Climbing the ladders at Bandelier

Then we gather as we travel,
Bits of moss and dirty gravel.
And we chip of little specimens of stone
And we carry home as prizes
Funny bugs of handy sizes
Just to give the day a scientific tone.
-Charles Carryl

I have just arrived  back in the northern forests of New England after three months traveling and teaching in the Southwest.

I’ve been on a three month expedition of gathering. Gathering images, ideas, vistas and new knowledge, and of course, bits of moss and dirty gravel. Actually pocket fulls of fascinating pebble.

Iron aggregate at Lake Powell

It was a demanding, intense, inspiring and exciting journey with 18 students from Castleton State College, and an anthropologist colleague. Our base was at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe three blocks from the plaza in downtown Santa Fe a city celebrating it’s 400th year!

The journey extended  from the Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde. south to Albuquerque and east to Pecos. We camped, hiked, walked, swam and rode in two 12 passenger vans. We visited parks, museums, and galleries; explored Ancestral Puebloan sites; created site specific art projects; helped harvest a Hopi blue corn field at the foot of Black Mesa and dodged torrential hail stones the size of

The group at the Kiva in Bandelier's Ceremonial Cave after a 170 foot climb

golf balls on Lake Powell. Our tents were blown down in a full-moon thunderstorm in Mesa Verde, dusted with snow in Arizona, assaulted by pesky ravens at the Grand Canyon and baked by the sun at Chaco Canyon National Monument. The list of adventures is long.

In a doorway at Chaco Canyon National Monument. I'm holding our textbook which shows this doorway.

Connectivity was difficult for many reasons and made blogging downright impossible. I finally got a little Verizon Mi-fi which makes it pretty darned easy to stay in touch. Here in Vermont it works nearly everywhere except at my home!

My eyes and heart are FULL of imagery of southwestern vistas and culture. And the amazing art world of Santa Fe. More on that to come…

The grand finale of the journey, and the commencement of a new adventure for me as an artist was the invitation from Gallery 203b, on the famed Canyon Road in Santa Fe to represent my paintings and sculpture . There are three paintings there now and more on the way. I’ll be headed out after the holidays to deliver sculpture.

Back to the easel now in Brandon, Vermont!