Corrigan Eckert: Artist in Residence at Riveredge Nature Center

June 20, 2026  |  Topics: featured artist

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The Natural Realm presents Corrigan Eckert, who is among 12 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, now in its seventh year. ARTservancy is a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Restoring Lands Land Trust,  Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.

Reflections from the Artist

I am an environmental artist and my practice explores relationships between community, stewardship, and the Midwestern landscape. Through the use of drawing, paper arts, painting, and various printmaking processes, I create art pieces that consider my deepening relationship with the land.

My art practice includes mindful walking, the gathering of natural items, photographs, videos, and audio, as well as nature writing. These modalities allow me to reflect on my experiences of the natural world and create works that encourage conversations about conservation and land stewardship.

I cultivated this practice during my year-long exploration at UWM’s Saukville Field Station as an independent researcher. During my time there, April 2025 through March 2026, I observed the ever-changing landscape, wild creatures and plants there. My time at the Field Station was primarily a solitary experience. I spent my time walking through the forest and prairies and began experiencing these walks as meditative movement. This solitude and quiet allowed me to get glimpses of the wild animals living on the land and these short encounters sparked written narratives. I also used this movement across the land as an opportunity to find and gather natural materials, which I brought into my studio and arranged into compositions for print works.

As I have begun my ARTservancy residency with Gallery 224, I have noticed some distinct differences in my experience as I explore my site, the Riveredge Nature Center. While this site is similar the Field Station in terrain, with its forests, wetlands, and prairies, there is a larger and more active community of people. While walking on the trail I have the opportunity to meet new people. I’ve also had the chance to work with the experienced scientists and volunteers at the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. I first met them in May when they were conducting migratory bird banding at Riveredge’s land near the Milwaukee River. The group was stationed at Connie’s Classroom, and they were wonderful to talk to. I even had the chance to release one of the birds after it had been examined and banded.

Beyond the community, I have chosen to move a bit differently through the landscape. During my visits to the nature center, I am slowing down in order to observe and draw. I still enjoy my walks and photography, but there is something really special about sitting in one place and taking in all of the sounds, colors, and tiny moments of beauty that occur over time. As I continue to build a better understanding of this place and the people that protect and care for it, I look forward to building my own relationship and creating artworks that capture the feelings and experiences I have.

Gallery

Bio

Born in Michigan as the second of four children, I grew up in a tight knit nomadic family of social workers, teachers, and ministers. Moving from one corner of the United States to the other, I have ultimately settled in eight different states, but I have always considered the Midwest to be my home. Throughout my travels and explorations I have always been drawn to the natural world. Finding peace in the quiet of freshly fallen snow, the dappled light of the green woods, and the spray of both lake and ocean waves. These gorgeous landscapes became a reprieve and a place of peace for me. I often went on walks with

my family and I always came home with pockets full of rocks, and hands gripped around feathers, flowers, and leaves. These natural items became memory holders for me, as they covered every flat surface in my bedroom. I often spent time taking photos with my disposable camera, and observing and drawing the plants and animals surrounding my various houses.

When I began my undergraduate program at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, most of my course work was focused on environmental issues and ecological biology. Along with these science courses and the freshman requirements, I made sure to include an art course in each semester. I found supportive mentors and peers that made it clear that art was where my heart found peace. In 2016, I graduated with a BFA in visual art with a focus in painting, along with a minor in Environmental Studies. My time at Earlham taught me the importance of research, which continued to be a prevalent part of my art practice.

Artist workshops have become a great way for me to gain technical skills and grow my community both in Milwaukee and farther afield. Last summer I spent a week at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, where I participated in a paper engineering workshop where we learned how to use a laser cutter to create kinetic artworks.

Gathering experiences at artist residencies, such as this one, has become an integral part of my practice. As a Drawing Water Artist-in-Residence, August 2025, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Trout Lake Field Station, I participated in scientific field work through specimen collection. The scientists, my co-artist, and I traveled to various lakes to collect minnows, fresh water jellyfish, and various underwater plants.

This past May I graduated with my MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During my three years there I honed my research process, and found a love for nature writing. My thesis exhibition was focused on a year-long artist residency where I conducted research at UWM’s Saukville Field Station, which is a scientific research site.

My work has recently been exhibited at The House of RAD in the Crossroads exhibition, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts Member’s Show, and Gallery 224’s Flight Paths & Foot Paths. I am currently working on a mural for UWM’s Sustainability Office which is being funded by Milwaukee Water Commons’ Water School program. I have found a lot of joy as a curator, and I have worked on multiple group exhibitions, such as “Perspectives: a study through lithography” in 2025 and “Brushwork: UWM painting survey” in 2024.

I look forward to continuing to grow my practice and work through more exhibitions, residencies, and workshops.

Website Link: https://www.corriganeckert.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corriganeckert/ (if you want to follow my experience @Riveredge, please follow me!)

For more information about Riveredge Nature Center go to our Find-a-Park page.

Related stories (Riveredge Nature Center):

Bird banding at Riveredge provides critical scientific data.

Area Nature Centers Tap Maples for Syrup—and Fun!

This residency is sponsored by Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. Additional ARTservancy artists in residence at other sites can be found here.

This is the latest in our series of featured artists, which is intended to showcase the work of photographers, artists, writers and other creative individuals in our community whose subjects or themes relate in some broad sense to nature, urban nature, people in nature, etc. To see a list of previously featured artists, click here. The work of the 2022-2023 ARTservancy artists in residence is currently being exhibited monthly at Gallery 224. To meet the other ARTservancy artists in residence, click here and then use the drop-down menu.

All images courtesy of the artist, except as noted. The featured photo at the top of Corrigan Eckert at Riveredge Nature Center is by Eddee Daniel. Lake Michigan Bird Observatory is a project partner of A Wealth of Nature.

The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a project of Preserve Our Parks.

About Preserve Our Parks

Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces.  Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine. 

For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces.  More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.

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