Nature's Cathedrals: Excerpts from John Muir’s My First Summer in the Sierra and Our National Parks

This typographic portrait of Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall in Yosemite is composed of John Muir’s evocative words taken from his diary, "My First Summer in the Sierra," and his essay "Our National Parks." The diary was for himself, the essay was one of many to inspire action to preserve and cherish the wilderness of North America. The underlying image is a photograph I took while hiking the John Muir Trail itself on a beautiful summer morning in 2005, which I then carefully adapted for this artform.

While Muir advocated for all wilderness, Yosemite was where he found his calling. Reading his first encounter with the valley is to experience the elation, reverence, and overwhelming wonder that became the motivating forces of his life. This piece invites the viewer to engage and experience this connection. However, you will also find here disbelief at how dismissive, arrogant, or oblivious humans can sometimes be in the face of such majesty. Yet, his goal was not to fight against, but to advocate for.

The power of Muir’s convictions was not inevitable; it was the result of venturing into the world with the intent to learn and be changed by his experiences, and he invited others to do so also. While his full, fascinating story cannot be covered here, his legacy—from co-founding the Sierra Club to his influential camping trip with Theodore Roosevelt—was instrumental in the protection of Yosemite National Park and the birth of the American conservation movement.

Featured at the heart of the image is one of Muir’s most striking realizations: "WHEN WE TRY TO PICK OUT ANYTHING BY ITSELF, WE FIND IT HITCHED TO EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE."