Date: February 16, 2011
Contact: Kris Fister, (907) 683-9583
Contact: Tim Rains, (907) 683-6435
Four artists will participate in this year’s Artist-in-Residence program at Denali National Park and Preserve. Marian Bergher-Mahoney, from Hawaii, Mark Wedekind, Gina Holloman, and Carolyn Kremers, all from Alaska, were selected from over 150 applicants who reside throughout the United States and abroad.
This year’s artists will each have the opportunity to experience and be inspired by the park for a ten-day period between June and mid-September. During their residency, they stay in the historic East Fork cabin, located south of the Park Road at Mile 43. From the site, the artists can look out onto the braided channels of the East Fork River, multi-colored rock formations of Polychrome Mountain, and the snow-capped peaks of the Alaska Range.
Marian Berger-Mahoney is a painter from Volcano, Hawaii. Currently she is concluding a three year project for the San Diego Zoological society illustrating a book entitled “Living Endemic Birds of Hawaii”. She grew up camping, hiking, and horseback riding in Alaska and in the early seventies studied red foxes residing at the East Fork Cabin. She is planning to create two-dimensional pieces that are representational close-ups, such as the inner beauty of a wildflower.
Mark Wedekind is a woodworker/ furniture maker from Anchorage, Alaska. He has received several commissions, including 14 original benches installed at the John Butrovich Building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. While he uses traditional techniques to create his art, and the physical work is completed inside his shop, his inspiration comes from spending time in the earth’s wild places.
Gina Holloman is a studio clay artist from Anchorage, Alaska who has a background in biology. She has created several installations including life-size flocks of sandhill cranes, pintails, and Canada geese appearing to fly in one window, up a staircase, and out another window at the Nordale Elementary School in Fairbanks. She has gained inspiration from her volunteer work with the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, and is looking forward to absorbing and observing the natural rhythms of Denali.
Carolyn Kremers writes literary nonfiction and poetry, and teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her books include *Place of the Pretend People: Gifts from a Yup'ik Eskimo Village* and *The Alaska Reader: Voices from the North." Essays and poems of hers have been broadcast on public radio and have appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies. During her residency she hopes to reflect on her 30-year relationship with the park and to explore past and present interactions between humans, animals, plants, climate, weather, and change.
“We are pleased to offer these incredibly talented individuals the opportunity and support to immerse themselves in Denali,” said Superintendent Paul Anderson. “What they create from their experiences in the park will be a source of inspiration not only to our visitors at the park, but to all who view or read their work.”
Each artist will offer a public presentation for visitors during their residency. They will also each donate a piece of artwork inspired by their time in Denali to the park’s museum. The pieces created by artists-in-residence from previous years will be on display in the Denali Visitor Center, Eielson Visitor Center, and the Murie Science and Learning Center during the 2011 visitor season. Information about the public presentation schedule as well as an online gallery of artist-in-residence artwork is available at www.nps.gov/dena/artist-in-residence.htm
The Artist-in-Residence program is a national program that enables established artists to reside in a park while they create park-related art. Artists have played a significant role in raising public awareness of the natural wonders preserved within the National Park System and the need for their protection since the creation of Yellowstone, the first national park.
This is the tenth year of the Artist-in-Residence program at Denali National Park and Preserve. Thirty one artists, including eighteen from Alaska, have participated in previous summers.
Artists interested in applying for the 2012 season are encouraged to visit our Artist-in-Residence page for information and to apply.
