Chattermarks

During the last weekend in April, Seattle artist and North Cascades Institute friend and instructor Molly Hashimoto led a wonderful and inspiring 3-day Adult Seminar on Printmaking with Ink and Watercolor at the Environmental Learning Center. Each day, Molly shared basic printmaking techniques that helped to build tangible skills and deepen each artist’s unique and creative talents. Molly and her students spent time in and around the Environmental Learning Center, finding inspiration in the newly emergent spring growth, towering peaks, blue waters, and rich colors of the North Cascades. After learning the basic elements of black and white contrast, participants spent time designing, carving, and proofing their block prints, later developing color palettes to enhance their work. So engrossed in their art were the 15 dedicated participants and staff of this workshop that they had to be reminded to take breaks in order to taste the delicious meals prepared by the chefs, or to enjoy a quick walk along the sunny shores of Diablo Lake! Below is a painted story highlighting the beautiful prints of the workshop’s participants. A big thank you to Molly and to all who attended!

Check out Molly Hashimoto’s blog for a full recounting of her experience while teaching printmaking at the Environmental Learning Center.

» Continue reading Spring Printmaking Workshop at the Learning Center

I think it may be safe to say that life is coming back to the North Cascades as of today, and yesterday, and even a few weeks ago! At first the change was so subtle it was barely recognizable, and we here at the North Cascades Institute were still clinging to the warmth of our down jackets even as the first shoots of palmate coltsfoot were pushing their way stubbornly through the matted duff of winter. Then the first familiar calls and presence of returning migratory birds were heard – the throngs of robins, the vibrant rush and resonate tapping of the red-breasted sapsuckers, the two-toned trill of the varied thrush, yellow warblers, and most recently the whir and brilliance of the rufous hummingbird. And now, with the warming and lengthening days, spring has truly taken off. Life is bursting everywhere from canopy to forest floor and an expanding color palette hints at more to come. Emergent alder leaves catch the growing sunlight and reflect it at new angles throughout the understory, delicate yellow violets line the edges of pathways, a few brave lady slipper orchids hide behind rocks, fiddleheads unfurl their fronds, and a solitary patch of bleeding hearts open their petals.

Each day, new anticipations. Each day, burgeoning new colors. Each day, returning signs of life to marvel at and explore.

Here at the Institute we each notice and experience these springtime harbingers in different ways. For some, spring’s arrival is primarily an auditory sensation captured in birdsong and flowing creeks, for others a visual experience of color, and for others still a feeling that sneaks up on them slowly or startles them into wonder at a particular moment – a waterfall swelling with snowmelt, sulfur butterflies basking in the sun on muddy trails, or the first black bear spotted as it munches feverishly on new shoots of grass and greens. Together, our collective celebrations paint a rich narrative of springtime in this place where we live, work, and play.

The dappled hues of green cast by sunlight on emerging alder leaves. Photo by Katie Tozier.

» Continue reading Institute Celebrations of Spring

This past weekend dawned sunny and warm in the North Cascades, an unexpected delight for those of us electing to live out the winter in the solitude of the snow-capped peaks and hushed forests around the Environmental Learning Center. Although spring has reportedly been blooming down along the Skagit Valley, our world has remained snowy, rainy, and cold. And if by chance we forget, the closure of Highway 20 just a few miles to our east reminds us it is so. Eager to take advantage of the sun and rare blue skies, a group of 6 of us – staff, grads, and friends – decided to canoe up into the big drawdown of Ross Lake and spend a night under the stars.

We began our 22 mile canoe trip first in the wind-chopped waters of Diablo Lake, some of us (myself included) wondering what we were getting ourselves into. After an hour of paddling, we reached the boat dock at the end of Gorge Canyon, and hitched our canoes to a few wobbly, old, and very janky wheel gurneys in order to portage our boats up and over 540 ft tall Ross Dam to Ross Lake. It was a haul to say the least, and a huffing and puffing adventure at that. On the other side we were greeted by a stunning view of Jack Mountain, and chose to have lunch at the water’s edge, mesmerized by the beauty mountains in every direction.

Kai Girard portaging one of our canoes up the service road between Diablo and Ross Lakes. Photo by the author.

Surprisingly, the wind died down on Ross Lake, and our group paddled along in excited anticipation for every new peak and vantage awaiting us around each corner. It wasn’t long before Ruby Mountain came into view, a delight for me after months of barely glimpsing the tip of it, concealed as we are so far below along Diablo Lake. The water was glass, and each canoe of two spread out along its width as if responding to the naturalness of its quiet and its calm. It felt good to be out on water, moving ourselves by the strength and consistency of our paddles.

» Continue reading Entering the Ethereal Forest

Contributed and written by talented Seattle-based artist and longtime North Cascades Institute Adult Seminar Instructor, Molly Hashimoto.

[Please join North Cascades Institute this April 27th - April 29th for an exciting weekend workshop on Printmaking with Ink and Watercolor with Molly Hashimoto. In addition to exploring the wild landscape around the Environmental Learning Center as a source of inspiration, Molly will lead participants in a discussion about design and the power of black and white contrast. Participants will also learn how to transfer drawings to a block of Safety Kut, carve the blocks, ink them up with both water-soluble and waterproof inks, print them without a press on proof paper and fine printmaking paper, and finally tint them with watercolor. No printmaking experience is required for this fun weekend of art, nature, good food, and community -- this workshop can serve as an introduction for the beginner as well as deepen more experienced printmakers' understanding of this dynamic medium. 

Please join North Cascades Institute staff next month for this exciting printmaking workshop with Molly Hashimoto! 

Read below as Molly walks participants and readers through a step-by-step process of printmaking beginning with an original conception inspired by the natural world to the finished product, a beautiful block print.]

Step 1. Up at the Environmental Learning Center last June I woke up early, decided to get a cup of tea from the dining hall, and take a stroll. Walking on the Peninsula Trail, I heard a tell-tale tap-tap-tap  and looked up to see this Hairy Woodpecker on a dead lodgepole pine tree. Always ready with my camera, I put down my teacup and snapped several photos — this gave the best view of the powerful black and white contrast of the bird.

Step 2. I did a drawing using a dark pencil, and added the view of Diablo Lake and the lower slopes of Colonial Peak. I thought the work would be more dramatic if I put the woodpecker in the context of its wider world.

Step 3. Before proceeding any further, I decided to do a color thumbnail using a black marker pen and watercolor on a heavyweight card stock paper, just to try out the color palette.

» Continue reading Woodpecker Print: A Step-by-Step Demonstration

March 15^th marked a day of celebration for Cohort 10 graduate students at the end of a long journey as they completed their Master’s in Environmental Education from Western Washington University and received certificates in Leadership and Nonprofit Administration from the North Cascades Institute.

Institute staff and current Cohort 11 graduate students were joined by family and friends of Cohort 10 at the Environmental Learning Center to honor the achievements of this talented, lively, and inspiring bunch: Teresa Mealy, Kate Rinder, Stephanie Bennett, Codi Hamblin, Stephanie Pate, Nick Mikula, Clint Hensley, David Strich, Cece Bowerman, Elizabeth Penhollow, and Scott Davis.

C10 graduate students have spent the last two years living, learning, and teaching together while immersed in the natural world extending from the peaks of the Cascade mountains to the coastal waters of the Puget Sound. This group came together in June 2010 in Bellingham for a summer of exploration before moving to the Environmental Learning Center in North Cascades National Park to begin their year-long residency. During that year, these students gained hands-on experience as educators and staff working for a variety of Institute programs, including Mountain School, Base Camp, Family Getaways, Adult Programs, and Summer Youth programs. In the winter, Cohort 10 focused on project-based coursework in curriculum development and nonprofit management as they gained skills and understanding in how nonprofit organizations work, grow, and thrive. This year-long experience also provided opportunity for these students to cultivate a deeper connection to the North Cascades and to each other as they explored the region by foot, canoe, ski, and snowshoe.

Following the residency, the grads returned to Bellingham to spend their last two quarters back at Western Washington University’s campus where they applied their experience in the mountains to educational theory and various in-depth research projects.

» Continue reading C10 Graduation: A Celebration of Endings and Beginnings

In Thor Hanson’s book FEATHERS: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle (Basic Books; June 1, 2011) – recently awarded a Pacific Northwest Booksellers “Book of the Year” award — the San Juan Island-based conservation biologist blends his own field ornithology experiences from Africa to Antarctica with the work of paleontologists, biologists, engineers, art historians and even fashion designers to offer an engaging narrative of the natural and cultural history of feathers.

Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. Their story begins in the Jurassic and leads through the development of flight to high fashion, from leaping dinosaurs to showgirls on the Las Vegas strip. They’ve given us the word “pen” and inked documents from the Magna Carta to the Constitution. They’ve decorated queens, Aztec priests, and Victorian women’s hats. They silence the flight of owls, give shimmer to hummingbirds, and keep penguins dry below the ice. Yet their story has never been fully told.

“The human fascination with feathers runs much deeper than science, touching art, folklore, commerce, romance, religion, and the rhythms of daily life,” writes Hanson. “From tribal clans to modern technocracies, cultures across the globe have adopted feathers as symbols, tools, and ornaments in an array of uses as varied and surprising as anything in nature.”

We are delighted to be hosting Thor Hanson at our first 2012 Sourdough Speaker Series on March 24-25th. Please join us in welcoming him to the Environmental Learning Center to learn about feathers, birds, evolution, and stories of wonder and insight from the field of conservation biology.

In anticipation of Thor’s upcoming visit, I struck up a conversation with him over email about his captivating explorations of this remarkable subject.

» Continue reading Thor Hanson Talks About “FEATHERS”

As graduate students spending a year at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, winter is a contemplative and focused time – a time of respite from teaching Mountain School programs to work on group projects for our nonprofit and curriculum classes. This work, along with an in-depth research project on a Natural History topic of our choosing, comprises the bulk of our academic studies.

This kind of project-based learning allows for us to structure our studies around time spend outside naturalizing and exploring the winter world of the Cascades. A canoe paddle on Diablo Lake breaks up hours of writing and research while giving us a chance to feel inspired by icicles clinging to rocky cliff ledges near Thunder Knob. A hike up to Buster Brown Field allows us to the breath in the deep, crisp air while listening for golden-crowned kinglets that have just returned from their winter migrations. Feeling reenergized, we are able to focus again on the work at hand.

As much as we cherish these opportunities to explore the natural world just outside our doorsteps, sometimes we need time away in different places altogether where new adventures, learning, and inspiration can occur. Cohort 11 recently returned from just such an adventure: A three-day Winter Graduate Retreat at Mount Rainier National Park and the Skagit Flats.

A red fox curled up in the snow. Above, the moon rising in an alpine glow sky at Mount Rainier. Photo by Jess Newley.

We began the retreat with bluebird skies and a four-hour car ride that landed us at the base of Mount Rainier. Many of us were so eager to begin our adventure at the Park that we drove straight up to Paradise Meadows on the southwest face of the mountain at 5,400 ft. After orienting ourselves to the winter ecology, glaciology, and geologic history of the Park at the Visitor’s Center, graduate students dispersed to explore this singular volcano in the Cascades Range. In just a few short minutes of hiking around, a number of us turned to see a red fox sauntering along the trail beside us. We gasped, looking around in wonder as a second fox, this one a silver morph of the first, came quietly behind it. Both had their noses to the ground, and neither seemed to be paying us, or their proximity to the parking lot of Paradise, any mind. These habituated foxes were simply out for a dusk perusal of their territory and feeding grounds. Having never seen a fox at such close distance myself, I was delighted. We watched them for a time, following their trails into the trees. Looking up, we spotted a porcupine in a subalpine fir above our heads munching on needle buds and dropping pellets onto the snow. An hour at the Park and already the wildlife count was up! Our first day ended with a stunning sunset and alpine glow across the wintery beauty of Mount Rainier.

» Continue reading White Peaks, Bluebird Skies, Flapping Wingbeats

North Cascades Institute is pleased to announce Summer 2012 Applications are available online for high school students interested in the Cascades Climate Challenge or North Cascades Wild programs. Both programs are tuition-free and focus on leadership, community, stewardship, outdoor skills and connection to the natural world through wilderness experiences in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

A CCC student takes a moment to appreciate the small wonders of the natural world while studying climate change.

Cascades Climate Challenge (CCC) students will spend three weeks camping, canoeing and backpacking while working alongside natural resource managers and Institute staff learning the science behind climate change and how students can effectively communicate ways to mitigate the effects of a changing global climate on human communities. Upon returning home, students design and implement a service-learning project in their community teaching others about ways we can address climate change. In November they will be encouraged to attend the Youth Leadership Conference in the North Cascades to share their experience with other youth. Applications for CCC are due March 30th.

NC Wild students on board the NPS Mule on Ross Lake.

North Cascades Wild features 8- and 12-day summer wilderness expeditions in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Students canoe, camp, backpack and complete conservation service projects while developing leadership skills and learning about the local natural and cultural history of the North Cascades region. The program includes spring and fall monthly field trips for students from Skagit and Whatcom County, WA, a fall reunion and a Youth Leadership Conference at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Students currently in any grade in high school from WA and OR are eligible to apply. Applications for Skagit/Whatcom students are due February 16th while students from the rest of WA and OR are due March 30th. 

Applications are found on our website along with quotes, photos, blogs and video!!

North Cascades Wild Information and Application

Cascades Climate Challenge Information and Application

Youth Leadership Conference

Teachers – Stay tuned for news of a climate change teacher training opportunity this August with North Cascades Institute!

If you have any questions please feel free to call or email Aneka Singlaub (email: aneka_singlaub@ncascades.org; 360-854-2595) regarding Cascades Climate Challenge, or contact Amy Brown, North Cascades Wild Program Coordinator, regarding North Cascades Wild (email: amy_brown@ncascades.org; 360-854-2582). Thank you.

Leading photo of NC Wild students after successfully summiting Desolation Peak in North Cascades National Park. All photos courtesy of North Cascades Institute.

As much as we love North Cascadian landscapes, we here at the Institute are still called to visit and experience other amazing places on our planet. We publish accounts of the places Institute staff and graduate students visit in our Road Trip series.

As graduate students immersed in developing a sense of place within the rich, rugged landscapes of the North Cascades, we spend a lot of time attending to, and exploring, the natural world outside our doorsteps. At the Environmental Learning Center, our academic studies of the history, culture, ecology, art, and conservation of this place are integrated with actual feet-on-the-ground learning. This type of naturalizing is a practice that takes patience, and a willingness to move through our surroundings with careful observation as we slowly make sense of its many patterns and intricacies. The deeper we go in this process, the more the meaning and being of the North Cascades opens up to us. We begin to understand the stories written on and of this landscape, and our place in it.

For many of us, this practice of Natural History in all its interdisciplinary forms roots us intimately and specifically to the high mountains and steep river canyons of this region. The nature of this type of learning means that, for many graduate students, we will leave this program knowing the North Cascades better than we know our own, native homelands. How then, do we translate the tools we are learning here to other river drainages, mountains, high deserts, or valley bottoms?

In an effort to explore this question during our month-long respites from the North Cascades, Kiira and I reflected on how the practice of natural history can be used to cultivate awareness and develop a deeper sense of connection to any landscape that we move through. While Kiira’s travels took her home to the rolling hills of southern Vermont, mine took me south into the austral summer of the Patagonian Andes.

» Continue reading Latitudinal and Longitudinal Explorations of Natural History

They say it is winter here in the North Cascades. With the shadowed days and the sting of cold to cheeks as you step outside, one might even believe it is true. But missing from this crisp landscape is also the white beauty of snow. While it is easy to lament the bare ground in January or the undeniable wish for skis and snowshoes, we can also find appreciation in winter’s more subtle forms. The hoar frost feathered like brandished fur on a fallen twig, the crunch of elegant crystalline ice rods pushing their way through hardened soil, the prominent, frozen stalactites dripping from mountain wall. Winter is here, and while we eagerly anticipate a world transformed by snow (the next couple weeks, they say!), we can still appreciate its other poetic manifestations.

Below, a few winter inspired poems.

Winter Song in the Foothills

Tim McNulty, from In Blue Mountain Dusk, 1992

 

On the colder nights

when the scattered chips

of winter stars

light the valley with frost,

the frozen lakes will sometimes

sing to themselves.

 

Their song

echoes through the snowforest hills

and still dense midnight air

like a great kettledrum

rumbling deep and hollow

in the belly of the earth.

 

Plates of ice shift and settle

against their banks of pasture

and wood,

while this strange and restless music

drifts past the frosty ears

of cows, owls

tucked in the hollows of night,

the gentle sleeping bears,

 

and carries up the hillside creeks

to startle us from sleep

- no song like we ever heard before -

and rock the house softly

on its moorings of ashes and dust.

Crystalline rods of ice, formed during cold, clear nights, push through moss and soil. Photo by Kiira Heymann.

» Continue reading Poetic Visualizations of the Winter Season