员工焦点:Taresa Burleigh

作者:Amy Sitze

For years, Taresa Burleigh drove past the CHS Big Sky grain elevator in Havre, Mont.，当你到镇上购物或拜访朋友和家人时.

“我一直以为, “我希望有一天能在那里工作,’”伯利说, who started her role as a grain administrative assistant for the procurement office in Havre in 2020. “我从没想过我会在这里找到一份工作. 这绝对是梦想成真.”

伯利在该地区扎根很深. She grew up on a ranch her grandparents purchased near Lewistown, Mont.大泉溪是一个很受欢迎的飞钓目的地. Her family sold their previous ranch on Holter Lake after the famous Mann Gulch fire burned parts of their land in 1949. 她小时候经常在户外度过, 她说, 了解植物, 动物和该地区的地质.

Those early experiences shaped Burleigh’s desire to work in agriculture. “这是一种艰苦的生活方式，工作并不容易，”她说. “在CHS工作, I’m always reminded of where I came from and how to take pride in that family legacy.”

工作之余, 她一直对艺术很感兴趣, going back to childhood days when her mother took art courses at Montana State University and brought Burleigh to class with her. 当COVID-19大流行来袭时, painting and drawing helped Burleigh cope with the fear and anxiety, 她说.

“我感到不知所措。. 我需要一个出口来稳定自己，”她说. 艺术变成了治疗.”

她的艺术work explores the people and scenes of Montana life: wildflowers, 经典农用拖拉机, 蜿蜒的小溪, 还有穿工装裤戴牛仔帽的农场主.

Her father and mother both fought to protect the natural lands and resources surrounding their family ranches from mining and development. 她的艺术, 她说, honors the land they nurtured and preserved – and helps her connect to the next generation.

“有些花我过去常摘，现在已经看不到了, 还有从山坡上流出的泉水，现在已经不在那里了,她说。. “I can share memories like that with my nieces and nephews by putting them into a piece of artwork.”

Burleigh uses a combination of technology and traditional paint on canvas to create her art, 她出售并与朋友和同事分享. She says she’s constantly learning new techniques and mastering new apps for her phone and iPad. “如果我发现某件事对我来说很难做到, 这就是我想要改进的地方,她说。.

She was heartened to receive an outpouring of support and encouragement from fellow CHS employees — most of whom she’s never met— when she posted her ag-themed artwork on the company’s internal social network. It’s one more reason, 她说, that her job at CHS feels like a dream come true.

Check out samples of Burleigh’s art and her comments about what inspired each one:

2021混合媒介:数字、丙烯和标记.

在蒙大拿州Havre的CHS Big Sky办公室里.我们有一台老式爱默生船坞测试仪. I decided to put flowers in front of the tester and took several photos with the Bears Paw Mountains in the background. 我只是在学习如何使用Adobe Sketch, 我可以在哪里画出测试者和它周围的细节. I made the finishing touches after printing out the sketch work on canvas."

这是一辆等待装货的谷物车的增强照片, which was created in 2021 and is currently displayed in the Havre grain office, 在蒙大拿州布莱恩县赢得了蓝丝带奖.2023年8月.

“上世纪80年代初，我妈妈经常带我去艺术博物馆. 在我们从刘易斯敦开车去波兹曼的路上, I noticed the graffiti on the train cars and pointed out to Mom that it looked like a moving art museum."

This enhanced photo of the Havre grain elevator hangs in the Havre office.

"I worked on this through several Adobe creative apps to get a more artistic view. 这是在2021年雪季的高峰期拍摄的. 正如你所看到的，那是干旱的一年."

大自然的气味, created in acrylic in 2021, won a blue ribbon at the Blaine County Fair in August 2023.

"I had started a series of paintings where I poured acrylic paint onto one canvas and pressed multiple canvases against it so that each canvas took on its own impression. From there, I started working on this painting without any form or idea in mind. Once I started to see something take shape, I did my best to bring it out a little further. The top right reminds me of the back side of a prairie crocus, which is my favorite flower. 每年春天，我和父亲都会赛跑去寻找第一朵花开的花. The lower left reminds me of a shooting star, my mom’s favorite flower. There are strawberries from remembering grandpa’s small garden and raspberries that grew wild in the pine forest behind the ranch house. 还有一条鱼, 蜗牛的壳, 蜜蜂, 蛇, 蝴蝶, 知更鸟蛋, 孔雀羽毛变成鱼钩和薰衣草茎."

兰斯·约翰逊的农场拖拉机，于2020年为他的生日制作.

"Lance is our grain operations manager who keeps our patrons happy and coming back each year. His office is decorated with toy tractors of various makes and models. I cut and layered matting board scraps from the local craft store on top of one another. The acrylic paint soaks in and spreads but ultimately gives a unique flavor to an old tractor rolling down a grassy hill. 我特别喜欢它的排气效果."