Art in the South Florida Parks

The U.S. Department of the Interior is Celebrating World Art Day!

April 15, 2022

By Michael Lorusso, Museum Specialist at the South Florida Collections Management Center

Long before the establishment of the National Park Service, American artists painted and shared their landscape artwork with the public. Did you know that art, in particular painting and photography, also helped to play a crucial role in establishing the National Park Service? Landscape paintings and photography captured the grandeur and beauty of America the Beautiful and drummed up support in protecting these lands. In fact, the idea of a “national park” can be traced back to American artist George Catlin in 1832, where he is quoted during his travels saying, “by some great protecting policy of government... a magnificent park... a nation’s park, containing man and beast, in all the wild (ness) and freshness of their nature’s beauty!”¹ Catlin was traveling across the country painting the landscapes and people he encountered, which aimed to support and protect these natural wonders.

Today, the National Park Service preserves and protects both natural and cultural resources, unimpaired, for the enjoyment of future generations. The South Florida Collections Management Center (SFCMC) manages both types of resources for the five Florida national park units, including Big Cypress National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, De Soto National Memorial, Dry Tortugas National Park, and Everglades National Park. Most of these parks are known for their natural beauty, but the cultural use of these parks also is becoming more well recognized. With over 5,000 years of human history, spanning ancient archeology sites to historic shipwrecks, the cultural resources across these five parks are vast and plentiful.

Another type of cultural resource that the SFCMC helps manage and preserve includes works of art such as paintings, sculptures, drawings, photography, and various print types. Each park maintains an art collection, but collectively, Big Cypress and Everglades hold almost 200 unique pieces of art that help tell the story of our south Florida national parks. Two ways that national parks build their art collections includes through donations and artist-in-residence programs.

Museum staff work on a variety of tasks related to the art collections. During summer 2021, professional conservators completed a conservation treatment on a bronze sculpture at Everglades, and museum staff reframed a print from the Big Cypress collection, with more projects scheduled in the coming years for the South Florida parks' art collections. Staff also work directly with these objects during our annual inventory of the museum collections. The inventory process is complex and requires us to verify the presence (location), current condition, and associated data for the museum objects in storage. During the inventory last year, three works of art caught my eye, a print from Big Cypress National Preserve titled Everglades Journal, a painting from De Soto National Memorial titled De Soto’s Army on the March, and an untitled watercolor from Everglades National Park. These three artworks exemplify the diversity of material we preserve for the benefit and enjoyment of the American public.

Mollie Doctrow, “Everglades Journal,” 2006, woodcut print, BICY 14607

NPS photo (BICY 14607)

Molly Doctrow’s artwork above titled Everglades Journal is created in three separate parts–or a triptych­–and is meant to be displayed side by side. This print shows the diversity of animals and plants within the Big Cypress swamp, an area encompassing over 700,000 acres! What kinds of plants and animals do you see? Doctrow created this artwork during her artist-in-residence program at Big Cypress National Preserve.

Dan Feaser, “De Soto’s Army on the March,” ca. 1969, mixed paints on wood, DESO 77

NPS photo (DESO 77)

Historical accuracy is important, and when artist Dan Feaser completed this mural in 1969, he intended to show accurate arms and armor from the c. 1539 Hernando de Soto exploration of La Florida. Feaser’s work illustrates numerous examples of Spanish armor, including multiple helmet styles and weapons for both soldiers and horses. The artist’s use of detail and shading (bottom image) is particularly complex and eye-catching. This artwork remained on display in the park’s visitor center for decades but was recently conserved and is currently resting and protected in storage.

Dan Feaser, “De Soto’s Army on the March,” [detail] ca. 1969, mixed paints on wood, DESO 77

NPS photo (DESO 77)

Sam Vinikoff, Untitled, Undated, watercolor on paper, EVER 62326

NPS photo (EVER 62326)

Known as the “Artist of the Everglades,” Sam Vinikoff spent his career painting landscapes, plants, and animals of the Big Cypress and Everglades areas. He is most known for nature paintings, which is why this portrait of a person caught my attention. Unfortunately, we don’t know who Vinikoff illustrated here, but the clothing suggests a patchwork garment worn by members of the Seminole and/or Miccosukee Tribes of Indians of Florida. Studying artwork in the National Park Service collections allows us to learn about the natural and cultural history the park intends to protect and preserve. From these three artworks mentioned above, we can learn about plants found in the Big Cypress swamp, various styles of armor that Hernando de Soto and his men wore when they arrived in Florida, and other traditional and cultural connections to these lands. Since the late 1800s, art has remained a vital resource that helps to tell the story of our national parks. Today, art continues to thrive in the national park system, with more than fifty artist residency programs across the country, including three programs here in Florida at Big Cypress, Everglades, and Dry Tortugas. Learn more about the art collections from Florida national parks here and read more about the art across all parks here.

Bibliography
[1] “Origin of the National Park Idea,” National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior), accessed October 1, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/articles/npshistory-origins.htm