Art Letter 7: National Parks: Acadia to Yellowstone
Are you wearing a puffy coat? Take it off.
And the Smartwool socks. Any and all Patagucci items. Do you have a water filter? Spit it out. That thermal sleeping bag that scrunches down smaller than a hamster? Uh-uh. Nope.
This month’s Art Letter is about our National Parks. I’ve been working on a series of miniature landscape paintings inside of compasses. This project began about 6 months ago. Each oil painting is 34mm wide. There is something deeply satisfying about an adventurous landscape hidden inside an adventurous gizmo.
From left to right: Acadia, ME - Arches, UT - Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain, CO - Redwoods, CA - Key Biscayne, FL - Joshua Tree, CA - Yosemite, CA - Yellowstone, ID/MT/WY - Hawaii Volcano, HI - Big Sur, CA - Lake Louise, AB, Canada
These are the first 11 (technically 9 - one is a state park and another is in Canada). Do you recognize some? Have you been to any?
This got me thinking: Native Peoples innovated and survived in these landscapes. Could I have cut the mustard in any of these wildernesses? Certainly not, if you dropped me off in the past in these fuchsia velour pants with my laptop and this mug of steaming chamomile tea.
Regardless, please join me on this imaginary journey.
Whew! Ok, now time for some other wilderness-hopping artists that I admire:
Painter Thomas Moran joined the 1871 Hayden expedition to what we now know as Yellowstone. His work was fundamental in inspiring the government back east to declare it the first National Park (though Yosemite was the first state park, Yellowstone was the first federalized park because it shared the territory of three states).
Here are two current painters and fellow miniaturists, famous for their mint tin landscapes: Heidi Annalise (Arches) Ashley Polski (Lake Louise):
Lastly, a selection of posters by the Anderson Design Group, who are (is?) responsible for the creative facelift recently given to the National Parks Service. You can get everything from a mug to a tank top to an enema bag with these fine designs.
Fine, maybe not that last item.
“Run before dawn. Make yourself strong by running every morning. Don’t just lie there. Eat more corn. When the first snow comes, you go out and take a bath in the first snow. You better get out there. Bless the food while you cook. When you cook your meal, you talk to the gods, ask them for a long life. I thank you for listening.”
For the full quote and article on Margaret, click here