ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

 

Artists in National Parks

The Artist-In-Residence Program at Rocky Mountain National Park offers professional writers, composers, visual, and performing artists the opportunity to pursue their particular art form while being inspired by the surrounding mountains. In recognition of the contribution of early artists to the establishment and preservation of our national parks, Rocky Mountain National Park has operated an Artist-In-Residence Program since 1984. The program provides professional artists an opportunity to continue this long tradition of art in parks. The William Allen White Cabin--home of the Artist-in-Residence--overlooks Moraine Park.

Artist-in-Residence Program

Each year a small handful of talented artists are invited to Rocky Mountain National Park for a two week Artist-In-Residence Program from June through September. Here the peace, serenity and beauty of this special place inspires their artistic creativity resulting in works of art drawn from nature. Selected by a jury panel of professional artists, these artists represent a variety of artistic disciplines from music, writing, sculpture, painting, photography, poetry and performance art. During their stays, these artists share their visions in two public presentations. Following their residencies, each artist will donate to the Park a fully finished work representative of his or her stay in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Meet Our Artists-in-Residence Artists for 2006: Leah Raintree is a visual artist from New York. She specializes in very detailed black and white, pen and ink drawings. Her artwork is a careful study and documentation of diverse flora and fauna, natural phenomena, and organic structures and geologic forms. Ms. Raintree’s residency project is to develop several large-scale, intricate drawings that would accentuate the biodiversity, grandeur, and overall experience of Rocky Mountain National Park. Doreen Cubie is a nature writer from South Carolina. She has published over one hundred fifty non-fiction articles and essays in national nature magazines and has served as an editor for the National Wildlife Federation. Her residency goal is to inspire people to look deeper into nature through her writing. Ms. Cubie plans to lead journal walks for her public presentations. Kevin Alexander is a photographer from Colorado. His photographs have been used in over three hundred publishing projects. He plans to capture early morning and evening images of the lesser-used areas of the Park. He also hopes to develop a sense of stewardship through inspiring photographs. For his public programs Mr. Alexander wants to demonstrate how he uses a large format 4 x 5 camera, and he will also teach visitors how to use modern digital cameras to make digital panoramas. Mark Lewis is a visual artist from Oklahoma. His work is primarily in watercolors and is done on site in Plein Aire style. Through his artwork he demonstrates unique points of view using vivid colors. For his public presentation Mr. Lewis hopes to share demonstrative painting with his French easel and have a discussion with the audience. John Hess is photographer hailing from Missouri. His images have a Zen-like quality - simplicity, grace and visual elegance. He achieves this by eliminating all unnecessary subjects in order to have a powerful visual effect. His residency project will focus on and reveal the smaller aspects of the landscape with emphasis on form, structure and texture. Recently he received an award from the Hallmark Card Company which has one of the finest photo collections in the world. This collection spanning the history of photography was recently transferred to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Nora Jacquez is a writer and storyteller. Currently she divides her time between Colorado and Mexico. She writes delightful and bilingual short stories in English and Spanish. She has a diverse and interesting background. Ms. Jacquez is also a licensed attorney and has a PhD in Spanish. She has lived and studied abroad in England, Spain, Austria and Mexico. She has also done charity work in India, France and Mexico. She plans to share short stories and the art of storytelling with her park audiences.         Artist-In-Residence Public Presentation and Residency Dates for 2006: Artist Residency Dates Presentations Medium Kevin Alexander 6/25 – 7/8 6/29, 7/6 Photographer Mark Lewis 7/9 - 7/22 7/13, 7/20 Painter Leah Raintree 7/23 – 8/5 7/27, 8/3 B & W Pen and Ink Doreen Cubie 8/6 – 8/19 8/10, 8/17 Nature Writer Nora Jacquez 8/20 – 9/2 8/24, 8/31 Writer & Storyteller John Hess 9/3 – 9/16 9/7, 9/14 Photographer Calendar

Applications for the 2007 season will be available in fall 2006.

For more details on the program, download the 2006 Artist in Residence Brochure.