Kirsten Furlong was born in Milwaukee, WI and currently lives and works in Boise, ID. She received a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Nebraska and an MFA in Visual Arts from Boise State University. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Kirsten examines the ecological and poetic bonds we have with animals, plants, and insects on lands that we collectively inhabit, through multimedia projects created from the viewpoint of a mixed race (Black/white) woman in the American West. Recent projects consider nuclear waste in the high desert of Idaho, declining habitat in the grasslands of the Great Plains, and the effects of climate change on species everywhere. In the work, animals and plants serve as both emblems of nature and as metaphors for human desires. Kirsten uses detail, repetition, and patterns inspired by the natural world as a representational tool in drawings and installation works while also using mark making to express empathy, loss, and longing. Kirsten is the director of the Blue Galleries and a lecturer in the Department of Art, Design, and Visual Studies at Boise State University.