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Artist in Residence Highlights 2022
Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area, Chugach National Forest
Klara Maisch | Oil Painting | Fairbanks, AK
"In June 2022, I visited Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area. One evening, I went for a swim and was surprised when I got a mouthful of salty water. As someone who grew up on freshwater lakes and rivers, it took me a moment to register just how salty saltwater really is! This simple realization is the beauty of experiencing a new landscape. I was mesmerized by the mating habits of Black Oystercatchers, glimpses of Rufus Hummingbirds, and the melancholy song of Hermit Thrushes. I painted tidewater glaciers, leaped for joy across granite outcrops, and traced the shapes of wind-sculpted Western Hemlocks. The story of this place is complex, forever changed by colonization, resource extraction, and the ongoing effects of climate change. But as I learned on this trip, there is also resilience, reconciliation, and creative adaptation at work in this place. Visiting Nellie Juan-College Fiord deepened my understanding of the history and processes shaping this incredible landscape."
Stewardship Projects:
- Solitude monitoring
- Beach clean-up
- Campsite/high-use areas monitoring and clean-up
- Public and educational outreach
- Trail inspections and trail camera installation
Artist Donation: Maisch donated a painting of Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area called 'Where the Glacier was'.
Kootznoowoo Wilderness, Tongass National Forest
Kyle Niemer and Brad Einstein | Video/film | Chicago, IL
"It’s a daunting task, trying to fully encapsulate our Voices of the Wilderness experience in just a few words. How to do justice to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, getting to pursue our art in such a remote and venerated wilderness, amongst a unique population of charismatic megafauna, supported by the wisdom and guidance of a similarly unique population of equally charismatic rangers? The only way we can even begin to sum it up might be this: if you were to ask us, 'Was your Voices of the Wilderness residency a life-changing experience?', we would reply, quite appropriately, 'Does a bear s*** in the woods?' …and then, after a beat, add: 'By which we mean, ‘absolutely,’ but let’s not discount the gastro-intestinal importance of tidal zones,' and then monologue for a good 15 minutes about the unique biology of Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears."
Stewardship Projects:
- Brown bear observations and surveying
- Visitor contacts at bear viewing area
Community Extension: Brad and Kyle have shared their experience as artists-in-residence on comedy stages across the country.
Artists Donation: Niemer and Einstein created a high-resolution nature documentary about the bears of Pack Creek, and the unique interspecies relationship they have with human visitors. The comedic film is comprised of footage with sketch, music, and puppetry.
Russell Fjord Wilderness, Tongass National Forest
Marybeth Holleman | Prose and Poetry | Anchorage, AK
"I was thrilled to finally visit the Russell Fjord Wilderness, a dynamic place that has captured my imagination ever since learning about Hubbard Glacier’s repeated advances, some of which have closed off Russell Fjord. I was able, through the Yakutat Tern Festival, to boat up to the Hubbard and see the narrow opening to Russell Fjord, to experience the force of the current and power of the advancing glacier as it thundered icebergs into the sea. I then spent several days kayaking with rangers in the forested islands of Yakutat Bay, stopping at privately-owned cabins for inspections where I saw first-hand the difficulties rangers face in maintaining Wilderness in remote places with privately-owned structures and a history of active human use."
Stewardship Projects: Holleman spent three days with rangers kayaking in and near the Russell Fjord Wilderness to several private cabins to do on-site inspections of the cabin owners’ compliance with permit regulations for these privately-owned structures within a national Wilderness Area.
Community Extension: Holleman was artist-in-residence at the 2022 Yakutat Tern Festival, at which she taught two, four-hour workshops – one for children and one for adults. Each workshop involved nature walks and sketching, talks about Matisse’s cutout art and color theory, and cutout art-making from their nature sketches. Holleman has also written several poems from this artist residency, which she is actively submitting to national journals.
Artist Donation: In lieu of donated artwork, Holleman gave both an adult and a children’s art workshop as part of the Yakutat Tern Festival.
West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness, Tongass National Forest
Siena Baldi | Painting and Digital Illustration | Honolulu, HI
"My time in the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness continues to haunt my dreams with its never ending mossy muskegs and tidal ecosystems. I was particularly dazzled by the bright pops of color throughout the landscape and spent a lot of time collecting ephemera to record the gorgeous colors. The crystal clear water and mirror-like reflections inspired me to see abstract imagery in the reflections of the glacial islands.
Learning from the rangers and archaeologist added a much deeper understanding of the landscape beyond the mesmerizing surface beauty. There was no shortage of ecological delight as we explored on land and by boat: sensual swoops of bull kelp, ruby-throated loons, a bubble net feeding humpback, and foraging for beach asparagus.
I am extremely grateful to be able to experience this awe-inspiring wilderness with people who care deeply about preserving it for the benefit of mankind and animalkind."
Stewardship Projects:
- Supported an archaeologist in monitoring known historic properties
- Monitored known wilderness campsites and surveyed for potential new sites
- Naturalized impacted areas and removed trash
- Collected data tracking encounters and their impacts on opportunities for solitude
- Surveyed conditions on maintained and Unmaintained trails to inform work needs and prioritization
Community Extension: Baldi is reaching out to galleries to host her art and a presentation about her experience in Alaska.
Artist Donation: Animal Islands series in progress. Acryla-Gouache Painting on tree cross-sections 14” across.
Aleutian Islands Wilderness, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Kimberlee McNett | Visual Artist | Homer, AK
"Onboard the R/V Tiĝlax̂, I joined a cohort of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff to cruise along the Aleutian Island Chain where currents rip, atmosphere spills, and volcanoes burst open. Incredible life flourishes here, not despite these terrible forces, but because of them. In my nature journal I made an artistic documentation of our journey. Shipboard travel offered vistas of snow-capped volcanoes, rocky islets and sightings of albatross, orcas and sperm whales. We deployed skiffs to land on beaches and visited field camps, seabird rookeries, hotsprings, a volcano caldera and the WWII Aleutian Battlefields. By creating and sharing a nature journal of this rare experience I hope to incite a vicarious sense of wonder and awe for the Aleutian Islands Wilderness."
Stewardship Projects:
- Accompanied a team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees from many different areas, including invasive species, ecology, indigenous culture, history and conservation
- Participated in invasive species prevention
- Visited two field camps and learned about the research being conducted there
- Assisted a field tech in Adak with puffin tracking research
- Assisted the Tiglax crew with repositioning the CTD buoy
Community Extension: McNett participated in Refuge Week at the Islands and Oceans Visitors Center where she gave a public artist presentation and a free watercolor journaling workshop series.
Artist Donation: McNett's field sketches, photos and narrative journey were assembled into a virtual story map hosted on the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge website. Her journal pages were also printed in photo books for the Islands and Ocean Visitors Center and to stay aboard the R/V Tiĝlax̂.
Arctic Wilderness, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 
Francis Vallejo | Illustrator | Detroit, MI
"This was my second Voices of the Wilderness experience. As expected it was life changing yet again! Low visibility due to wildfires resulted in the expedition being delayed four days, and the structure of my experience being shifted significantly. My team was excellent, and this delay gave me insight into travel in Alaska and how connected to the environment all aspects of life are. No worries. I eventually drove up the Dalton Highway and helicoptered to the Canning Bird Camp on the Northern Arctic coast of Alaska and spent seven incredible days with a team of 11 biologists. I walked the transects and assisted them in the study and documentation of small animals and birds. I sketched and photographed the entire experience. Alongside the amazing natural wonders I experienced, perhaps the most memorable was the countless kind individuals that I met that left a powerful impression on me. Now that I am back home in Detroit, I am working to connect Detroit youth to Alaska and expose them to the Alaska wilderness and refuge systems!"
Stewardship Projects: Assisted refuge biologists with walking their transects and documentation of small animals and birds at the Canning River Bird Camp.
Community Extension: In addition to visiting a number of Detroit institutions to share his experiences, Francis also presented at the Arctic Bird Fest. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service posted a short documentary on his experiences in the Arctic.
Artist Donation: Francis donated an 88 page ‘zine documenting his artist residency.
Noatak Wilderness, Western Arctic National Parklands
Amy Martin | Photography and Writing | Flagstaff, AZ
"The landscapes of and communities surrounding Western Arctic National Parklands are on the cusp of great change. Shifting weather patterns, warming temperatures, and development for extractive industries are stressing the plant, animal and human communities within the region. The Arctic itself is reeling from the effects of climate change, as it is warming at a rate three to four times higher than other parts of the world. Sea-level rise, melting sea ice, significant changes in animal migration, thicker vegetation, the thawing and burning tundra, are just a few of the changes that are challenging the natural ecology and the subsistence way of life of the native Inupiaq and other residents of the region.
My visit to Kotzebue and Kobuk National Park with Park Ranger China Kanter opened my eyes to the sensitivities of the region and the urgency needed to address these challenges to ensure the continuation of valuable species, both plant and animal, as well as the culture and connection to the land by it's peoples."
Stewardship Projects:
- Documented the beauty, changes, and challenges to the arctic landscapes at the Kobuk Sand Dunes
- Documented the subsistence living of those who call the region home
Artist Donation: Amy worked with Western Arctic National Parklands staff to create a brochure/book/handout in print and on a digital platform that invites visitors to the parks to come to a deeper understanding of the landscapes and cultures they are visiting through photographic story-telling.
Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park
Theresa Ptak | Printmaking & Illustration | Minneapolis, MN
"I had the great privilege of joining two backcountry patrol rangers for nine days in the Wrangell St. Elias Mountains, embarking on a journey by foot that would take us from the Lakina Valley, to the beautiful green hills of Oz, all the way back over the Root Glacier and into the town of Kennicott. Over the course of this backpacking journey we studied the movement of the river, mapped horse trails, dispersed back-country campsites and documented with repeat photo monitoring. The days spent in the breathtaking Hidden Creek Valley were some of the most memorable. The range of shape, color and texture were so vast, it felt as though we entered the ‘secret garden’ of Alaska. (Jokes on me, that is ALL of Alaska.) I learned so much from my guides on how to read the land, how the braids in rivers move, and how to lead unmarked trail through the (many) different kinds of bushwhacking! I am humbled by witnessing a range of weather conditions in our time trekking through the mountains and over glaciers, an impressionable reminder of both the beauty and sheer power of the wilderness. I left with immense gratitude for the gift of creative reflection in these remote pockets of the Wrangells, and can't wait to return."
Stewardship Projects: Ptak engaged in horse trail mapping, scouting, photo monitoring, and backcountry campsite cleanup/dispersal.
Community Extension: Ptak will be showing her completed piece with local art galleries in her community, as well as distributing educational hand-carved booklets based off of her sketches from the Wrangell Mountains.
Artist Donation: Ptak donated an original linocut block print, as well as seven micro study block prints detailing the abundant flora found in the Lakina Valley.
Learn how to apply and view more previous artists