INSPIRING GIRLS* EXPEDITIONS
Volunteer & Guest Instructor 2011-2023
Inspiring Girls* Expeditions empowers young women through science, art, and outdoor exploration. The program began with Girls* on Ice Cascades in 1999, and has grown into an international community with branches and expeditions around the world.
I was a participant in the North Cascades Program in 2010, and the experience was the first inspiration and catalyst for the interdisciplinary work I now do. I will never forget when I painted outside for the first time when an artist visited our team on day five of the expedition. In the soggy lines of a rain-laden watercolor, climate change became personal. It was impacting a place here, now, that I had come to deeply care about through the lessons from a scientist, mountain guide, and artist.
I returned nearly every year since as a volunteer and guest art instructor. Some years I helped with the first three days of the program and led basic sketching and observation lessons for the students. Other years I met the team in the field for more in-depth interaction and instruction with the team.
Then, when the pandemic cancelled field expeditions, I volunteered for the new Expeditions at Home program and led art sessions that fostered observations of our home landscapes, from rural to urban. We used watercolor, ink, and pencil to not only sketch our surroundings, but also to use color and pattern as the foundation for observations over time that complimented the students’ science projects.
The gallery below highlights moments from the last decade of volunteering for the program. I look forward to joining them next year!
