Artists Chosen For Residency Program

Joshua Tree National Park is pleased to announce the selections for its 2011-2012 Artist-in-Residence program. Three visual artists, a poet, and a musician/composer were invited to participate in the park's fourth year of offering a unique residential opportunity to artists from around the nation.

The selected artists are Jeanette Clough, poet from Santa Monica, California; Mary Ellen Hackett, bookmaking/gouache artist from Hot Springs, South Dakota; Sonja Hinrichsen, installation artist/videographer from San Francisco, California; Daniel Kukla, photographer from Brooklyn, New York; and Adam Tinkle, musician/composer from Descanso, California. Peter Strietmann, photographer/videographer from Sausalito, California and Kim Osgood, printmaker from Portland, Oregon were selected as alternates.

Each artist will be provided lodging inside the park for two to six weeks to interpret different aspects of Joshua Tree National Park through whatever medium he or she has chosen. The residencies will take place during October and November 2011, and March and April 2012. Through partnerships established with other cultural, environmental, and civic agencies within the region, these artists will produce a program, presentation, or exhibit to engage members of the community during their residency. The selection jury, composed of local artists, park staff, and a fine arts administrator, faced a daunting task when they convened to make the selections due to the high caliber of work submitted. The choice of participants reflects a wide spectrum of disciplines and artistic media; the resulting work will be shared with the public through a variety of community outreach events.

Superintendent Mark Butler said he was very proud of the work done by park and museum staff to ensure that visiting artists had a positive experience during the last three years of the program. Because the Artist-in-Residence program supports the park's mission, "We hope to continue the National Park Service's long tradition of inspiring people to view their parks as places where creative expression is valued and aesthetic connections with the landscape are fostered," said Butler.