of Nebraska and her MFA in Visual Art from Boise State University, where she now serves as Director of the Blue Galleries and Lecturer in the Department of Art, Design, and Visual Studies. Her work has been widely exhibited in solo and group shows across the U.S. and internationally.