For the second year in a row, Tinworks Art: In Conversation brings together artists, writers, scientists, and creative thinkers from various fields to discuss the topics of our time. From March to July, Tinworks will convene thought leaders from the region and beyond for a series of conversations titled The Earth Beneath Our Feet. The conversations have been developed in consideration of Tinworks’ 2025 exhibition season, running June 21 - October 18, which will feature ceramic, clay, and earthen artworks by regional and international, historical and contemporary artists, and a continued activation of Tinworks’ field by ecological artist Agnes Denes. Development of topics and speaker invitations for this second series have been in collaboration with Mary Stein and Mary Murphy.

Tinworks Art: In Conversation are ticketed evening events, open to the public, hosted at The Rialto in downtown Bozeman. Doors at 7pm, event at 7:30pm.

DR. CATHY ZABINSKI Dr. Cathy Zabinski is a plant and soil ecologist and a professor in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University. She teaches courses in restoration ecology and belowground ecology. Her research has centered on roots and soil, especially the living parts of soil. Research in her lab has addressed soil health as affected by agricultural management and invasive species, the effects of disturbance and restoration practices on soil processes, and mycorrhizal ecology. She is the author of Amber Waves: The Extraordinary Biography of Wheat from Wild Grass to World Megacrop and is working on her second book on soils and wine.

DR. MARY MURPHY Dr. Mary Murphy is an American historian who has taught courses on the history of gender, the North American West, and the history of food at Montana State University since 1990. She served as co-director and director of the Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the American West and was the Michael P. Malone Professor of History from 2005-2010. In 2013 she was named a Distinguished Professor in the College of Letters and Science. Mary is the author of Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936-1942; Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914-41; and Like a Family, The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World. She has won numerous prizes and fellowships for her research, teaching, and mentoring, and received the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award in 2013. Along with colleagues Molly Kruckenberg, Zoe Ann Stoltz, and Jan Zauha, Mary is currently writing a culinary history of Montana.

Tinworks gratefully acknowledges the following for their generous support of In Conversation

Lead Sponsors American Bank The Lark Minarik Architecture Rialto

Supporting Sponsors Yellowstone Public Radio Cornerstone Management Services

Community Sponsors 45 Architecture & Interiors Abby Hetherington Interiors Charles Schwab Edible Bozeman Happy Trash Can Curbside Composting Montana State University Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands & Peoples of the North American West Root Cellar Foods