Building Connection Through Art in our Local Park

Art in the outdoors is something that I am very passionate about, but perhaps not very talented in. There is just something about setting aside my worries and gathering my attention entirely on a natural subject. It is grounding. Although past drawings and paintings often have led others to question “well what exactly is it that you’ve painted…?” I knew exactly that Ryliegh (my fellow National Park Trust College Ambassador) and I must integrate art into our local park outing as a part of the National Park Trust College Ambassador trips.

Thus, we reached out to our community to join us on an outing to our local Gene C. Reid Park, just a hop skip and a jump Southeast from our main campus. This park was chosen due to its location from campus and its uniqueness as being the largest urban park in Tucson. This past Saturday, November 15th, a group of 16 university students gathered at the University of Arizona’s Outdoor Recreation center in Tucson, Arizona. After a few icebreakers at the rec center such as “If you had to choose a condiment to shoot out of your bellybutton, what would it be,” we gathered our watercolor and drawing supplies and took a quick an incredibly short shuttle to Reid Park (feel free to integrate this into your own bank of icebreakers – I know, it’s pretty good).

Upon arriving at the park, we were immediately taken aback. I had indeed never seen so many people at Reid Park. We had later learned that there was a nearby festival taking place in another section of the incredibly large park. The participants who had never had the pleasure of exploring Reid Park before exclaimed “How have I never been to the Reid Park before if the entirety of Tucson apparently is here?” This indeed made me chuckle.

Then the fun began. Well really I shouldn’t say this because we had already been non-stop laughing at ridiculous jokes in the car. Let’s say that the fun continued as we began to explore the park. Between the rose garden and the duck pond, with what had to have been a hundred ducks, I am unsure which was ultimately the favorite of the group. Both were gorgeous in their own unique way. As we explored the park this gave us inspiration for our plein-air drawing and painting. Then, only after we had explored the landscape just as Lewis and Clark once did, we settled at the top of a small hill.