“Ridgeline Work” was inspired by the ridgelines of New England and the tools that are used to help maintain the trails. The triangles are representative of the little tracks my shoes used to leave behind. Dirt, mud, and sand get thrown into the air as a small fracturing of the surface I am treading on.

On the Trail I am known as “Early Bird,” a mountain fairy darting among the trees and rocks, doing long days, and letting my wild spirit fly free. I grew up in the hills of Bridgewater, Vermont, nestled among fresh produce and hardwoods. Fascinated by spending time outside and combining passions, I completed a degree in Studio Art and Environmental Studies from Mount Holyoke College, and I am now creating a home in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. In 2018, I thru-hiked the A.T. to complete my Triple Crown and I returned to the Trail in 2019 to hike 100 miles in the New England section.

@rebecca.harnish
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For all its natural splendor, the A.T. tests every kind of endurance. As an anxious perfectionist, both my hike and attempt to paint along the entire Trail was a lesson in embracing the imperfect. My motivation stemmed from disappointment in the photos I took of places that overwhelmed me with beauty and emotion. Painting, then and now, allows me to express what I experienced more fully. Watching the first shoots of spring greenery sneaking over the mountains, undulating layers of mountains receding into the distance, vibrant sunsets, so much wildlife, and the vast range of different cultures and communities along the way.

Art, for me, is a means of more perfectly capturing the beautiful scenery and memories of life on the Trail. Through painting, I’m able to distill the feeling of a moment. Being in nature for days on end also lets you shed who you think you have to be, your past, your future, your baggage, and feel a sense of peace and magic of the present that can get lost or forgotten in our constructed world. This is what truly inspires me to create, and it’s my hope that these precious qualities show through my work and help people stay connected to the magic of nature and community wherever we are.

I am an artist and educator based in Nashville, Tennessee. I took my first steps on the Trail when I was a teenager. Since then, I developed a close relationship to the A.T., which led to numerous section hikes, a 2014 thru-hike, and working a season as a ridgerunner. With every hike, I make room in my backpack for a sketchbook and art supplies. Inspired by quiet moments at camp, quirky characters, beautiful overlooks, and the grittiness of hiking, my journals are “visual diaries” of life on the Trail.

To tell the story of my thru-hike, I created an installation titled “Appalachian Travelogue” — combining maps, sketches, photos, camping gear, and other items in a kind of “love letter” to the Trail. My work is alternately fictional, autobiographical, or some combination of the two. It is often self-referential, inspired by my own experiences, family tales, or other stories I’ve heard — my own personal folklore of sorts. While these narratives sometimes represent mundane, day-to-day activities, they are animated by poetry and magic.

Everything I create is inspired by the notion of “Americana”: of or relating to the culture and heritage of the United States. Several aspects of this national identity include a reverence for nature, a respect for manual labor and craftsmanship, and an adventurous spirit. In the digital era, we are more alienated from these cultural roots than ever before. My work seeks to re-connect with a simpler way of existence — opening a window through which my viewers can see how life once was, so they can understand who they are today.

@finchfight

I come from the rocky, moss-covered southwest corner of Pennsylvania, where I spend time outside and on trails as much as I can. In 2019, I hiked southbound on the Trail from Maine to Virginia with a watercolor sketchbook, a travel tin of paints, and a ballpoint pen. It turned into an experience that affected my life and artwork deeply. All of my drawings are inspired by our natural world and spending four months on the A.T. was a privilege that allowed me to concentrate on “seeing” — to be present and observe all kinds of wildlife and landscapes that I’d never seen before.

My paintings and drawings are mostly anchored by their sketches; I try to get down the “bones” of the picture in the moment, and then keep building on top of it. I start a composition in pencil, going over it a couple times to get the drawing right, and then I make it permanent by redrawing in ink, and eventually adding color in the last stage. I really like to draw in pencil and pen because so much of the sketch can be retained. Watercolor paints are great to have on the Trail because they are minimal, low-maintenance, and the medium is very forgiving. I find profound freedom in creating art, and in my non-hiking life I work as a freelance illustrator and printmaker. I can’t wait to return to the Trail in the future and continue learning on the hike.

The Trail is a profound teacher. From my experience, I learned to surrender myself to the many things I can’t control — weather, wildlife, and the quite literal ups and downs of the path. The A.T. taught me new lessons in self-sufficiency and the experience of thru-hiking was an empowering reminder of my own strength. But most meaningfully, it helped me to genuinely connect to other people at a time when I felt most disconnected from the world.

The most common question I get with this project is about its title. My best shorthand response is that “hiker trash” is something akin to a beach rat or a ski bum; it’s an affectionate wink paired with a hippies-use-the-back-door flavor. After completing my thru-hike in 2015, I proudly embraced the hiker trash title, and I was eager to interpret my experiences with this awesome community through my favorite language — art. My work is about the process of healing and the ways we seek and find shelter.

I am an illustrator and designer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My work has been displayed in regional galleries and museums, including the Woodmere Art Museum, Delaware Contemporary, and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. I was recently named a 2021 Wind Fellow by InLiquid and the Dina Wind Foundation and am the 2021 Artist in Residence at the Cedar Point Biological Station, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

I use bold brush strokes and brilliant colors to light up scenes of cloudscapes, water, and native flora — often represented in large scale works. My pieces are created in context with my wilderness adventures, and I often bring my paints outdoors to create work that shares with the viewer an immersion in the landscape. I seek the spiritual world through the lens of culture and lived intimacy of place.

I paint with a passion for the land, looking around and internalizing the colors and expressing them onto canvas. Working large scale is not only an expression of what I see but becomes a physical dance with my paintings. The movement and rhythms in these works are my own unique vision of the land around me.