Ahem. My Name is Ranger Mike and Welcome to North Cascades National Park

Some folks have expressed interest about my evening program, “Beyond the Overlook: The Art of Tourism and National Parks,” and I thought I’d provide an abbreviated version here. I consider it a sort-of capstone presentation of the past three years, a synthesis between my art background and observations as a park ranger (and presented in the style of a Nick Tobier lecture). Basically, I do a critical analysis of overlooks and tourism as well as throw in some contemporary artists who are exploring similar issues. Ranger Mike? Try Professor Liang.

Anyway, it’s a fun program to give and I hope you enjoy it. Most of the photographs are my own, but if you want to know the specific artist, just send me an e-mail. I’m blogging this in reverse so that you can following it from top to bottom. Here we go:

I first introduce North Cascades National Park as an incredibly complex landscape, one that is often very difficult to truly comprehend, much less reproduce in a drawing or photograph (hence the phrase: photos never do the place justice).