Wilderness inspires local quilter

In the summer of 2011, Salena Beckwith and her husband Mark headed 11 miles up the Spotted Bear River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness for a stay at the Pentagon cabin.

The couple hiked more than 80 miles in nine days, running into seven bears along the way as well as a curious pine marten.

It was all part of the Flathead National Forest’s Artist-Wilderness Connection program. Created in 2004 as a joint venture between the Forest, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, the Swan Ecosystem Center and the Hockaday Museum of Art, the program connects artists and the public with wildlands.

Salena took hundreds of photos as they hiked the countryside, looking for inspiration for her next project. She’s been a quilter for more than 20 years.

Her quilts are no ordinary blankets. They are intricate works of art, with complex shapes, patterns and hand-colored pigments done with colored pencils. It isn’t until viewers get up close to one of her quilts that they really get a sense of the fine craftsmanship put into each piece.

Salena called the wilderness experience a bit overwhelming at first.

“I was paralyzed by an abundance of ideas,” she said with a smile.

She primarily photographed flowers and landscapes as she hiked — all those bears and the marten were faster than her camera, she noted.

Back home, she used the photos as reference for her quilts, drawing patterns by hand and then sewing them on a large machine that, amazingly, is not computer controlled. It takes about two weeks to complete a piece, done in silk.

Beckwith grew up in Hot Springs and was born with talent.

“I’ve never had an art class,” she said.

After high school she graduated from Montana State University-Bozeman with a business degree. She met Mark in college. He was a Columbia Falls graduate and standout basketball player. After teaching a few years in Cut Bank, he returned to his alma mater and has been teaching and coaching in Columbia Falls for more than 25 years.

This was not the couple’s first foray into the woods. The Artist-Wilderness Connection trip was their seventh wilderness excursion. The other six they did on their own.

Salena is good friends with Spotted Bear District ranger Deb Mucklow, who encouraged her to apply for the program.

“She’s been an inspiration to my entire family,” Salena noted.

Both of her sons, Matt and Nick, worked in the Flathead Forest’s backcountry after high school.

Salena said her favorite hike of the trip was Switchback Pass.

“It was a carpet of wildflowers, and you could see forever,” she said.