Fall 2007 Artist in Residence

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News Release Date: August 30, 2007
Contact: Charles Beall, 360-854-7302

The North Cascades National Park Service Complex is announcing its fall Artists-in-Residence for Newhalem and Stehekin. These artists are part of a national program that invites artists to immerse themselves in the national parks and their people so that visitors, staff, and neighbors may explore the meanings and significance of park resources in new and unique ways through presentations, workshops, or performances. The artists also donate to the park a work of art representative of their residency.

Karen E. Lewis  of West Linn, Oregon is currently in residence in Newhalem through September 23. Lewis began her career painting in watercolor, but after attending a plein air painting workshop she now works principally in oils, painting landscape. She paints full-time in the field or in her studio and teaches oil painting through Portland Community College. “As a productive professional painter, I usually spend about eight hours a day either outdoors or in the studio, though I may spend a bit of the daytimes hiking to more remote locations,” explained Lewis in her application. “My favorite subjects are rivers, lakes, waterfalls, clouds – any form of water. By working from within the North Cascades National Park, I hope to immerse myself in its landscape and natural history, bringing a richness of experience to my work both during and after the visit. I will welcome interacting with visitors to the park and sharing my artistic process.”

Samples of her work can be viewed at: www.karenlewisstudio.com

Heather A. Wallis Murphy  of Leavenworth, Washington will be in residence in Stehekin this fall (exact dates yet to be determined). Wallis Murphy is best known for the watercolors she paints in field journals that document her work as a wildlife biologist. Her paintings are widely reproduced as notecards, postcards and bookmarks. “Influenced by the early explorer-scientists of America’s west, I mix natural history notes with my watercolor field observations. The blending of science and art is intriguing to me as a wildlife biologist. I hope my artwork moves others to seek the out of doors, go hiking or remember a special time, person or place,” explained Wallis Murphy in her application. “I want to conduct field art workshops for Stehekin students, residents and visitors. I feel I have a lot to offer in my observational techniques and enthusiastic ability to encourage people about their ‘sense of place,’ whether it is in their own backyard or in their National Park.”
 
Wallis Murphy’s paintings are frequently on exhibit in the Northwest and were seen in the Smithsonian Institution’s 2005 exhibit, “Field Journal Art.”  For the past decade, her work has been an annual feature of the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival and more recently of the Spring Bird Fest in Leavenworth.

Samples of her work can be viewed at: www.wildtales.com

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