Congratulations to Great Basin National Park's 2025 Artist-in-Residence Selections

Great Basin National Park is proud to announce selections for the 2025 Artists-in-Residence program. Three artists and one alternate artist were selected out of more than one hundred and twenty applicants.

This year's selections include Meghan Catherine Dragon (an artist and art teacher based in Las Vegas), Meghan and Caitlyn Baylor (choreographers, modern dancers, and dance educators, based in Minnesota), and Jack C. Straton (photographer and professor of physics at Portland State University), and one alternate, Eric Tuan (a choral conductor and composer based in the San Francisco Bay area).

Meghan Catherine Dragon: “I believe that every moment, every breath, offers a meaningful chance to pause and connect with our surroundings. My paintings and drawings translate the rich patterns and textures of nature into pieces that depict combinations of flora and fauna from specific habitats. Through the art I create during this residency, I hope to encourage visitors to appreciate and respect the stunning wildlife and environment of Great Basin National Park.”

Meghan and Caitlyn Baylor: “We are twin sisters and dancers who specialize in site-specific choreography. By definition, a site-specific work is inseparable from the site where it is created. The moving body in nature can awaken both dancer and viewer to their shared awe at what a gift it is to move through and exist in environments that are at once so sublime and so fragile. We are honored to immerse ourselves in the wild spaces of Great Basin in order to honor, celebrate, and protect its wild complexity with our bodies and our movement.”

Jack C. Straton: “The stark vibrancy of the Great Basin Region calls to me. Too often overlooked beneath the grandeur of the American West is what the light is doing filtered into its small glades and deep shadows. The Artist Residency at Great Basin National Park will provide a crucible for deepening my craft, honing my photographic eye, and nurturing my bond to the world surrounding me.”

Eric Tuan: “During my first visit to Great Basin National Park in 2020, I was mesmerized by the desolate beauty of the landscape and its resonance with my musical practice, which seeks to elevate the voices of the more-than-human world during a time of climate crisis. The stillness and solitude of the park’s remote location allowed these voices of nature to be heard with distinct clarity.. I would like to compose a set of three to four art songs exploring the theme of “deep time” while at Great Basin National Park.” 

The Artist-in-Residence program, supported by the Great Basin National Park Foundation, brings artists of many mediums to the park to develop artistic pieces with the themes of the Great Basin. Many highly qualified artists applied for the 2025 AIR Program. The selected  artists, working in many mediums, displayed professionalism, creativity, and a mix of traditional and modern art styles. The jury’s selections were based on artistic integrity, creativity, ability to reside in an isolated high desert environment, and how an artist would relate and interpret the park through their work.

Photo: 2024 Great Basin National Park Artist-in-Residence painting in the Park's bristlecone pine grove below the Wheeler Peak Cirque.