1. Find inspiration in a National Parks art residency
Question: when is a volunteer job the most inspiring summer vacation you've ever had?
Answer: when the job is Artist in Residence at a national park near you!
If your creative muse is a little on the wild side, this might be your chance to stir the beast. Several of our most beautiful national parks offer artist residencies. AIR stands for Artist in Residence, but it may also mean breathing life into your artistic soul.
Read on for more information about the NPS-AIR program... it might just be the art experience of a lifetime.
Artist residency programs in many shapes and forms have been around for over a century. In a nut-shell, these programs allow visiting artists to stay and work in special places that are conducive to creativity. They provide essential inspiration and creative focus for artists of all genre, but perhaps their most valuable contribution is in the form of sanctuary and time.
A quick Google search will show you that artist residencies are offered by all sorts of organizations, including our National Parks System. If inspiration for you means taking a deep breath in nature, this residency program is worth looking into.
A quick Google search will show you that artist residencies are offered by all sorts of organizations, including our National Parks System. If inspiration for you means taking a deep breath in nature, this residency program is worth looking into.
The National Parks System has been called "America's best idea." Congress created the NPS with a mandate to: "conserve the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein; and to provide for the enjoyment of same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Summarize that statement to mean, save it for the artists... for the artist's soul that lives within us all.
Creating the Artist in Residence Program (AIR) must have been America's second best idea. Artists like Thomas Moran and John Fery were integral in selling the idea of conserving exceptional landscapes to the public and Congress back in 1898, when Yellowstone became our first National Park.
Today, the artist advocate and interpreter has a similarly vital role in reintroducing us to our wilderness heritage, as pressures of expansion, commercialism and climate change push against the NPS mandate to conserve, protect and leave unimpaired. The purpose of the AIR program is to "Stimulate and foster exploration of our national treasures and to share the artist's inspiration with the public." Art residencies in the parks are not just for notable painters, they're also for writers, musicians, sculptors, craftsmen, performance artists and everyone still in contact with their creative soul. It's a tough job sometimes... that's why it's a vocation saved for the artists. What do you have to offer?
1. Find inspiration in a National Parks art residency