Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) and The National Parks Arts Foundation (NPAF) announced earlier in the month that Kona based runner and artist, John Ferdico — a photographer, installation artist, and art lecturer at Hawaii Community College-Palamanui — as July’s Artist in Residence.
Ferdico was selected in June out of a competitive field of applicants and was awarded a four-week stay in Discovery Harbour, a quaint golf course community located 30-miles from HVNP along with a $2000 stipend. A presentation of his artwork was displayed on July 20 at the Kahuku Unit of HVNP.
For Ferdico, it was a long awaited wish on his bucket list that came true.
“I’ve been applying for things like this for a long time — opportunities for artists to exhibit their work,” said the 52-year-old Kailua-Kona resident. “It’s essentially a merit-based award that tends to be fairly competitive. This was the second time I applied for the National Park Artist Residency, but I also applied for the National Park on Maui. So being that this was my third application to the National Parks, I guess you could say, the third time was the charm.”
Artists have been creating art in the National Parks since the late 19th century. Today, the sights and sounds within the National Parks continue to inspire artists in more than 50 residency programs across the country while providing the unique opportunity to work amidst various natural and cultural settings.
Residencies are typically two to four weeks in length and include lodging and a stipend. Artists are often invited to participate in park programs by sharing their artwork with the public.
“Finding an opportunity to be by yourself, work, and concentrate for prolonged periods of time are pretty rare,” Ferdico said. “One of the biggest challenges for artists is most having day jobs to support themselves, not leaving much time to create their work. So these awards typically give artists residencies in a particular place that can help inspire or inform one’s work.
“For my proposal on my application I told them that I was much more interested in the cultural aspects of the Hawaiian landscape. How the Hawaiian culture, in their relationship to the landscape and the world around them, and how that compared to Western cultures. Being able to learn more about that via the National Parks was my stated intention for the awarded opportunity to do so.”
However, just three weeks after sending in his application in April, the Kilauea volcano erupted.
“It’s been really good,” Ferdico said about his experience. “It’s funny because you apply for these types of things months, sometimes years in advance. So I applied literally three weeks before the volcano erupted. At the time it was understood that you would be spending time in the volcano. But then the volcano erupted so then that was no longer an option. But the Kahuku Unit was available.”
Ferdico says that he feels more inspired than ever because of the on-going active lava flow from Kilauea.
“One of the essential ideas that I think about is our relationship to nature, natural forces, and how we culturally come to explain and come to terms with them,” he said. “So anytime one ponders a volcano, more will certainly bubble up to the surface. When a volcano is actively erupting, the ideas certainly become much more dramatic.”
Ferdico’s early
aspirations in
art and running
When Ferdico was a child, drawing and building plastic scale model kits in the cozy basement of this family’s New York home were among his favorite things to do.
Some of his more elaborate creations were devoted toward what appealed to any childhood boyish fantasy — scary looking dinosaurs, movie monsters and airplanes.
Ferdico also had a keen relationship with aviation and running. He grew up near John F. Kennedy International Airport and his father, who worked for Trans World Airlines, was an avid runner much thanks to the 1970s “Running Boom.” It would only be a matter of time that Ferdico’s talents would become a symbiotic melding of the two.
“My parents got into the running craze in the 1970s with the Running Boom,” Ferdico said. “They both quit smoking and took up running. My dad actually became a lifelong runner. My first pair of running shoes were old Brooks hand-me-downs that were my dad’s. And I would go running with him. At the time, running was something I did to train for other sports. When I was in high school, I only ran as far as my baseball and basketball coaches told me to. Funny, I was on the cross-country team but never went to a meet.”
Ferdico said that when he turned thirty, while playing for a baseball team in the Bay Area, he noticed that he was exhausted by the sixth inning. He took up running a couple miles per week to see if that would help improve his cardio and it did. Next thing he knew, he was signing up for his first race.
“My first race was the Bridge to Bridge Run, a 7.6-mile run in the Bay Area,” Ferdico said. “I was hooked. It was a cool experience — the fun and enthusiasm, the competition. And I haven’t stopped running since. It’s been 20 years.
“My least favorite distance is the 10K (6.2-miler). With the 5K (3.1-miler) you can just go all out. The half marathon (13.1-miles) you can pace. With the 10K, you just don’t know. Should I go out a little faster or pace the whole way? I find it an aggravating distance. My favorite though, is the half marathon.”
Ferdico had also returned to his childhood pursuit of building models and boyhood dreams to fly fighter jets by working with hyperreal model aircrafts and photography. A painstakingly process, he would build and paint the models, then glue a variety of carefully selected images onto them to use as a launching platform for surrealist visual experiments.
“I wanted to make something like the devotional art that decorated the house of my grandmother,” he said. “For her, the crucifixes over the beds would protect her family. I wanted to update that idea, make something to hang on the wall that would protect us from our uniquely modern perils. I have (a hyperreal model aircraft) hanging in our living room and the missile alert was a false alarm, so I think they are working.”
Moving to Kona
Ferdico was born in New York, but raised in Kansas City where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. From there, he earned his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and lived in Oakland, California, where he taught art and photography for 16 years before moving to Hawaii.
Once moving to the Big Island with his girlfriend in 2012, Ferdico soon realized that he was living in one of the endurance mecca’s of the world — Kona. And, it was the perfect environment to further his running and artistic talents.
In 2013, Ferdico was one of two Big Island residents selected to exhibit their artwork at the prestigious Honolulu Museum of Art for “Artists of Hawaii 2013.”
“I found that there’s definitely a relationship between running and art,” Ferdico said. “I find more and more that running is a contemplative practice. During those long runs when you are by yourself, I am absolutely thinking about art making, or the ideas that I will ultimately express in my art practice.
“Running is a great opportunity to process my ideas. And also I find that running is a ritualistic practice that is very similar to the creative process of being an artist. Both practice the art of pushing yourself beyond your perceived limits.”
While having to give up his art teaching positions at Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College in California prior to the move, Ferdico landed a sales position at the Big Island Running Company store location on Alii Drive and committed to running with the afternoon group three times per week and partaking in weekend road races.
Ferdico says that he feels forever grateful to store owners, Jason and Melissa Braswell for their friendship and work opportunity that provided a social outlet to meet Kona’s close-knit athletic community and strengthen his passion for running.
Ferdico now spends his days at HCC-Palamanui as an art lecturer teaching Photography, 2D Design, Digital Imaging and Art Appreciation.
“Working at the store for five years was a really great experience for me,” he said. “When we moved here we immediately latched onto the run group, but between the community and the great climate and then getting the job at the store, I just started to really run more and feel more committed to running.”
When asked about the various titles that have been used to describe his work — mixed media sculptor, visual artist, landscape photographer, and installation artist to name a few, Ferdico only laughed and said that he views himself just as, “an artist.”
“I just like doing what I do. I don’t really enjoy being in the limelight. The process of art making is what is ultimately gratifying. Running is the same way. It’s never about getting on the podium or receiving a medal. It’s the excitement I feel at the start of the race and the training days with friends. It’s the journey to get to the start line that I enjoy most and it’s the same with art.”
To tune in to Ferdico’s live podcast interview that will air on Aug. 3 at 8 a.m., visit BigBlendRadio.com