ESTES PARK, Colo. — Rocky Mountain National Park is known around the world for its beauty. The sights inspire visitors and creative types alike.
"Artists, painters, photographers helped bring attention to our national parks and public lands and helped people find a love and connection with our national parks," said Jamie Richards with Rocky Mountain National Park.
To help artists create, Rocky Mountain National Park hosts an artist-in-residence program. The program, which is one of the longest running in the park service, went on hold in 2017 because the person in charge retired. This summer it is back and hosting six artists.
"I’m a composer, a field recordist, and an acoustic ecologist," artist-in-residence Garrison Gerard told a group of visitors. "I just finished a yearlong one [acoustic survey] in Iceland where we’re tracking the impact of tourism."
Gerard and other artists will spend two weeks creating in the park. Within the year, they will donate a piece they worked on to Rocky Mountain National Park. Gerard plans on recording sounds from the park and will use them to inspire a musical composition.
"I’m trying to create something of my experience being in that place," Gerard said. "I hope when people hear that, it makes them feel differently about the way they listen."
The park is excited to have the artists like Gerard return.
"We're taking time to look at everything around us, but we may not take time to sit on a rock and listen to the natural sounds of a lake, or stream, or waterfall, and just appreciate where we are," Richards said.
Gerard is the third artist to stay at the park this summer and will be holding a program July 20, 2024, at the Fall River Visitor Center at noon.
Listen to some of the sounds Gerard has recorded around the world below: