Artist Patricia Cummins at Fort Union National Monument

ARTIST PATRICIA CUMMINS AT FORT UNION NATIONAL MONUMENT

Listen to the Big Blend Radio interview with environmental artist and art educator Patricia Cummins who talks about her art and National Parks Arts Foundation residency at Fort Union National Monument in New Mexico. Chief of Interpretation Lorenzo Vigil provides an overview of the park and talk’s about the site’s diverse history, and natural highlights.

The National Parks Arts Foundation has partnered with Fort Union National Monument to create a unique artist-in-residence opportunity.The vistas in this location are incredible! Fort Union National Monument, located in Mora County near Watrous, New Mexico, was the hub of commerce, national defense, and migration at the final stretch of the Santa Fe Trail. The richly evocative traces of a post-civil war era adobe fort, it became a National Monument in 1954 under the Eisenhower administration. This location is close to historic Las Vegas, NM, the great plains, local sights like Wagon Mound and Montezuma Castle, as well as Wagon Mound, and only an hour and half away from Santa Fe, the art capital of the southwest. See www.NPS.gov/foun

Contemporary painter Patricia Cummins is the artist-in-residence for October 2017. To sweeten the pot, nature writer and Everglade specialist, Jeff Weber, will be accompanying Cummins during the same residency period.

With twelve other National Park-based residencies under her belt, Cummins has a keen familiarity with using her work to perpetuate human-nature interaction. “As an experienced arts educator, I will collaborate with interpretive park staff and provide workshops, as well as plein air demonstrations and activities with objectives geared toward educating the public, both young and old, about the significance of Fort Union National Monument,” she said.

Additionally, as a seasoned specialist in Everglades National Park photography, Weber also has multifaceted familiarity with natural history and creating work in these vital historic settings. Having won awards as an outdoor columnist, his concentration in birding has led him to host photographic workshops, as well as lead scenic tours, in National Parks throughout the nation. Visit PatCummins.com

“The Artist in Residence program offers artists and visitors alike to view Fort Union in new and innovative ways,” said Park Superintendent Charles Strickfaden. “We are pleased to host artists who communicate complex and contemporary issues through their chosen medium.” As The National Parks Arts Foundation’s third year offering the program, with the help of Fort Union National Monument, the program is already yielding an array of artwork from a diversity of artists that helps facilitate the conservation and historic documentation of this renowned Monument.

Hands-on workshops open to the public

Fort Union National Monument Visitor Center, October 21st from 1-2pm. 505-425-8025, ext. 0.

Las Vegas Arts Council Gallery, 140 Bridge Street, Las Vegas, NM, October 28th at 6pm. 505-425-1085.

Both events are free and open to the public.

The National Parks Arts Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to arts inspiration in our National Parks by creating dynamic opportunities for art programs based in these wild, significant and cultural places. NPAF National Park projects are supported entirely by NPS, park partners, donations and generous partnerships. All NPAF programs are made possible through the philanthropic support of donors ranging from corporate sponsors and small businesses, to art patrons and citizens-lovers of the parks. NPAF is always seeking new partners and donors for its philanthropic programs. Visit www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org.

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