Mother-Daughter Artists to Speak About Their Experience on Dry Tortugas Loggerhead Key

KEY WEST, FLORIDA, US, September 30, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The very first pair of mother and daughter artists chosen for the National Parks AiR program, landscape artist and soft pastelist Beth Williams along with writer and poet Hailey Williams, will be spending the month of September immersed in their artistic and environmental endeavors, on a pristine, isolated island at Dry Tortugas National Park. This program is an ongoing collaboration between the Park Service and The National Parks Arts Foundation.

The artists-in-residence will be holding a public event reflecting their work and practice in the specific natural landscape of the Dry Tortugas at Fort Jefferson. They will be giving a special public presentation on OCTOBER 1st, from 6-7pm at The Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center (operated by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary). The venue is located at 35 East Quay Road, Key West, FL 33040.

Beth Williams, of Edisto Island South Carolina, is an award-winning artist and Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America. Beth earned a Fine Arts degree and Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education from Texas Tech University, teaching art for private and public schools as well as art museums across the country and abroad. Beth's current work focuses on diverse sea island landscapes, exploring in technique, focusing on movement and textural quality of tidal and ocean waves. She prefers to begin her paintings outdoors, observing nature and the fleeting light effects on color, shape and texture in the landscape.

Hailey Williams current work focuses on the bridge between nature and the human spirit. Highly visual, her writing tends to draw the surreal from everyday details and punctuates the necessity of collective memory through examination of the parahuman and othered; what does it mean to occupy the extremity of society? Hailey attempts to analyze this issue through the subtle reflection of human thought and emotion onto “extreme” landscapes such as swamps, deserts, tundras, and seascapes. With such vital ecosystems threatened by and threatening to the chosen model of modern society, Hailey finds connection more important than ever as a conduit to express human othering and to explore its remedies.

During their time in-residence on remote Loggerhead Key, the Williamses will combine their creative specialties – marine and landscape painting and environmental surrealist writings respectively – to create a multi-genre book of prose, poetry, and paintings illustrating the unique ecological and psychological resources of the Dry Tortugas and to share with the public the healing potential of the ocean on a family wracked by loss. They will present this work with a viewing of Beth's paintings and a reading of Hailey’s writings, and prepare a manuscript for publication to ensure longevity for the art inspired by this powerful landscape.

This event is made possible by the National Park Service at Dry Tortugas National Park and the ongoing participation and cultural venue sponsorship of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary at Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center on Key West. Dry Tortugas National Park is located almost 70 miles (113 km) west of Key West. The 100 square mile park is mostly open water with seven small islands. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the park is known the world over as the home of magnificent Fort Jefferson, picturesque blue waters, superlative coral reefs and marine life, and the vast assortment of bird life that frequent the area. Visitors enjoy camping, snorkeling, bird watching, fishing or just enjoying a view from the top of massive Fort Jefferson. Fort Jefferson is the largest all-masonry fort in the United States, built between 1846 and 1875 to protect the nation's gateway to the Gulf of Mexico.

More information about the Dry Tortugas National Park can be found on the park website at http://www.nps.gov/drto/learn/news/newsreleases.htm

For more information on the Dry Tortugas Artist-in Residence Program:
www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org,
email: media@nationalparksartsfoundation.org.

National Parks Arts Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 charitable foundation. 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 friends groups of the Parks.

John Cargill
National Parks Arts Foundation
+1 505 715-6492
email us here