PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE REZ

Navajo Code-Talkers

Traveling home from the west these photographs plus others were spied from the car. Chip Thomas, an ER doc/photographer on the Navajo reservation, has been wheatpasting large photographs of Native American people on sides of barns and abandoned buildings in the Four Corners for a number of years. These photographs are examples seen between Tuba City and Kayenta on Highway 160. I hope to see and photograph more as I travel south and west of where I live.

Native American women

DR. SEUSS

Dr. Seuss and The Cat in the Hat sculpture

At the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, I visited the Geisel Library (Special Collections Library) and viewed selections of the Seuss Collection (original drawings of Ted Geisel aka Dr. Seuss).

SAN DIEGO BOOK FAIRE

While in California I participated in the San Diego Book Faire, held in the Seuss Room, Special Collections at the Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego. Well attended, the visitors viewed artists' book exhibits and demonstrations, and participated in a silent auction and a raffle.
Book Sculpture by Sally Hagy-Boyer

Geisel Library, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

The Book Faire scene

WASHI WORKSHOP

Papermaking

The April workshop at the Durango Arts Center was quite successful with students exploring the special qualities of fibers such as kozo and mitsumata and the techiques that are used in Japan and Asia. The 2 day session was prefaced with the showing of the film on sheetforming of paper throughout the world by Elaine Koretsky.

APRIL TRAVEL

A week on the island of Molokai was a relaxing interlude. An island without much tourist presence, beautiful in its simplicity and magnificent terrain yet haunting with its history of the once leper colony and Father Damien, caregiver to these abandoned people.

Offering: Molokai, Hawaii

Offering: Molokai, Hawaii

Another site - Sandy Beach on the island of Molokai, Hawaii - for my continuing series of floating handmade paper circles on bodies of water as symbols for peace and healing

Flotsam on the Beach

The beauty of washed up neting and ropes on the beach is bittersweet - floating debris in the ocean being one of our environmental problems

Croton Plant

One of my favorite plants in Hawaii

Raft Floating

Another piece of flotsam found on the beach, pictured as it floats with the tidal current along the shore.

THE 8TH ANNUAL EDIBLE BOOK SHOW AND TEA

The Art of Gardening by Heather Hinsley (chocolate and marzipan)

I Love Books by Mary Ellen Long (graham crackers and frosting)

The event was a big success this year. Some very cool entries. We feasted on delicious "books".

WORKSHOP OFFERING

Cloud Root Paper (handmade paper)

Announcing "WASHI: THE ART OF JAPANESE PAPERMAKING" I will be teaching on the weekend of April 9-10 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM) at the Durango Arts Center. I will also do a free presentation on the subject Friday night, April 8 at 7 PM.

This workshop explores Asian papermaking including fiber preparation, sheet forming, and decorative techniques.

Class is limited to 15 students. Please register before April 1 to reserve your space.

Contact me for more information.

OFFERING IN IRAN

I recently collaborated with three Iranian land artists to make an "Offering" for peace at the 30th Environmental Art Festival in Iran. This collaboration was arranged by Raheleh Zomorodinia who exhibited her environmental art through photographs at the Open Shutter Gallery in Durango last year. My Offering series is exhibited in photographs of floating handmade paper circles on bodies of water all over the world. The artists involved were Shoushtar, Tara Goodarzy, and Shahrnaz Zarkash. This collaboration is posted on WEAD (Women's Environmental Art Directory online) under Raheleh Zomorodinia. I also have a few images on that site.

THE 8TH ANNUAL EDIBLE BOOK SHOW AND TEA

Edible cake books, by Heather Hinsley


sponsored by The Art Library at the Durango Arts Center

FRIDAY - APRIL 1 - 5 PM
JOIN ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL
EDIBLE BOOKS FESTIVAL

PARTICIPANTS ARE INVITED TO CREATE A SCULPTURAL BOOK OF ONLY EDIBLE MATERIAL FOR THIS
1-HOUR SHOW THAT BEGINS WITH A DISPLAY FOLLOWED BY TEA
FEATURING THE CONSUMPTION OF THE ART

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO VIEW, EAT, AND SIP TEA!
RESEARCH:

Research: Google Edible Books and DAC Art Library scrapbook

ROOTS EXHIBIT STATEMENT

ROOTS

deep dark root
tangling
wrapping
spreading


In 2002, the San Juan Mountains, adjacent to Durango,were ravaged by fire.
This fire came very close to my home and studio.
A fire break was made on my land.
In this process, roots of oak, aspen, and pine were revealed...and
I collected them.


This led to amassing many roots of all sizes and from many places.
I began wrapping them in handmade paper and dipping them in sumi ink.
Their complex forms and functions began to fascinate me.


anchoring
absorbing
storing


Part of my explorations took me to a juniper forest
(an environmental art site... The Land at Mountainair, New Mexico)
where I combined handmade paper-wrapped roots from the Colorado forest
with the exposed juniper roots in the Land’s arroyo
which made for an interesting conversation.


Earth from my land in Colorado and earth gathered
from The Land in New Mexico
has been part of this combining and connecting
I have explored during the past year.


More recently, the root forms have evolved into the meandering lines of rivers.
The series Roots to Rivers is in process as I research and draw
the aerial views of the world’s great river systems.

Mary Ellen Long
2011