Fiber Artists from Arizona Selected by Foundation as 2016 Fort Union Monument Artists-in-Residence

Las Vegas, NM, October 08, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Fort Union National Monument’s upcoming Artists-in-Residence for the month of October will be Denneen ‘Denny’ Peterson and fellow Fiber Artist Bill Meek, a husband-and-wife team.

The National Parks Arts Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is pleased to be working again with the National Park Service at Fort Union National Monument to continue the Fort Union National Monument Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program. The artists, selected by a panel of judges, will spend the beautiful fall month at the historic Northern New Mexico monument.

Fiber Art is a complex and fascinating field in the arts, which ranges from wearables, to enveloping, sculptural works, to works that are like paintings made with the tactile and textural richness of often custom made fabrics. Based in southern Arizona, Peterson and Meek work mostly in the third category making their art quilts and two dimensional depictions of the southwest.

Denny explains her works this way,: “Right now I'm loving designing and making pictorial quilts that show landscapes, animals, and historic buildings of the southwestern United States. I'm making a painting, but I'm using fabric instead of paint. I use photography and sketching to capture my inspiration. Then I make a plan or a sort of pattern, but I give myself permission to be imperfect. Then I layer fabrics to create my image, sometimes in a collage of interesting fabric pieces. Then another layer is the quilting stitching that supports the quilt story. I want my art quilts to honor a special place or creature.”

Bill says that the art traditions of the southwest provide with him with direct inspiration for his fabric artworks. He even has some ties to the local history of Fort Union when it was an active post: “My great grandfather was a gold miner/prospector in the late 1800s and had several claims in the Baldy mountain area, where gold was discovered by Fort Union Soldiers.” Even though originally from California, Meek says that he has always been drawn to “the Southwest's expansive landscape and open spaces, its people and their culture. I suppose this is what inspires me to make art quilts depicting Navajo weavings.” Denneen also is seeking to incorporate the historical documentation of the past into the textural variations in the work, “Another idea percolating in my mind is to experiment with photographic images transferred to fabrics to show a hazy, mysterious view with, perhaps, a "then and now" perspective,” she says.

The artists will arrive at the Monument on October 3rd and their residency continues through the end of the month. While there they will demonstrate their techniques to visitors on selected Open Studio days. They will cap their residency with a presentation and lecture where they will discuss and display their work at the Fort Union Visitor Center on Friday, October 16th, from 10-2. This event will feature the artists who will show their work, demonstrate some of their process, including a fiber art table for visitors to make their own art with. The couple will expand this outreach with Presentations in Las Vegas on October 28th at the Arts Council’s Gallery 140 at 140 Bridge St, Las Vegas, NM, and possibly in Santa Fe. (Times and dates TBA.)

“The Artist in Residence program is a great way to celebrate the National Park Service’s centennial, but also offers artists and visitors alike to view Fort Union in new and innovative ways,” says Park Superintendent Charles Strickfaden, “Fort Union National Monument is excited to see how Fort Union will be depicted through the eyes, minds, and hearts of the artists.”

Both Denny and Bill are looking forward to the unique and special opportunities that Fort Union and the fall in Northern New Mexico will provide them. Says Denneen, “The time and opportunity to explore and find inspiration leads to the desire to rush back to get the idea down on paper and to start pulling fabrics before the idea dissipates with the necessaries of life. An art residency gives me confidence in my art — it gives me confidence to experiment— to do something bolder than what I've tried before. And lets me know that it is our honor and responsibility to help preserve the legacy of the national park units.”

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. The Fort Union National Monument Artist-in Residence program will be another interactive public feature to highlight and honor the Centennial of the National Parks in 2016.

This program, implemented with great success by NPAF at other National Parks, allows visitors to see the Monument through the eyes of world-class artists and visionaries. Fort Union’s Artists-in-Residence will also directly interact with monument visitors by speaking about their art projects and interests during on-site demonstrations and discussions. The AiR program is made possible through the philanthropic support of donors of all sorts ranging from corporate sponsors, small business, and art patrons and citizen-lovers of the Parks. NPAF (www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org) is always seeking new partners for its wide ranging Artist-in-Residence programs.