通过艺术创作支持国家公园

Supporting National Parks Through the Arts

Artist Rosalie Haizlett starts every day by opening a map of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Over breakfast, she plans her walk for the day. She packs food and a sketch¹ book, and then leaves for her walk in the woods.

Haizlett spends all day exploring the park and sketching² what she sees. At the end of the day she returns to her cabin, and starts painting pictures based on the sketches³.

Haizlett has been doing this since the beginning of June as part of the United States National Park Service’s Artist-in-Residence program, or A.I.R.

Arts in the Parks

Artists have been important to American national parks for a long time. In the 1870s, an art movement called the Hudson River School, documented natural America from the northeastern coast to the Wild West.

During that same time, the work of American painter Thomas Moran helped persuade the U.S. Congress to create the country’s first national park: Yellowstone, in the western state of Wyoming.

Since 1969, the National Park Service has provided artists the chance to be officially involved with American parks, through A.I.R.

Chris Amidon supervises the resident artist program at Isle⁴ Royale National Park in Michigan.

“It’s about connecting to the next generation to art and the public with the landscapes of the national parks.”

Resident artists spend two to four weeks in a park. Artists of all kinds may take part, including painters, writers, photographers and musicians. The artists spend their time working on art inspired by their surroundings. They also agree to donate at least one artwork to the park.

Currently, NPS runs 47 artist-in-residence programs in 30 different states.

Amidon said one NPS goal is to bring new people from a mix of age groups and ethnicities to the parks. The A.I.R. program is important for “building a bridge” between the parks and the public, he said.

A love of small things

Haizlett said it was her childhood growing up in an artistic⁵ family in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia that led to her career as an artist.

The painter says she is most inspired by small forms of life in nature, such as fungi⁶, insects, and animals.

“I’ve always really enjoyed the stories of things that are underrepresented.”

Haizlett says she is combining her paintings and drawings created in the Smokies to make a jigsaw⁷ puzzle. It will show the many species of fungi and insects in the park.

One of Haizlett’s favorite experiences at the park so far was the light show produced during the synchronous⁸ firefly season. The insects fill the woods. As night falls they begin to light up and off as part of the reproduction process. Within moments, they are all flashing at the same time.

?Haizlett created an artistic workbook for children that explains how the bugs⁹ do this and why.

Haizlett believes that the residency program helps show the national parks in a new way that can appeal to different people.

“So many artists are inspired by nature, but sometimes people that aren’t artists don’t see their sources of inspiration as clearly. They make the art more real to people and that I think adds value to the National Parks.”

?The Great Smokey Mountains National Park is the most visited park in the U.S. It receives over 11.3 million visitors every year. Its Artist-in-Residence program is one of the largest.

Sheridan Roberts is the park's coordinator¹⁰ of volunteers. “Parks and the arts are both things that we need,” she says. But, it can be hard to find the financial support they require. So, Sheridan adds, “we should both hold hands when we can.”

As a National Parks Service Artist-in-Residence, Haizlett also teaches at local art schools, as well as for Job Corps¹¹, a government program offering job skills training to young adults.

This relationship with the local art community is another important part of the A-I-R program. They partner for art projects and choosing A-I-R candidates.

Music from nature

Not all of the A.I.R. art is visual.

David Huckfelt is a musician and member of the band The Pines. While his band was taking a break last September, he entered the resident artist program on Isle Royale National Park.

The group of islands found in Lake Superior is the least visited National Park in the states. Huckfelt seemed to enjoy that quality.

“It contains pretty much all of the most necessary aspects for an artist these days: solitude¹², national beauty, very low expense, and the ability to really immerse yourself in the history and geography of our national parks.”

Huckfelt wrote 16 songs inspired by his experience at Isle Royale. He recorded them for a new album when he returned home to Minnesota. It is his first solo music project.

While at the national park he also performed concerts for visitors, and took video recordings¹³ in the park. He plans to use those recordings to create a music video for one of the new songs. He will donate the video to the park.

Supporting the parks with art

Huckfelt says it is important for people to experience the parks. After all, he said, “We own these parks…they’re taxpayer¹⁴ funded.”

Sheridan Roberts of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park agrees.

“The national park system would not have existed today had it not been for creative visionaries,” She said. “Writers, photographers, painters… it was artists and volunteers who began the movement that introduced the national park system in this country.”

I’m Phil Dierking. And I’m Caty Weaver¹⁵.

Words in This Story

expense - n. the amount of money that is needed to pay for or buy something?

firefly - n. a small flying insect that produces a soft light?

fungi - n. any one of a group of living things (such as molds, mushrooms, or yeasts) that often look like plants but have no flowers and that live on dead or decaying things?

geography - n. an area of study that deals with the location of countries, cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, etc.?

immerse - v. to put (something) in a liquid so that all parts are completely covered?

inspire - v. to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create?

jigsaw puzzle - n. a puzzle consisting of a picture printed on cardboard or wood and cut into various pieces of different shapes that have to be fitted together.?

landscape - n. a picture that shows a natural scene of land or the countryside?

sketch - v. a quick, rough drawing that shows the main features of an object or scene?

solitude - n. a state or situation in which you are alone usually because you want to be?

synchronize¹⁶ - v. to cause (things) to agree in time or to make (things) happen at the same time and speed

1 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

2 sketching   

n.草图

参考例句：

• They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

3 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

7 jigsaw   

n.缕花锯，竖锯，拼图游戏；vt.用竖锯锯，使互相交错搭接

参考例句：

• A jigsaw puzzle can keep me absorbed for hours.一副拼图就能让我沉醉几个小时。
• Tom likes to work on jigsaw puzzles,too.汤姆也喜欢玩拼图游戏。

8 synchronous   

adj.同步的

参考例句：

• The message can be used only with synchronous operations.消息只能与同步操作一起使用。
• Synchronous machines do not easily fall out of step under normal conditions.在正常情况下，同步电机不易失去同步。

9 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

11 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

13 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

14 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

15 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

16 synchronize   

v.使同步 [=synchronise]

参考例句：

• The sound on a film must synchronize with the action. 影片中的声音必须与动作配合一致。
• You must synchronize your Inbox before selecting additional folders. 在选择其他文件夹前，您必须同步您的收件箱。