Date: January 6, 2018
Contact: Jason Ginder, 409-951-6700
Big Thicket National Preserve is proud to announce the installation of a new temporary art exhibit in the park’s visitor center. Entitled “All the Little Things,” this art installation, a part of the Dream Rocket Project, encouraged students throughout Texas to create more than 70 pieces of art highlighting the vast array of plants and animals found in the Thicket. Each piece represents the student’s unique perspective on the diversity of the natural environment throughout this region. More than 975 students from 20 different Texas schools, including Evadale High School, Jasper Junior High, Conroe High School, and Fehl-Price Elementary School in Beaumont, created art for this exhibit. This exhibition will be on display through the month of April.
“We invite visitors to see the preserve in a new way,” stated Big Thicket National Preserve Superintendent Wayne Prokopetz. “Parks are much more than hiking destinations. They can be places of inspiration, rejuvenation, and research.” Prokopetz continued, “Parks and outdoors spaces have inspired art since the beginning of time.” Big Thicket National Preserve’s involvement in the Dream Rocket Project is supported through a grant from the Western National Parks Association. A long-term park partner, the Western National Parks Association supports park store operations and educational programming in more than 60 units of the National Park Service, across the western and central United States. www.wnpa.org
The Dream Rocket Project launched in 2009 as a major initiative of the International Fiber Collaborative. Upon completion this project will commission 8,000 works of art that will be stitched together to wrap a Saturn V Moon Rocket replica at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of a public art exhibition. Organizers like Big Thicket National Preserve participate by establishing a local theme and hosting temporary art exhibits.
The International Fiber Collaborative (IFC) was formed to create deeper learning experiences through art, collaboration, and cross-curricular themed programming for individuals and their communities. IFC’s current Initiative. So far, they have received submissions from about 15,000 individuals residing in 17 countries, 46 states and 363 communities. Submissions are in the form of textile art accompanied by essays. Over 5,300 pieces of art have been displayed at 134 venues. For more information on IFC projects, please go to their website http://ifcprojects.com. For more information on the Dream Rocket Project, please visit their website at http://www.thedreamrocketproject.com/.
Big Thicket National Preserve is located in Southeast Texas, near the city of Beaumont and 75 miles northeast of Houston. The preserve consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 113,000 acres. The Big Thicket, often referred to as a “biological crossroads,” is a transition zone between four distinct vegetation types – the moist eastern hardwood forest, the southwestern desert, the southeastern swamp, and the central prairies. Species from all of these different vegetation types come together in the thicket, exhibiting a variety of vegetation and wildlife that has received global interest.
For general information about Big Thicket National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/bith or call the preserve visitor center at 409-951-6700. Visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/BigThicketNPS, Twitter www.twitter.com/BigThicketNPS, and Instagram www.instagram.com/BigThicketNPS.
