Kate Parsons
Kate is a video artist and educator living in Los Angeles and Montana. She obtained her M.F.A. in Media Arts from UCLA, her M.A. in Digital Art and Video from CSU-N, and her B.F.A. from Montana State University. She is the co-founder of FLOAT, a VR/AR art studio; founder of Outer Echoes, a residency in rural Montana; co-founder of Primal U, a wilderness survival course; and founder of FEMMEBIT, a video art festival celebrating Los Angeles artists working in video and new media.
CG animation of “limbed” trees and fireline rings; Limbing is the process of trimming the lower branches of a tree so as to reduce the fuel load and prevent fire from climbing up the base of a tree. Firelines are essentially shallow trenches dug around property to slow down the spread of fire on the ground. In 2021, a devastating wildfire broke out in our region of Montana, threatening our family on 3 sides. We felt powerless–after evacuating, there was nothing to do but wait–we could only limb whatever trees we could find on the property and cut fire lines to slow the potential burn. This animation spotlights the process and ritual-like quality of these actions.