My First Summer in The Sierra by John Muir, as Re-visualized by Cole Sternberg with Hat & Beard Press
Los Angeles, CA (May 11, 2021) – Hat & Beard Press is pleased to announce the reissue of My First Summer in the Sierra, by naturalist writer and conservationist John Muir, on June 15, re-imagined and re-visualized for the present day by artist Cole Sternberg. The reissued book maintains Muir’s rich, original observations and accounts of the Yosemite Valley from 1911, which as a direct result of his writings and activism is now known as Yosemite National Park. This new version includes original collages by Sternberg, contemplating not only the complex geographic and ecological nature of American natural landscapes, but how the organic world is tangled up with existing, limited notions of sustainability and preservation. This reissue of My First Summer in the Sierra also includes a foreword by Percival Everett, writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
One of the foremost historical advocates for environmental preservation in the United States, Muir’s musings on the Yosemite Valley were written during a two-year stay in a cabin along the Yosemite Creek. Muir felt nature was inherently divine and pristine; through studying plants and animals, his observations solidified his belief that the natural world was pure and accommodating of all life, separate from the cruelties of human civilization. Envisioning nature as nourishing and spiritual, Muir soon became the father of modern preservation movements, working against human intervention, land speculation, and development of the natural realm.
Inspired by Muir’s preservationist philosophies, Sternberg’s artistic practice is concerned with how hegemonic social beliefs and forms have influenced the environment and subsequent policy in the United States. In Sternberg’s works, the environment itself often intervenes as the primary creator. For this new version of Muir’s landmark text, the artist created works that propose a new future for the United States as a continuation of Muir’s vision for preserving nature and wildlife. The collages featured throughout the text enhance Muir’s textual descriptions of radiant, untouched, and transcendental forestry. Overlaid with other works on linen by the artist, Sternberg’s images in the book are suggestive of the natural environment’s mystical qualities, which, to this day, many seek to preserve and protect from human destruction, deforestation, and interference.
A limited edition of My First Summer in the Sierra includes an artist signed-and-numbered print, entitled “lace-like sheets and braided overfolding currents.” The work is printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching paper and limited to an edition of 100. The reissue of My First Summer in the Sierra coincides with Sternberg’s solo exhibition FREESTATE at ESMoA in El Segundo, California, on view until September 18, 2021.
