Oregon state parks encourages art, songs and dances celebrating 100th anniversary

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department launched the Centennial Creative Challenge in October to celebrate 100 years of Oregon state parks. The agency is inviting people to share what the parks system means to them through art.

People can submit photographs, paintings, dances, collages or songs to be featured in a public gallery and on social mediathroughout the rest the year.

“Everybody has it within them to react to these landscapes in ways that are thought-provoking, or deeply felt or even just appreciative,” OPRD spokesman Chris Havel said. “So, let's share with each other the way these parks have appeared to you or occur to you or move you.”

This challenge wraps up a year of celebrations for the Oregon state parks centennial anniversary. This year, OPRD is hosting 100 Volunteer Projects For 100 Years, which includes opportunities to participate in different service projects. OPRD also dove into the history of Oregon's state parks with a timeline.

Submissions to the Centennial Creative Challenge will be accepted through Dec. 31, so there's still time to get out there and explore the parks. If people have only been to a park at one time of the year, Havel said, they really haven't been to that park because the landscape changes so much.

Poetry inspiration from Anis Mojgani

Last Spring, OPRD asked Oregon's Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani to pen a poem for the centennial celebration. To gain inspiration, Mojgani traveled with Havel to state parks across Oregon. They visited White River Falls, Tom McCall Preserve, Thompson's Mills State Heritage Site and Ecola State Park — all first-time visits for Mojgani.

“It was also a real gift getting to be in conversation, dialogue with Chris on these trips,” Mojgani said in a video where he recites his poem. “Getting to talk about what is the relationship between people and parks and ideas and principles of stewardship and what it means to steward the land.”

Mojgani's poem is titled, “The branch is both branch & the tree,” and it helped inspire OPRD to launch the Centennial Creative Challenge.

“Anis is enormously creative and skilled and can take all of those things that are going on inside of him and put it down in a way that you can share with somebody, that's a gift,” Havel said. “But everybody is capable of that to some degree, and we said, well, why not give everybody a chance.”

OPRD said people can use Mojgani's poem to inspire their own art submissions, whether that be a poem or other art forms.

State parks history

Oregon’s first official state park began with a 5-acre piece of land along the Luckiamute River that was donated by Sarah Helmick and her son, James, in 1922. In 1929, Samuel H. Boardman became the first parks superintendent. He drove the expansion of the parks system, which grew over 57,000 acres under his tenure.

Today, the state parks system is made up of over 100,000 acres and 254 park properties.

"There's all of this history tied in with these landscapes and that's one of the reasons state parks have the power that they do," Havel said. "There's more to it than just beautiful places that are fun to visit or fun to play in. There is a deep connection between people in the landscape, and seeing that makes us mindful.”

Explore Oregon Podcast: The rise, fall and rebirth of state parks over 100 years

How to submit art

Havel encourages everyone to participate and share what Oregon's state parks mean to them, regardless of artistic skill level.

“Everybody engages in acts of creation every single day,” Havel said. “So, use that ability to share and help us ring out the year after 100 years of state parks. Anybody can do this, just let yourself go. No judgment. Everything's beautiful. We want to see it.”

To submit art, begin by filling out a short eight-question form on the Oregon state parks website. After you complete the form, you will be directed to upload your media file. The following file formats are accepted: JPG, PNG, TIF, SVG, PDF, AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, MPG, WMV.

Submissions will be posted to a public gallery and on state parks social media accounts.

Makenzie Elliott is an outdoors intern at the Salem Statesman Journal. Reach her at MElliott@Salem.gannett.com. Find her on Twitter at @makenzielliott.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon state parks encourages art that celebrates state's outdoors