Big Basin Art About
The Big Basin Art About was inspired by Arts in California Parks, an historic project of California State Parks to utilize the unique talents of artists to interpret our state’s most precious public outdoor spaces to stimulate visitor engagement in new ways with our natural and cultural resources.
In 2023, 18 regional artists were selected for the first guided backpacking trip in Big Basin since the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire. Afterwards, they created an art piece in their chosen medium that reflected on their history with and hopes for the park. These pieces were displayed publicly at Art in the Park: Big Basin on June 15, 2024 and will be on loan to local institutions in Santa Cruz County through 2025.
The Big Basin Art About art pieces seek to encourage park visitors to Reimagine Big Basin after wildfire devastated the park with an eye for sustainability, equity, and positive impact for generations to come. Learn more!
Art in the Park: Big Basin, the official debut of the Big Basin Art About art pieces, was a huge success! This event was made possible with major funding from Mountain Parks Foundation and support from Save the Redwoods League, Santa Cruz Metro, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, Parks California, and the Arts in California Parks program. Thank You Sponsors!
Art in the Park Thank You Video.mp4Multimedia Art Pieces Now Available
You can now view all audiovisual content that was created as artists' contributions to the Big Basin Art About online!
Visit the Big Basin Art About Short Films Collection playlist on our YouTube channel to watch these amazing films.
cycles-trailer.mp4Explore Patrick Hart's Cycles - a musical composition with visual elements about appreciating a forest through all parts of its life cycle. The piece lives inside a free software application (Steam or Epic Games). When you launch Cycles, you can view a performance of the piece. If you let it run, it will create a new performance, then another, infinitely; these are completely different versions of the piece. This is because Cycles is procedurally generated, every time. Each generation is related, and may sound kind of similar, but might sound totally different. There are billions of possible generations—you don't have to watch every one, of course, but it's nice to think that the one you're watching has probably never been seen by anyone else. You can even share a nice one with a friend if you'd like. Visit the Cycles website to download the app or watch livestreams on Patrick's YouTube channel.
