Refuge
by Kristin Serafini
23 February 2008
acrylic on canvas
36″ x 36″
One of my favorite parts of teaching art on the Principia Upper School Teton Trip is taking the students to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. After sketching and writing in our journals for a few days, and perhaps catching glimpses of moose, ravens, wolves, weasels, and coyotes, it is inspiring to spend a couple of hours wandering through galleries full of work created by artists who have made careers out of recording their encounters with wilderness. The muesum’s building itself is well-camouflaged—almost designed to disappear into the surrounding rocky ridge. Visitors enter on the second floor, and descend into a wide lobby with large picture windows that look over the National Elk Refuge.
After helping the students get going on some observation projects in the museum, I love to take a few minutes to sit down with a latté in the museum’s Rising Sage Café (which also has a great view of the refuge) and do some journaling of my own. Sometimes I just watch the weather. Every year, the view of the valley where the elk come to survive the harsh western winters is a little different. In 2008, the mountains on the far side of the valley were socked in by clouds. There was light in the air, so the clouds shimmered like layers of white, grey and indigo silk. I did a small painting of the view in my journal that day, and also took a photo. I worked from both references when I approached this big canvas.
I love staring out into the snowstorm, with my hands wrapped around a warm mug—my journal laid open to a blank spread like the valley outside. It’s a tingling feeling, too: becoming increasingly aware of how vast the view is. Whole thundering herds of elk, from here, are just a few pencil marks.
