Julie Dunn, Monta a de Oro State Park.
I go speechless when I think of Monta a de Oro. Its like magic, said Marguerite Costigan, poet, painter and emeritus member of San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment.
From any vantage point in the park you can see where water and land interact in a sometimes amazing, violent way -- producing scenes that are so beautiful you want to go screeeam when you look at them, Costigan said, stretching her vowels out in ecstasy.
Her enthusiasm for Monta a de Oro State Park south of Los Osos is echoed by the other members of SLOPE, a group of local landscape artists dedicated to safeguarding the natural splendor of the Central Coast. For them, the park, known across California for its spectacular scenery, represents a special kind of wildness.
Its still a very unspoiled, natural park, said SLOPE president Denise Schryver, who lives in Atascadero.
The group marks the parks 50th anniversary with the exhibition A Visual Celebration: Monta a de Oro, running Feb. 4 through March 25 at the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History. A portion of proceeds from the tribute show and sale will benefit the Central Coast State Parks Association, a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with California State Parks to promote public awareness and stewardship of the regions natural resources and cultural heritage.
Its really important for the Central Coast to be preserving the land now, said SLOPE emeritus member Dotty Hawthorne, because later it will be too late.
Templeton artist Bruce Everett paints in Monta a de Oro State Park. | Photo: Courtesy of San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment.
According to Cayucos landscape artist Elizabeth Libby Tolley, who co-founded SLOPE with Templeton painter Karen Foster-Wells in 1993, the group is part of a decades-old tradition of environmental activism through art.
The Oak Group, a Santa Barbara-based group of outdoor painters founded in 1986, works with landowners and conservation groups to save some of that countys endangered landscapes from development. And Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment, which is also headquartered in Santa Barbara, has been working to protect open spaces since 2002.
Tolley first encountered the concept when she was hired by Pacific Gas and Electric to document the beauty of the Pecho Coast Trail, which takes hikers within sight of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near Avila Beach. Nancy Warner of The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County served as her guide.
While we were taking these incredible walks, I was learning so much, Tolley recalled. Nancy would help me. She would describe every little bug and every little leaf as I was looking for places to paint.
It was Warner who encouraged Tolley to look into the Oak Group. I could see how a group of painters could make a difference, said the painter, who was also struck by the sense of camaraderie and community she witnessed. What I thought was, Here are people who can work together... They all seemed very friendly with each other, supporting each other.
Deborah Veldkamp, Morning Gold on the Cove.
SLOPE currently has about a dozen active members, and several emeritus members who remain in contact with the group, Schryver said. All are professional artists working in the California plein air tradition who share an active interest in promoting and preserving the beauty of the Central Coast.
A lot of people love this area, and the reason they love it is the way it looks, Schryver explained.
Costigan, one of SLOPEs earliest acolytes, said the organizations philosophy matches what the landscape means to me and to the artists in the area. The San Luis Obispo County poet laureate was one of seven local authors who explored the theme of paradise in peril in the 2008 poetry collection Poems for Endangered Places; she also painted the lush landscapes that grace the books cover and pages.
Templeton painter Bruce Everett joined SLOPE in 2008, about a year after he moved to San Luis Obispo County. I was really happy to have a readymade community of artists that I could relate to, he said, especially those who shared his interest in the natural world.
Peggy Turk, Evening Gold at Monta a de Oro.
Being a landscape painter, Im naturally tied to the environment wherever I am, Everett said. Ive lived to see so many places plowed under or developed without any appreciation for the naturalness of the spot.
To some extent, were all conservationists, us landscape painters, he continued. Its a symbiosis. You have to continue to be an artist and continue to save the environment as best you can.
Since its inception, SLOPE has used art as a way to attract attention to local landscapes and to raise money to preserve those sites as open space, wildlife habitat and farming, ranching and recreation areas.
SLOPE held its first group paint-out in May 1993 at Sur Sur Ranch at Ragged Point, just south of the border between Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. The resulting paintings were displayed at the U.S. Forest Service Office in Goleta, then at the Rayburn House Office Building and the U.S. Forest Services national headquarters in Washington, D.C., reaching new audiences each time.
Bruce Everett, Winter Surge.
Its unclear what role the SLOPE show ultimately played in the governments decision to purchase Sur Sur Ranch and nearby Ventana Ranch. But the group undoubtedly drew more attention to property that later became part of Los Padres National Forest.
All this glorious land... could have been sold for residences, Tolley said. To drive by there [now] and know that land is open -- thats pretty cool.
Over the past two decades, SLOPE worked with local nonprofits including the California Rangeland Trust, the Environment Center of San Luis Obispo County and Small Wilderness Area Preservation to safeguard many of the Centra
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
Julie Dunn, Monta a de Oro State Park. 
