Video
Silent Storytellers: A Cross-section of Science and Art
Descriptive Transcript
[Audio description:A middle-aged man with tattooed arms wearing black rubber gloves sketches on paper with a piece of charcoal.
[Amory] Every time I do a drawing, it's sort of been this idea of like, well, whatever kind of landscape we're looking at in the drawing is somewhere that is not going to be the same much longer.
[Audio description: An image of one of Amory’s charcoal drawings shows a glowing outline of a tree against a ghostly forest background. Amory sits outside at a picnic table as he continues talking.]
[Amory] We kind of have to reconcile with that loss, or that change, in whatever way is meaningful to us.
[Audio description: Two photos from Amory's 2019 residency show, in order, a selfie pointing to a snowy mountain view, then the living room of the artist-in-residence cabin in the woods, where an easel with a charcoal landscape in progress sits in front of the window.]
[Amory] The very first time that I ever came to the park was for that residency in June of 2019, and just had an incredible experience.
[Audio description: Four photos of Amory's charcoal drawings are shown as he speaks. The drawings depict dramatic renditions of mountains, water, and clouds, in shades of black, gray, and white.]
[Amory] Going from imaginary places to real places kind of changed the conversation about the work a little bit,
because it's a real place that we see all the time. There's like more consequence to that, or more um, ability for other people to associate with it.
[Audio description: White text over a black screen reads: Five years after his residency, Amory returned to Glacier National Park to lead a community charcoal drawing workshop. Participant sketched on tree cross-sections from the park previously used for dendrochronology research.]
[Audio description: Cross-sections of trees of various sizes are spread out on a table. Each one has a unique pattern of concentric rings. Workshop participants pick them up and inspect them.]
[Amory] If there was something to learn from nature, it would just be that, we can't separate ourselves from it. When you look at a tree ring, you can see everything that's happened to it over decades or centuries, and it tells you things about what the seasons were like, what catastrophes happened. We're using these fallen trees to understand what's happened, to make something out of it, to learn something from it. And in a way, like, using a charcoal medium is also using dead trees to reflect on what we see, what we observe, and transform that into some new information or new perspective.
[Audio description: People at the workshop sitting at long tables look focused as they draw designs with charcoal on tree cookies.]
Description
For returning Artist-in-Residence, Amory Abbott, inspiration lies at the cross section of science and art. Follow along on his return journey to Glacier National Park after five years away as he reflects on themes within his work and explores with the community how we connect to and create from nature.
What do you create that is inspired by the natural world?
Duration
1 minute, 30 seconds
Credit
NPS / Sophia Britto
Date Created
09/18/2024
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