Catoctin Mountain Park Draws Artists Who Want to be Inspired
James Rada, Jr.
Imagine staying in a historic cabin in Catoctin Mountain Park for weeks to walk the trails, watch the wildlife, and be inspired to create.
For the past four years, Catoctin Mountain Park and the Catoctin Forest Alliance have offered artists, sculptors, poets, and writers a chance to get away from the familiar and be inspired by the natural through the Artist-In-Residence Program.
“The artist comes and produces a work that has to be about nature,” said Elizabeth Prongas, committee chairperson for the Artist-In-Residence Program. “They also have to be willing to meet with children and the public at least once to give a workshop or demonstration.”
The program is open to both professional and amateur artists. Each year, four are selected to come and stay at a cabin in Misty Mount or a campground site. The artist coordinates with a park ranger when his or her public meetings are going to be and then the artist is left to be inspired by the park, to paint, draw, sculpt, or write.
“After the residence ends, the artist donates a piece to the Catoctin Forest Alliance,” Prongas said. “After two years, we can sell it as a fundraiser to support the program.”
Invitations to apply for the resident program are sent all over the country, and applications have been received from around the world.
“Making a decision among them is a lot of work, but we somehow muddle through,” Prongas said.
Recently, the Cunningham Falls Visitors Center opened a display area where you can go and see some of the best of the many pieces of art donated to the Catoctin Forest Alliance. Prongas said that she also hopes to display some of the pieces at the Thurmont Regional Library in the future.
The artists coming to Catoctin Mountain Park are: Lisa Kyle, landscape painter (May 3-16); Laura Brady, painter (May 17-30); Anneliese Vobis, sculptor (August 2-15); Linda Johnston, nature artist and journalist (September 6-19).
Watch the Catoctin Mountain Park web page (www.nps.gov/cato/index.htm) for information on when the artists will be holding public workshops.