An innovative pilot residency celebrating art, ecology, and Indigenous cultural revitalization
About the Mariposa Creek Parkway Artist-in-Residency Program
In the Spring of 2026, the Mariposa County Arts Council, in partnership with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, Sierra Foothill Conservancy, and Mariposa County Planning Department, launched the Mariposa Creek Parkway Artist-in-Residency (AiR) Program. This groundbreaking pilot initiative invited artists to engage with the unique cultural, ecological, and wildfire resilience challenges of the Mariposa Creek Parkway, a vital community space along the western edge of Mariposa.
The residency program was designed to embed artists deeply within the landscape and local communities, offering three residency tracks: Visiting Artists from across California, Local Artists from Mariposa County, and a year-round Traditional Arts Residency led by the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. Selected artists received stipends, housing (for visiting artists), workspace, and access to local experts, while creating art that highlights the intertwined themes of Indigenous cultural heritage, ecological restoration, and climate resilience.
The residency featured public engagement opportunities including creek walks, workshops, and artist talks. Artists interpreted and amplified stories of land stewardship, Indigenous knowledge, and climate adaptation, contributing to a vibrant cultural legacy along the Parkway.
Application and Selection Process
Anna Friedland and the Bootjack Clay Shack were selected to represent the Local Artists category for the residency program. Stephanie Troyan and Mariah-Rose Marie were chosen for the Visiting Artists category. In addition, a full schedule of artists were selected to participate in the year-round Traditional Arts Residency led by the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. Read more about the selected artists below.
At the conclusion of the December 2025 application period, a panel of community members adjudicated the applicant pool based on a rubric of criteria, such as artistic merit, alignment with program goals, community engagement proposals, feasibility, etc. Special consideration was given to artists who bring new perspectives, reflect lived experience connected to ecological, cultural, or rural issues, and have a demonstrated interest in long-term, place-based engagement.Application and Selection Process
Local Artists
Anna Friedland
Anna Friedland is a Mariposa-based artist specializing in illustration and graphic design. Her art process begins on walks, where she closely studies Sierra Foothill flora and fauna. She seeks to create beautiful visual art and design that educates, clearly communicates, and makes the world a better place.
Anna’s Residency
During the first week of Anna’s residency, she led seven, one-hour creek art walks with seven different groups of our local community. The week was all about community engagement, sharing creek education, and photographing participants’ natural treasures/delights. During the second week, Anna drew participants’ treasures from the creek walks and composed all of these items into one piece of art – a bandana.
Bootjack Clay Shack
The Bootjack Clay Shack is a collective pottery studio rooted in Mariposa, California, and serves our community teaching clay building skills, and as a creative ceramics art space. The owner and lead instructor Karen Mentzer, is a self-taught potter and hand builder, offering classes, workshops, and open studio time.
Photo back row – Karen Mentzer, Judy Dorfner, Tracie Miller. Front row – Troian Cummings, Ann Hart
Bootjack Clay Shack’s Residency
The Bootjack Clay Shack built a life-sized ceramic sculpture of our native beaver, the harbinger of waterway health. The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation tribal stewardship and land restoration Meh-su (Beaver) Crew named the beaver Ochimeti’ Kikut, meaning “friends at the water/friend of the water.” The beaver sculpture has been installed and is available for viewing along the Mariposa Creek Parkway. The Clayshack members also hosted a sculpture class making other native creek animals for people of all skill levels and ages.
Visiting Artists
Mariah-Rose Marie
Mariah-Rose Marie is the author, artist and educator behind COOK LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS, A Quick & Easy Guide to Healthy Relationships, and dozens of illustrations and comics about food, queer life, ecology, and transnational solidarity appearing in publications such as The Nib, EATER, The New Yorker, Science for the People Magazine, and more. When not drawing, they can be found tending to urban gardens or cooking with a concerning amount of chilies.
Photo credit: Pea Nùñez
Mariah-Rose Marie’s Residency
Mariah-Rose connected deeply with the land and local community through their project, “Planting the Seeds for Comics.” This project documented the behind-the-scenes process of creating a sequential graphic novel about the ties between native plants, invasive plants, and the necessity of fire in the California landscape, culminating in a community milkweed planting and zine making workshop.
Download Mariah-Rose’s Milkweed Planting 101 Guide, Colored (JPG 3.4 MB)
Download Mariah-Rose’s Milkweed Planting 101 Guide, Uncolored (JPG, 2.9 MKB)
Download Mariah-Rose’s Zine Making Guide (PNG, 169 KB)
Stephanie Troyan
Stephanie Troyan is an interdisciplinary artist who works with collage, mixed media, and journaling methods to explore place as a living system shaped by ecology, memory, and human experience. With a background in landscape architecture, public art, and placemaking, her practice focuses on listening to land, people, and the subtle stories that connect them. She uses layered imagery, mapping, sketching, and elements of mindfulness to create visual artworks that invite reflection, deeper noticing, and meaningful connection with land, water, and community.
Stephanie Troyan’s Residency
DDuring the residency, Stephanie facilitated site-specific activities that combined observation and sensory awareness. Through a guided walk and workshop along the parkway, participants learned nature journaling and phenology wheel techniques, and developed creative practices of noticing and connection that can be continued throughout the year. Separately, Stephanie created a collage-based composition of collective stories, patterns, and reflections inspired by the spirit of place in Mariposa.
Download Stephanie’s Phenology Wheel (PDF, 42 KB)
Funders and Sponsors
Program Partner – Parks California
This program is made possible with funding from Parks California, who are on a mission to make our state parks and public lands welcoming, inclusive and climate-resilient spaces where all people throughout California truly feel at home.
Program Sponsor – Historic Tourist Homes
Historic Tourist Homes provide discounted accommodation for the Artist in Residence program. Tourist Homes is a charming boutique hotel nestled in the heart of downtown Mariposa, California. Offering the perfect retreat for your mountain getaway, our hotel blends modern comfort with vintage charm. Originally built in the 1930s, this historic gem has been lovingly restored to recapture its former glory while providing a cozy and stylish escape for today’s travelers.
