|
Archive of Past Artist - for reference only At the close of the 2017 Season, Both North Rim and South Rim AiR Programs will be been suspended indefinitely. You may check this webpage periodically for updated information. If you have further questions, you may email us at GRCA_AiR@nps.gov 
Save Me from the Trilliums Fiber artist Terry Kramzar (www.terrykramzar.com) is the artist-in-residence May 20th through June 9th.
Terry is an art quilter living in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Originally from the mid-west, Terry received a BS degree in Education from Northern Illinois University and teaches workshops at the adult level. She exhibits widely in juried and invitational shows and her quilts can be seen in numerous publications including QuiltArt Calendar and the recently released Lark Books, 500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work. She has garnered many awards and recognitions, and her work is in private and corporate collections in the U.S. and Europe. Terry maintains a studio in the beautiful Wyeth country of the Brandywine Valley.
Terry: “Art is about connections, and fiber art is a particularly comfortable platform for visual and verbal communication because it builds on traditions so close to human needs. People are drawn to the scale, color and composition and are curious and fascinated by the process. My work is about immersion in the natural world, projecting a peaceful, reminiscent quality of journeys, both inner and outer travels. Constructing the quilt becomes a meditation about where I've been and what I've seen. I'd like to show viewers my experience of the beauty of our natural world."
While in residence, Terry will conduct three hands-on workshops, inviting park visitors to capture an impression or experience of the Grand Canyon by creating a fabric postcard that could be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service or framed or saved as small personal works of art. This project will introduce fabric as an art medium and focus on the unique canyon environment as a place of wonder.
Terry has been asked to contribute an art quilt depicting a full size condor to hang in the North Rim Visitor Center. She plans to spend her time in-residence hiking and backpacking in the canyon, taking photographs, sketching, recording colors and gathering information to become acquainted with these majestic birds and the landscape they inhabit. She will take thse visual images and impressions home to work in her studio, where she will complete this ambitious project. 
Roadrunners Two-diminsional mixed-media artist Dr.Patricia Latas - DVM (www.antshrikestudio.com) is the artist-in-residence from July 11th - August 1st.
Patricia is a visual artist who works in colored pencil on paper or film. She lives in Tucson and holds a certification in scientific illustration from USCS, graduating in 1999. Pat creates field studies educational programs on many different subjects including geology, chemistry, animals and travel. Pat has also participated in American Craft Council exhibits, showing her raku (a low-fire, traditional Japanese method of firing ceramics) and high-fire ceramics, and exhibited in fine art shows at Berkeley California. Pat has developed logos for many different science-based programs including Los Cruces Biological Station and Wilson Botanical Garden; Sequoia Audubon Chapter, California; Botany 2001 Conference, and Arizona Bird Clinic. Her art has been featured on the covers of publications including the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery (March of 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2007); Amigos Newsletter for Las Cruces Biological Station, and Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation. She received a 2nd place in the 2001 International Dinosaur Illustration Competition at Museu da Lourinha in Portugal.
Patricia: “What I hope to accomplish as an artist-in-residence at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a real awareness of small parts of nature and the Rim. I’m interested in documenting the rich biodiversity of the area and develop artistic products that can be used as educational resources for the public. I also plan to develop a field guide and sketchbook for use as an interactive experience online and as a printed booklet. This project will focus on birds, insects and a few plants that can be observed by anyone visiting the North Rim. I have been a field biologist, a public educator, and an artist, and have some familiarity of the needs of all three.”
Pat's public outreach projects will present hands-on programs that combine digital and traditional drawing and colored pencil methods, helping participants learn new ways to enhance and expand their personal sketchbooks. Using subjects from the North Rim, she will teach basic field sketching, color rendering, and digital processing that will encourage the visitors to save a personal and educational journal of the tiny wildlife found on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 
Glow Santa Fe painter and pastel artist Paul Murray (www.murrayfineart.com) will be in-residence from August 14th - September 4th.
Paul began painting full-time after he won "Best of Show" at the 2001 International Association of Pastel Societies Bi-annual convention. Holding a BFA from the University of New Mexico, he is a much-lauded regional artist, winning awards, being honored and participating in many solo and group exhibits internationally. In 2006, Paul won "Best of Show" in the Pastel Journal Top 100, an international competition, and in 2008 he was chosen as a Distinguished Artist by Masterworks of New Mexico. This past summer he was elected a “Master Pastellist” by the Pastel Society of America, the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the United States. Paul has been featured in more than twenty publications in the last few years including Artist Magazine, Pastel Journal, and International Artist Magazine. He has been in several museum exhibits and invitational shows all across America. This year he was chosen to be the juror for the Pastel Journal Top 100 competition.
Paul: “The technology which science has created has made us prosperous and comfortable and we hold it in high regard. We should not elevate science at the expense of art. There is a great part of our life which can’t be put into any formula. My goal as an artist is to explore these enigmatic ideas and illuminate those things which make life rich and valuable. It is axiomatic that science is the domain of the mind and art comes from the heart. Our mind by itself cannot tell us if something is good or valuable, if something is right or wrong, or if what we have done is worthwhile or not – unless our heart agrees.”
For his outreach program, Paul will present information about painting the Grand Canyon, including painting demonstrations, discussions on photography for painters, and solutions to technical painting problems. He will also be painting several days en plein aire at various sites around the North Rim. Locations will be posted and the public will be welcome to join Paul while he works. 
earth & sky Tapestry weaver Lyn Hart (www.desertsongstudio.com) is artist-in-residence from September 4th - September 24th.
Lyn has been drawing and painting as long as she can remember. Her interest in textiles and fibers began in her early 20s while living in Florida. After working as a seamstress in a local sewing factory, she taught herself quilting. Later, during a break while attending nursing school, she became interested in weaving and studied reed basketry with a local artist. Upon relocating to Tucson, Arizona in 1997, however, her nursing career took priority. She immersed herself in the Southwestern culture and learned to speak Spanish to provide better care for her patients. A course at the University of Arizona on the story of people in the Southwest, exposed her to Navajo weaving. With an awakening interest in contemporary tapestry work, she began to weave in her spare time, at first learning on her own and later studying with master weavers. She retired from nursing in 2005 to pursue tapestry weaving full time. Her work has been exhibited and has received awards in both local and national venues.
Lyn: “Tapestry weaving, like the Grand Canyon, has a rich history and is an intriguing medium. It encompasses aspects of sketching, painting, photography, and the tactile pleasures of working with fiber. My works express my deep connections with and love for the Southwestern desert and mountain environments where I live. The unique plants, animals, landscapes, and traditions of these lands are a constant source of inspiration. It is my hope that this passion resonates with all who view my tapestries and serves as a reminder of how irreplaceable our desert ecosystems are. I am extremely honored and excited to have received a special request from the AiR Committee to follow up my residency experience by weaving a tapestry featuring a full size condor set against a Grand Canyon vista for display in the visitor center.”
While in-residence, Lyn will immerse herself in the panoramas of the canyon, both small and large, to absorb its nuances and personality of place by visiting, hiking, and studying different areas on the rim, taking digital photos and making notes and sketches from her visual observations, and finally translating these into "cartoons" for tapestry studies, which will be woven on portable looms. She also hopes to have the opportunity to observe condors in flight during her time at the canyon which will enable her to draw inspiration from her mind's eye once she returns to her home studio to weave the condor tapestry on her large loom. While in-residence she will work in public areas to expose visitors to contemporary tapestry weaving. Lyn plans to publish a journal of her residency experience and the journey of weaving the condor tapestry on her website. 
The Hitchhiker Painter Karen Ahlgren (www.karenahlgren.com)is the artist-in-residence from September 25th - October 16th.
Born in northern California and now living in rural northern New Mexico, Karen has been a watercolorist for 20 years. Karen has participated in numerous solo and group exhibits and is widely collected. Primarily self-taught, she continues to push the medium of watercolor into becoming a more intense visual and visceral experience for the viewer. Her first serious creative endeavor was black and white photography which influences her work to this day with the use of different focal planes and appreciation of the importance of shadows and light.
Her rich watercolors feature deeply saturated color - alternating between careful detail and quick, spontaneous techniques. Her goal has always been to connect the viewer with the majesty of animals while offering delight to the spirit with her palette of strong, non-local color. Her artwork has been strongly influenced by the jewel-toned colors of the textiles and folk art found in Oaxacan markets, a travel experience she had in her teens.
Karen: "I look forward to beginning a Grand Canyon series depicting the incredible beauty of the North Rim
During her residency on the North Rim, Karen will offer three demonstrations of the process and technique she has developed to achieve here jewel-toned images and explain the challenges and joys of watercolors. A digital slide show documenting several pieces from start to finish - work that she completed during the previous year - will accompany these demonstrations. Former Selected Artist in Residence (for reference): Selected Artists - South Rim - October 2014 - October 2015Selected Artists - South Rim - October 2013 - October 2014 Selected Artists - North Rim - 2013 Selected Artists - South Rim - 2012-2013 Selected Artists - South Rim - 2011 - 2012 Selected Artists - North Rim - 2011 Selected Artists - South Rim - 2010 - 2011 Selected Artists - North Rim 2010 Selected Artists - South Rim - 2009 - 2010 |
Last updated: September 28, 2016