LURAY, VA – Shenandoah National Park has selected five artists for its annual Artist-in-Residence program. The program gives artists of all types an opportunity to creatively explore Shenandoah’s natural and cultural resources and pursue their artistic discipline. Each artist will spend three weeks in Shenandoah and will then create an original piece reflecting the experience to donate to the park. Artists also present public programs about their art and their residencies.
Shenandoah’s Artist-in-Residence program is supported by generous donations to the Shenandoah National Park Trust.
Shenandoah is one of numerous National Park Service sites across the country that have Artist-in-Residence programs to inspire artists to create and share art that not only motivates and encourages millions of people to visit and explore, but also helps build awareness and develop stewardship of these beautiful public lands.
The following artists have been selected for Shenandoah’s 2023 Artist-in-Residence program:
Sonya Lara – Sonya is a poet and essayist. She received her BA in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MFA in Poetry from Virginia Tech. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Pinch, X-R-A-Y Lit, Shenandoah, Ninth Letter, AGNI, The Los Angeles Review, The Acentos Review, and elsewhere. Sonya was selected as the May artist and will be in the park from May 1-22. For more information, please visit sonyalara.com.
Nina Grauley – Nina is a Science Illustrator, artist, and enthusiastic amateur naturalist. Nina believes that paying attention to the particularities of a community — whether it is made up of plants or people — is an act of love. She very much has a researcher’s heart, and loves exploring the world and asking questions. Her work centers around the idea that looking closely at nature can teach us more about what it means to be human, and how we can begin the process of healing together. Nina was selected as the July artist and will be in the park from July 10-31. For more information about Nina visit her website at https://ninagrauley.com/.
Paul Atkinson – Paul’s photography celebrates not only the natural landscape, but also explores the human landscape from a detached examination of what is left behind. He employs the assumed truthfulness of the camera to present a reality that frequently transcends the limits of human visual perception, through both night photography and by including light from the near-infrared spectrum. Through his art, and this residency, he hopes to share with others the beauty and wonder of the night sky, while promoting awareness of the growing threat of light pollution. He resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is an advocate for dark night skies with the International Dark-Sky Association. Paul was selected as the August artist and will be in the park from July 31 – August 21. For more information about Paul visit his website at www.patkinsonphoto.com.
Ines Sun – Ines is a multidisciplinary visual artist who has harmoniously immersed herself in the crossroads of East and West. The fluidity of interplaying culturally and aesthetically shows in her paintings and installation projects. Her art training started with New York School Abstraction. Later, she went to the China Academy of Art in China to master Chinese calligraphy and brush painting. While living in China for 18 months, she accumulated a substantial body of work. Her strokes of paint flow like Abstraction Expressionist, yet with the aesthetic and discipline of Chinese brush painting. Practicing Chinese calligraphy is a family tradition and naturally she uses it as a body and mind exercise before she paints. In the accumulation of years of practice, not only her command of brush grew, so did her ability to focus. During the pandemic lock down, she voluntarily shared her calligraphy practice to help friends and strangers find emotional stability. She was awarded a storefront grant from Chashama in June 2021, where she ran calligraphy workshops. She is also a recipient of Brooklyn Arts Council for Su-CASA Grant in 2022, which allows Sun to share her joy of writing with seniors. These workshops have formed a supportive community through calligraphy. Her memoir, 5.4 Luck was published in Taiwan in 2015. She lives and works in Brooklyn. Ines was chosen as the September artist and will be in the park from September 5-26. For more information about Ines, visit www.inessun.com.
Jill Haley- Jill is a musician who has been composing, recording, and performing instrumental music inspired by the natural environment. She has spent the last several years exploring our National Parks and writing music about the inspiration she finds in these wondrous places. She has released several recordings about various parks such as Glacier and Acadia and numerous others. She also creates videos of the images that inspired the compositions and shares them in concert and on her YouTube Channel. Jill was chosen as the October artist and will be in the park from October 2-23. For more information about Jill, please visit https://jillhaley.com/.
Shenandoah National Park Trust is the official philanthropic partner of the Park and funds the Artist-in-Residence program. To support this effort, donate today!