Our
Mission
How do we nurture the survival of wild places? How can the function of degraded environments be restored through re-wilding? How can we take preventative action to insure America’s most iconic wildlife-rich bioregion, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, does not unravel, leaving our legacy to be one of de-wilding?
We at Artemis Institute and Yellowstonian exist to elevate ecological literacy so that residents of Greater Yellowstone, and millions of nature-loving people who visit the Northern Rockies (or dream of coming here) are consciously aware of both its magic and fragility.
Through the years, Artemis Institute has sought to awaken the senses of connection between human and natural culture. Yes, the converging lifeways of all species represent a confluence of cultures tested by time. We aspire to cultivate enlightenment about the larger community of life to which humans belong and of which we are only a part. To save something as remarkable as Greater Yellowstone, we must evolve our understanding of impact, influence, and responsibility.
Our
Philosophy
Today more than ever, the persistence of wild nature is on an unsustainable path. There’s a reason why Greater Yellowstone is one of the only ecosystems of its kind left in the world yet its future is uncertain. We recognize that modern humanity is extracting too much from a finite Earth, whose own biological diversity is a one-of-a-kind miracle in the cosmos. Survival of our own species and millions of others requires us to acknowledge that we can no longer use up more than we give back.
There is more to living a meaningful and intrinsically purposeful life than material accumulation. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is not only a high-profile, global bellwether, but it is, in myriad ways, a living laboratory and an experiment testing whether humans can truly co-exist in reciprocity with other wild beings and regeneratively with the land.
Artemis Institute, parent of Yellowstonian and WILDLIFES, was founded on the belief that the tie between the creative process and the relationship we seek with nature is profound—and, when engaged and expressed, can result in transformations of how we relate to the world in which we live.
We invite you, our valued supporters, to join us in exploration of how a healthy ecosystem can remain vibrant and resilient in the face of a rapidly expanding human footprint. Our intention is using unrivaled storytelling, art and experiential learning to advance personal and professional awakening. From its first beginnings, Artemis has accomplished this through community projects, public events and discussions, the development of university-level courses to help hatch our next great younger thinkers, and personal enrichment programs for those who want to continue growing in mind and spirit, no matter their age or background.
Our
Founder
Dr. Lori Ryker
Founder/Director
Dr. Lori Ryker is founder and Executive Director of Artemis Institute. She oversees development of Artemis Institute’s projects and programs, including its original hallmark, an immersive education program called Remote Studio. Not long ago, Artemis Institute launched WILDLIFES, an initiative that promotes public art as a way of engendering greater awareness about the importance of wildlife migrations and the import of maintaining healthy, intact ecosystems for species like grizzly bears, wolves and bison.
Dr Ryker has also been a professor of architecture and, in private practice, is founder of studioryker, a design firm located in Livingston, Montana, a historic gateway to Yellowstone National Park. She has written three books, numerous essays and her design work and teaching philosophy has been published nationally and internationally. Her column, Switchbacks & Cairns, will appear regularly at Yellowstonian. A recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Montana Artist Innovation Award, Lori often serves as a juror and visiting faculty at universities.
A graduate of the Harvard School of Design and trained as an architect and artist, Lori developed the core pedagogical focus of Remote Studio and the mission of Artemis Institute during the research for her PhD from Texas A & M University. Drawing from over ten years of teaching experience at universities and a belief in the need for immersive education and first-hand experience of natural environs, from 2000-2105 she led Remote Studio in the Yellowstone region to students from universities across North American and abroad.
Her work for Artemis Institute is inspired by the need to draw out the best creative ideas to actively engage with and generate positive outcomes for the Earth and all of its inhabitants.
Recources
Essays & Notes
Background, context, and intellectual ideas that inform the motivations and pedagogical context for Artemis Institute and its programs
- Faculty Highlights
- Residential Architect
- Acadia Arcadia LSU
- Alchemy Material Transfiguration Paper
- Creating An Architecture Of Well Being
- Creativity And Wildness
- Distance Learning
- Ft Collins Lecture
- Learning Montana Evolving Place
- Responsibility In Rural Communities LSU
- StudiEAUX JAE
- The Ecological Postmodern Position
- Triggering Landscape
- Mountain Outlaw
- Cloud 9
- The Action of Poetry
In the news
From Local News to International Reviews follow Artemis Institute, its instructors and programs:
- JH Weekly, Feb 2012 Meghan Hanson Article
- JHN&G Scarecrow Article
- JH Weekly
- 306090
- WA & A Artemis Institute 2010
- JAE Taylor, Remote Studio 2010
- My West Essay From Todd Wilkinson
- Students Build On Real Experience
- Texas Architect
- Web Journal
- Livingston Enterprise, On The Job Training 2003, Article 1
- Livingston Enterprise, Hands On Approach 2003, Article 2