News Release

Student artwork in the park

Date: November 30, 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 “At Home in the Big Thicket,” this art installation was created in partnership with the International Fiber Collaborative, which worked with students from across the state of 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 students’ unique perspective on the diversity of the natural environment in this region. More than 485 students from 14 different schools, including Warren High School, Conroe High School, Newton Middle School, Nederland High School and Rice Elementary School in Conroe, created art for this exhibit. Students from as far away as North Carolina, Kansas and California also contributed pieces to this exhibit. The exhibition will be on display through the month of April. 

“We invite visitors to explore the preserve in a new way,” stated Big Thicket National Preserve Superintendent Wayne Prokopetz. “Parks are much more than hiking and camping destinations. They can be places of inspiration, rejuvenation, and research.” From the Kolb Brothers in the Grand Canyon and Ansel Adams’s famous Black and White images to the timeless Works Progress Administration poster series, parks and outdoors spaces have inspired artists throughout history.  Big Thicket National Preserve’s involvement in this student project is supported by donations made to the park by local citizens and park visitors from around the world. 

Check out the submissions on Flickr. 

This Year’s Theme: “At Home in the Big Thicket”
Students were invited to create pieces that portray the animals that live in the Big Thicket and the homes they depend on. Hundreds of thousands of animals make their homes in the forests, bayous and creeks of the Big Thicket. Many of those animals, like the green anole, use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings, while others, like the male cardinal, display bright colors to attract a mate. Wildlife from the alligator to the great blue heron have adaptions that help them live in this dynamic region. The national preserve provides refuge to many important species. The complex communities built by leaf cutter ants constructed under our feet and the massive dams built by beavers all give us insight into the animals that live here.

The International Fiber Collaborative (IFC) was founded in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) which develops community programs that create collaborative opportunities in art and civic engagement. IFC promotes programs that link learning and creativity in the arts to science, math, engineering, and the humanities. Public programming has been a catalyst for creativity in health care facilities, libraries, schools, museums, national parks and many other sites. During the 2017-2018 school year, 11,533 students from 317 schools participated in 20 exhibits at national park sites. 

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.