|
Unexpected Vistas
This art project is a natural outgrowth of the work I
did at the Whiterock Conservancy, in which I documented one particular
area. In this project I have expanded my vision and have sought out
special vistas in 13 of Iowa's State Parks. In the process of
creating this exhibition, I travelled to 17 of our parks and took a
multitude of pictures as well as did plein aire paintings and drawings
on location.
The collection shown here is the first installment of
an ongoing project. There are close to 70 State Parks in Iowa that
receive oversight from the Department of Natural Resouces. You can
find a list at their
website. I hope to continue to create works of art that open
our eyes to the beauty that is present in these places. We all have our
favorite parks and we visit them often, but this project seeks to help
the people of Iowa to have a look at places they may not have visited.
Maybe it might inspire us to go and see for ourselves how special these
places are.
The first
exhibition of this work will be on September 10, 2010 at the Hudson
River Gallery in Iowa City, Iowa. A second exhibition will be at
the Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames, Iowa on November
12.
Many thanks to the DNR and the head of the Parks
Division, Kevin Szcodronki, for showing a special interest in this
project and providing me with access to the park campgrounds during my
onsite visits. The DNR is also supporting the project with an
upcoming article in the DNR magazine and with help in setting up future
exhibitions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The parks that are represented in this collection of
drawings are:
Backbone State Park near Strawberry Point, Iowa.
Ledges State Park on the Des Moines River near Boone,
Iowa.
Stone State Park in the Loess Hills near Sioux City,
Iowa.
Maquoketa Caves State Park near Maquoketa, Iowa.
Waubonsie State Park in the Loess Hills near Sidney,
Iowa.
Wildcat Den State Park near Muscatine, Iowa. (work in
progress)
Geode State Park near Danville, Iowa.
Pine Lake State Park near Eldora, Iowa.
Pike's Peak State Park near McGregor, Iowa.
Dolliver Memorial State Park on the Des Moines River
near Lehigh, Iowa.
Beed's Lake State Park near Hampton, Iowa.
Palisades-Kepler State Park on the Cedar River near
Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Pilot Knob State Park near Forest City, Iowa.
|
