Qualifications

With an MFA in Visual Art, a science-based teaching credential, and over 30 years experience as a field interpreter in natural sciences, owner Erica Fielder brings a wealth of knowledge to planning and designing your interpretive displays and trailside panels. These displays skillfully convey facts and anchor them in a reader’s mind through engaging original artwork and reference to memory, sensory and metaphor. With our panels, your visitors are more likely to enrich their experience, fall in love with your site, and care about it over time. Erica Fielder Studio has been making displays since 1983 and is a Certified Woman-Owned Small Business.

Awards:

• Sustainable Small Business Award for Longevity and Success in Mendocino County, 2008, from The West Company, a nonprofit economic development organization serving entrepreneurs and micro-business owners in Northern California
• Threshold Foundation Award for Visionary Creativity, 2002, for educating the public about environmental issues through unique art experiences
• Mendocino Coast Local Environmentalist Award, 1999, “for making superb use of artwork, dialogue and writing to educate the public and local officials about the environmental value of the Ten Mile Dunes” of MacKerricher State Park

Selected Interpretive Projects:

• Currently producing 19 displays for the City of Fort Bragg's California Coastal Trail section along the old Mill Site. (to be completed in fall of 2012)
• Designed two concrete benches with etched tiles for tactile learning and children's interactivity, and 8 panels for American Canyon Regional Open Space District. (2012)
• Completed 8 displays for the U. S. Department of Commerce, Pago Pago, American Samoa, South Pacific, in Samoan and English languages. (2012)
• Researched and developed interactive interpretive concepts through an Irving Fellowship at San Francisco’s Exploratorium. (2007)
• Produced interpretive panels for Sausalito’s Bay Model, Army Corps of Engineers. (2007)
• Developed and produced interpretive panels identifying the natural and historical features of two parks, City of Petaluma, CA. (2005)
• Designed and produced a conceptual interpretive walk highlighting cultural and natural features of the site for the Oakland International Airport, Port Of Oakland. (2003-04)
• Sculpted steel salmon trail markers, created concrete/bronze migration calendar and designed wayside panels, Department of Parks and Recreation. (1995 to 2005)
• Designed and produced 26 interpretive panels, multiples of which have been installed along California’s entire coastline, California State Coastal Conservancy. (1983 to 1995)

Writing:

• Interpretive Nature Guides. Coauthored and illustrated for MacKerricher State Park and Van Damme State Park, Mendocino Coast, CA (1996-2000)
• City Safaris: A Sierra Club Explorer’s Guide to Urban Adventures for Grown ups and Kids. Coauthored, illustrated (Sierra Club Books (1987)
• Ecology for City Kids. Coauthored, illustrated, published and distributed through a grant from the San Francisco Foundation (1976)

Education:

• MFA in Visual Ecological Art, Vermont College
• Additional course work in biology, botany, dendrology, geology and ornithology, U.C. Berkeley and College of the Redwoods, Fort Bragg, CA
• Graphic Design Studies, College of the Redwoods, CA
• Graduate: National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, WY
• Lifetime Elementary Teaching Credential (science & environment), California State University, Hayward, CA
• BA, University Of Washington, Seattle, WA. Senior year studies at the École des Beaux Arts, Avignon, France

References:

• Renée Pasquinelli, State Park Ecologist, California Western Region: 707-937-5804
• Jennifer Santos, Planner, Yolo County, California: 530-406-4886

Printable Résumé