Artist in Residence Program
I got a call a couple of evenings ago from the Interpretive Specialist at the North Cascades National Park in Newhalem, WA, offering me a temporary position as Artist in Residence for this fall.
Wow!
Obviously, I applied for the position, so I knew it was a possibility. But having been rejected for a similar position for the Northwest Hawaiian Islands earlier this year, I didn’t have that much confidence that I would be selected. In retrospect, perhaps my artist goals are more consistent with the National Park Service than the environmentalist goals of the US Fish and Wildlife Agency. Never having done this without expert comrades around me to encourage / critique will pose interesting challenges.
I have only a couple of days to decide whether I will accept the position. Amazing all the questions that come to mind, that aren’t really entertained when I initially applied. Already predisposed to accepting the offer, most immediately logistical issues come to mind…
- what is the optimal length of time for this opportunity and do I have the vacation time available?
- what will the weather be like?
- how rustic will the accommodations be?
Then it struck me that I will have to be pretty disciplined ….
- what objectives can I realistically pursue in 2 or 3 weeks?
- not having seen the place, it is hard to create a work plan
- how will this affect my recent objectives to take my portraiture work to a new level?
- can I create a similar set of advanced landscape objectives that serve both my own artistic education as well as the Park’s needs?
More to come. You can see how erratic my mind is and I need to be focused to get to an answer this weekend. Comment if you will.
Rick