Dr. Melissa Ragain is an Associate Professor at Montana State University, where she teaches courses on modern and contemporary art history, specializing in environmental aesthetics and the intellectual history of art.
Based in Livingston, Montana, her latest new research considers the importance of environmental emplacement to artmaking in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
She has been the consulting curator for Tinworks Art in Bozeman, Montana, since 2020. She has curated projects with artists such as A.K. Burns, Avram Finkelstein, Raven Halfmoon, Tracy Linder, Suzanne Kite, Tucker Nichols, Wendy Red Star, Layli Long Soldier, and many others.
Tinworks Art enriches the cultural and social fabric of greater Bozeman by supporting inclusive, immersive contemporary art experiences for artists and audiences in non-traditional spaces.
In 2019, Tinworks Art’s founding board of directors transformed a two-acre fabrication and warehouse complex in Bozeman’s Northeast Neighborhood into a unique and immersive seasonal exhibition space.
In 2021, in the aftermath of the pandemic, Tinworks Art piloted an artist grant program that prioritized emerging and indigenous artists and those working with endangered forms of knowledge. In 2022, Tinworks Art committed to investing in a permanent home to deepen its connections with audiences from greater Bozeman and across the country and to establish itself as a cultural destination.
