Spring 2007 - Yosemite Online

MEMBERS PAGESALL PHOTOS: CORRIE STETZELSunshine and Smiles: Spring Forum 2007On Saturday, March 31, 460 YA membersand guests attended the annual SpringForum amidst the spectacular beautyof Yosemite Valley. Unlike last year, theweather cooperated magnificently, andeveryone was treated to a picture-perfectYosemite Valley experience completewith booming waterfalls, frazil ice, andthe promise of spring’s arrival. YosemiteInstitute naturalists, NPS rangers, andothers offered a variety of interpretivewalks focusing on natural and culturalhistory. Highlights included FredFisher’s tour of Old Yosemite Village,Naturalist’s Choice walks with RangerErik Westerlund and YA’s Pete Devine,Dr. Adam Burns’ “Look into the MercedRiver” and Jayah Faye Paley’s NordicMember examines traditional resourcesduring Ben Cunningham-Summerfield’s“Traditions of the First People.”Walking andTrekking PolesClinics. Thoseseeking lessactive pursuitswere treated tospeakers includingButch Farabeeand MichaelGhiglieri’s discussionof their new book Off the Wall:Death in Yosemite, Superintendent MikeTollefson’s annual park update, and AmyRacina’s discussion of her gripping storyof survival in Angels in the Wilderness. Inaddition, Building with Nature authorLeslie Freudenheim illustrated the influenceof Yosemite in the American Arts& Crafts Movement and photographer/writer Warren Cederborg shared his perspectiveof Yosemite in the 1960’s.At day’s end, friends soaked up the sun and each others’ companyduring the wine and cheese reception.Throughout the day, members had theopportunity to view and bid on artworkdonated by volunteer artists duringthe opening weekend of the YosemiteArt & Education Center. Winners wereannounced during the traditional wineand cheese reception while the crowdshared their day and met the authors.The event would not have been possiblewithout the generosity of our membersand friends in the Yosemite community.Many thanks to all those who gavetheir time and expertise to this year’sSpring Forum: Joe Alfano, AmericanPark Network, DNC Parks & Resorts atYosemite, Dr. Adam Burns, Nené Casares,Warren Cederborg, Ben Cunningham-Summerfield, Dick Ewart, Butch Farabee,Fred Fisher, Leslie Freudenheim, LizGarland, Dr. Michael Ghiglieri, GerryHaslam, Kimi Kodani Hill, ChristyHolloway, Emily Jacobs, MaryJane andVern Johnson, Janis Kunz, Joe Lattuada,Sarah Jo Lemley, Jo Mariorano, DeniseMatsuoka, Joe Medeiros, Lois Orr, JayahFaye Paley, Professional Print & Mail,Redwood Creek, Amy Racina, LennieRoberts, Julie Schuller, Ralph Sierra,Kathy Stayner, Chris Stein, LothLorienStewart, Sarah Stock, Ken Stowell,Keith Stowell, Mike Tollefson, PhyllisWeber, Erik Westerlund, Ed Whittle, andCatherine Williams.150 Years of Yosemite ArtYosemite has moved generations ofpainters and photographers to depictits soaring peaks and dramatic views. Achronicle of that artistic legacy is now ondisplay in Yosemite: Art of an AmericanIcon, an exhibit at the Oakland Museumof California from May 19 to August26. The exhibit deftly tracks the perceptionof wilderness, conservation, andYosemite itself in American culture overthe past 150 years.Early highlights include the mammothplatephotographs of Carleton Watkinsand Eadweard J. Muybridge; the basketsof Yosemite’s Miwok and Piute peoples;and the majestic landscape paintingsof Albert Bierstadt, which enticed theearliest visitors to this frontier destination.Turn of the century photos byIsaiah Taber and George Fiske showcaseYosemite as America’s outdoor playground,shifting views of the parkfrom a remote frontier into a popularvacation resort.Representing the period between 1917and 1969 are paintings by impressionistMaurice Braun, a few of the more than100 Yosemite watercolors and woodblockprints of Chiura Obata, and the iconicphotographs of the man who createdthe park’s most indelible images, AnselAdams. Later artists, including photographersTed Orland and John Divola,as well as modernist painters WayneThiebaud and David Hockney, deliverharder-edged, less romanticized imagesof the park. Paintings from Jane Culp,Greg Kondos, and Wolf Kahn close theshow, carrying Yosemite’s artistic influenceinto the future.The Oakland Museum of Californiais located at 10th and Oak Streets,Oakland, California, 510-238-2200,www.museumca.org. Admission is $8 foradults, $5 seniors and students; childrenfive and under are free.20 YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, SPRING 2007