Announcing 2014 AIRIE Fellows

Valerie LeBlanc and myself are extremely happy to have been invited by the Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Park to be the artists in residence for July 2014.  It is a prestigious opportunity and referring to the tradition of invited artists, as stated in the 1st paragraph of the letter, ‘our work there will become part of the permanent record of the parks that helps to preserve them’.  Described as a subtropical wilderness, with a unique combination of temperate and tropical characteristics, the Everglades has been designated as a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance.  One of the main outcomes that the Park hopes to gain from the visiting artists is ‘to help visitors make emotional and intellectual connections with this amazing place’.  As per our practice(s), we are looking forward to continuing to create poetic storylines within the exploration of this new media locative soundwalk project.

Artists in Residence in Everglades proudly announces the 2014 AIRIE Fellows. This year, AIRIE boasts a creative group of local, national and international artists across several disciplines including painters, installation artists, new media artists, photographers, and writers, who will live and work in the Everglades for a month at a time.

2014 AIRIE Fellows include photographers Adam Nadel and Dana Levy, poet Breanna Dixon, painter Rodney Dickson, video artists Karl Staven and duo Daniel Dugas & Valerie LeBlanc, as well as Florida natives including multi-disciplinary artist Elite Kedan, photographer Emily Myerscough, visual artist Reed Van Brunschot, Regina Jestrow and Prudence Gill and writer Nathaniel Sandler. Read more about each of the AIRIE 2014 fellows.

South Florida is home to the only subtropical wilderness area in the country, AIRIE is the only program bringing artists to the Everglades. AIRIE’s purpose is to inform, connect, and support artists, writers and musicians who wish to be inspired by the Everglades and then become ambassadors for the Park and its resources. AIRIE partners with Everglades National Park staff to offer month-long artist residencies in the Park’s subtropical wilderness. At least twelve AIRIE Fellows per year live and create new work in the Park, and in return lead interactive activities with visitors and donate artwork to the Park.

With generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Grant, AIRIE connects Fellows with the South Florida cultural community to bring attention to this unique and endangered part of our national heritage. AIRIE’s expanded programming will feature a year-round calendar of events both in the Everglades and outside the Park, including readings, performances, workshops and lectures. Through these outreach events, Fellows will use their art forms to engage the public, showcasing the Everglades as inspiring, important and worth protecting.

AIRIE Fellows have the unique opportunity to get to know the ecology of the Everglades by being immersed in it, and then share their perspective through creative public programs. “In a park known for its spectacular and diverse wildlife, the art and voices of AIRIE artists reveal other unique, and often missed, dimensions of this special place,” remarks Park Superintendent Dan Kimball.

from: http://airie.org/2013/announcing-2014-airie-fellow/