Roxanne Everett

• Audio description of "Bates Cairn" by Roxanne Everett

  
  

  Audio description of "Bates Cairn" by Roxanne Everett, an artist-in-residence at Acadia in 2018.
  Audio Transcript

  This is a 16 x 20-inch acrylic painting on lightly toothed canvas paper. A wide expanse of a treeless summit landscape features a Bates cairn of four stacked rocks that the park maintains to aid hikers with trail navigation. Two rocks support a third that bridges the ground between them. Balanced on top, a fourth rock points out the intended direction of travel for hikers to follow. A short, distinct shadow is cast directly below the cairn by bright mid-day sun.

  The flat rocky surface in the foreground is apricot-colored and cracked with vertical lines and small dark speckles of dirt and sand. The landscape beyond is whitewashed and barren with hints of pointed treetops barely visible in the distance. The sky above the horizon is white and gradates unevenly to light blue as it touches the top of the frame.

"Bates Cairn," 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on paper

Bates cairns are distinctively and uniquely Acadian. I find them especially interesting in that they are a historic part of the park while still being functional today. Like Acadiaʼs carriage roads and bridges, these cairns are an important cultural footprint worth preserving. While in residency, I made several excursions to the higher country. Each time, Bates cairns led the way over treeless long reaches of rock. Each time I paused to consider how long they had been there and to wonder how many other people they had similarly guided and kept on route.

– Roxanne Everett

Roxanne Everett

Roxanne Everett is a contemporary landscape painter. She is guided by a profound respect for nature and her personal connection to all its parts and processes. She paints to communicate the importance of preserving intact ecosystems, whether it is a scenic vista, an endemic species or a relevant cultural artifact. She believes painting is a way to communicate the need of each individual to forge a deeper relationship with the land. Roxanne interprets the landscape as it appears to her, both visually and instinctively. She uses pattern, texture, color and reflections to help define a subject. These cues elicit an emotional response from the viewer which, hopefully, elicits an intellectual response - including increased public stewardship toward our precious resources.

Roxanne lives in the Pacific Northwest. She divides her time between the urban environment of Seattle and a small isolated mountain community in the North Cascade Mountains. She has a Bachelor of Architecture and a Masters Degree in Forest Ecology. Roxanne spent many years working seasonally as a Backcountry Ranger for various National Parks. She has completed artist residencies both in the US and internationally. Acadia National Park was her fourth U.S. National Park Service residency. Visit her website.

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