OSU professor selected as grand canyon artist in residence

Art professor Liz Roth was selected this year to take part in the "Artist In Residence program" in Grand Canyon National Park.

"An artist in residents" Roth said, "is where someone is providing you with something so you can be an artist. I had a real swanky one back in Japan where they paid for my airfare, food, housing … In this case it's time and space and a pass that says artist in residence."

According to Roth, there are some requirements for participation.

"I will give 3 lectures while I am there," Roth said. "I also have to leave a piece of art there but I have a year to complete it. I am also tasked with doing some kind of outreach in my home town."

Roth was chosen for participation in the program based on her "America 101" series, completed in 2008. The series features 100 landscape paintings, two from every state, and one billboard of an empty water bottle.

According to Roth, her interest in the earth fueled the idea for the "America 101", a continuation of an earlier project in Japan.

"I am interested in issues of environmentalism. I grew up in New York City so I never went to a national park. My idea (of a park) was lines of people waiting in line. I never realized that they were standing in line for something magnificent."

Roth plans to use the Grand Canyon residency program to work on her next project.

"For America 101 I went all over the U.S. and it turned out I did a lot of photography. One of the things I did notice is how people really spend little time looking at stuff. They take a picture then leave. I am an artist. I get a lot of pleasure from the visual and other people are like that too. Why would you not spend time looking at something that is pleasant? I just don't get it. This project is in response to that concept. The point is I'm not going to do it from a photo. It will be a project about paying attention to beauty. I am very interested in the things we collect. We collect a diploma that says we are a graduate and we collect a photo that says we were in a place but… were we really there? I am interested in that disconnect between proof and process."