News Release

Landscape Painter Rick Young of Castle Rock is Mesa Verde’s Next Artist in Residence

Date: September 13, 2019
Contact: Mesa Verde Museum Association, 970-529-4445
Contact: Cristy Brown, 970-529-4608

Landscape painter Rick Young is Mesa Verde National Park’s next and final Artist in Residence for the 2019 season. Visitors may see Rick painting throughout the park during his residency, from September 16 to 28. He will be available to discuss and show his work to visitors on September 20 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on the porch overlooking Spruce Tree House. Stop by and meet the artist.
 
Artist, historian, and teacher Rick Young has long been familiar with Mesa Verde and the Four Corners area. As a historian, he researched the history of the Ute people who call this land home, producing a book, The Ute Indians of Colorado in the Twentieth Century. As a teacher, he brought students to visit Mesa Verde and the adjacent Ute Mountain Tribal Park. Now retired from teaching, Rick finds artistic inspiration in the mesas, canyons, and cultures of this region and the greater Southwest. Rick studied art at Miami University (Ohio) where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree before moving west to Colorado. He has been painting for 20 years and is represented by Acosta Strong Fine Art in Santa Fe. Rick lives with his wife and two dogs in Castle Rock, CO.
 
Mesa Verde National Park’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program provides professional artists the opportunity to become part of a long established tradition of artists creating art in our national parks. The AIR program is managed for the park by the nonprofit Mesa Verde Museum Association. Learn more at www.nps.gov/meve/getinvolved/artists_in_residence.htm and at www.mesaverde.org.
 

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