An artist’s-eye view of the ecological renewal at Big Basin

In the 1800s, before advances in photography eliminated the need for them, landscape painters had a central role to play in the establishment of the national park system, as well as in American migration to the West. Dating back at least to the Louisiana Purchase, artists fanned out to various points throughout the West to do what writers and their words often failed to do, document the beauty and grandeur of wild places. In fact, the first glimpse that the American public got of Yosemite Valley came via artist Thomas Ayres in 1855.

Today, anyone with a cellphone — or, to put it another way, everyone — can Instagram or TikTok from any accessible spot on the globe, which is almost all of them. But the tradition of artists interpreting nature for the sake of the rest of us lives on. 

In fact, it was in that grand American spirit that last summer, 18 visual artists from Santa Cruz County and the greater Bay Area arrived in Big Basin Redwoods State Park for a weekend camping outing, the first such overnight visit in the park since the CZU fires of 2020. Their goal was to learn about how the natural systems of Big Basin were evolving and adapting to the fires’ aftermath — CZU burned up to 97% of Big Basin and destroyed nearly all of the park’s buildings and structures — and, then, to make art about those changes.

On Saturday, many of those artists will be on hand at Big Basin to unveil their work as part of the project called “Big Basin Art About.” From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day, visitors to the park will be able to take in the art as a kind of enhancement to their own experience of the post-CZU park. 

California has 280 state parks, but only one of those gets to be the oldest — and that’s Big Basin. Scott Shepherd of California State Parks said that Big Basin has been bringing in artists, as well as writers, poets and philosophers, since the park’s opening in 1902. 

“In that same vision, we hoped to capture the transition of Big Basin in this unique time in its history,” said Shepherd, interpretation and education program manager for California State Parks. “[Our aim was] to document the transition from devastation to inspiration and to inspire to come back and rekindle a deep and meaningful relationship with our oldest state park.”

The artists who participated in the camping trip back in June 2023, chosen from a field of more than 80 applicants, represent a wide variety of forms and mediums, and include several prominent names in the arts in Northern California. Among them are celebrated Santa Cruz wildlife photographer Frans Lanting, San Jose-based artist and climate activist Linda Gass, San Jose State professor of art Robin Lasser, artist/naturalist and Santa Cruz native Tina Somers, Santa Cruz ceramic sculptor Cynthia Siegel and many others.

“Basically,” said Shepherd, “we asked them to come into the park with us, and to try to start thinking creatively about how they might use their medium to educate the public on this historic moment in Big Basin. And we left it really open-ended, because we felt like the creativity of these local artists would surpass or exceed our ability to really give them direction.”

One of those artists was Donna Thomas, who uses the form of the book to create her gorgeous hand-made art. Thomas said that the time she spent in the park with her fellow artists was invested in learning. “It was not us just sitting around making art,” she said. “We were hearing information from Big Basin staff about the whole infrastructure, of how to reimagine transportation to or through the park, we learned how naturalists talk about the ecosystem there. The administration talked about the future of state parks. We did a lot of walking, a lot of listening to docents and experts, and then a lot of sharing of how other people did their art. So we had so much input to work with, but all with a bunch of like-minded artists. It was really a blast.”

Many of the artists had not been to Big Basin since CZU, and did not know what to expect from an area in which the fires’ destruction had been all but total. “I had no idea what it was going to look like or how it would recover,” said Thomas. “And it was really a relief to see that the forest is going to survive, and really is going to thrive.”

Thomas had a deeper connection to the park than many. She had grown up attending the park from the youngest age, and within the park is a tree planted as a memorial to her late grandfather. Like the other artists, she was given a free pass to return to the park as many times as she wanted to after the initial camping weekend. It was then that she conceived of the piece that she produced for the project, an accordion-style art book called “Transformation: Fire in the Forest,” which included poetry and prose from other artists, along with paintings and other graphic cues to enhance the book’s message of renewal.

The Thomas book is one of many different forms that “Big Basin Art About” project has embraced, including photography, sculpture, digital media, even metallurgy. The art will displayed in the park on Saturday, and will have a permanent home in the park, but not until a new visitors center or museum is built on the grounds. Until then, the pieces will be loaned out to various galleries, museums and public buildings around Santa Cruz County and the Bay Area. 

“The creativity of the artists themselves was beyond anything that I could have originally anticipated,” said Shepherd. “And [their work is] deeply rooted in emotion as well. I remember, when the park reopened in July of 2022, I remember visitors coming and just weeping, needing a space to emote and to experience loss and grief of their prior relationship with this place. And I feel like, if anything really surprised me is just like how well that was captured by the artists themselves.”

“Big Basin Art About” takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Highway 236, west of Boulder Creek. The park has limited parking, so officials are encouraging visitors to register and to take a free Metro bus from Scotts Valley into and out of the park. Park entrance fees may apply. 

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