Walking with Loss in Colorado and New Mexico
Early in 2022, I came to Boulder, Colorado on a four-month fellowship at Naropa University sponsored by the Lenz Foundation. I arrived in the wake of the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome, and Marshall fires, the largest and most destructive fires in the state’s history. That fall, I began a two-month residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute, shortly after the largest fires in New Mexico’s history, ravaged the nearby forests. My proposal for the Lenz fellowship was to walk with environmental grief, “to stay present with pain and loss while grounded in the unconditional brilliance of a degraded world,” work that I continued in New Mexico.
--A small sampling of on-going work, images, texts, and performance/rituals in process
Sky gazing at Bald Mountain 40"x40"
After Cameron Peak Fire, Drala Mountain Center, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado 43"x40", 2022
Cerro Grande, New Mexico 50"x40" , 2022
The Stickiness of Touch: Caring for Boulder’s Front Range Forests
Dear Tree,
Your yellow band caught my eye and drew me to you. I stood beneath the shelter of your branches, feeling your presence, and slowly reached out to touch the band oozing with sticky sap, trying to synchronize my breath with yours, but the girdle all the way around your trunk prevented your flow.
a series of letters to a girdled tree, written after walks on or proximate to the Shanahan trail, Boulder Colorado
to read and see more WEAD Magazine, Issue #13 The Art of Empathy, Fall 2022 or The Literature of Restoration
Girdled Tree, 32"x71"
After NCAR Fire, 32"x48"
After NCAR Fire, 40"x50"
Girdled Tree Close-up, 14"x21"
After NCAR Fire, 32"x40"
Walking with Pinyons and Juniper
Over 350 million pinyon pines died in the southwest in 2002-2003 and are continuing to perish due to on-going bark beetle infestations. During a two-month residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, I walked with the living trees, listened for what was remembered about those that died, and pondered what stories need to be told. What if we think of dead trees not as a fire hazard to be disposed of, but as lying themselves down for the next generation?
Much more coming from this on-going project.
Tsankawi, Bandelier National Monument, 80”x30”, 2023