TRIP TO CANYON DE CHELLY

Canyon view

Spider Rock

White House ruin

White House paintings

Canyon wall with circle paintings

A few days ago, I traveled to Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona with husband Wendell and friends Genie and Al Shenk. The experience included a drive along the rim - looking down on the immense canyon, and a guided drive down into the canyon along the stream. An incredible experience in Navajo land. The overviews with ruins of structures built by people Archaic to the Navajo people were quite grand but I carry away the detail of the wall paintings and the rock geology as most impressive and inspirational.

WADE IN THE WATER

Last weekend I attended the Colorado Art Ranch Artposium in Salida, Colorado. The theme was Water - "Wade in the Water". The presenters were author, naturalist, and desert adventurer Craig Childs, poet/writer, water law expert, and state supreme court justice Greg Hobbs and Basia Irland, sculptor and installation artist, poet and book artist, and an activist in water issues. All amazing presentations. Part of the weekend was given to workshops. I took one workshop on the chemical properties of water and another on photographing water. The following images were taken during a walk around the Sands Lake State Wildlife Area and another at a nearby lake photographing water. One evening we meet and heard from the Artists-in-Residents who have been working in Salida for the past month and who the Artposia supports through the participants' fees. All quite impressive - visual artists and writers alike. See more by checking out coloradoartranch.org.

Family on the water

Beaver Lodge

Beaver returning

Reflections

A NEW ADDITION

Purr cat

Purrsha

Beautiful Purrsha (Purr for short) is a frequent studio visitor. Her varied grey and white markings blend well with color themes throughout the house and studio. (Currently studio work tends toward black and white!) Was she not designed to belong to us? Purr has a grey "heart" adjacent to her nose and performs a terrific sit-up for her morning treat. Very affectionate and a purr-fect friend!

LAURA WAIT WORKSHOP

The Friends of the Art Library (F.O.A.L.)at the Durango Arts Center recently brought Laura Wait of Steamboat Springs to Durango to teach a two day workshop on a variety of sewn book bindings. I used the opportunity to bind my journal that I began during my trip to Kauai last month. Very old tapa cloth was used for the cover and the binding was sewn on leather straps. The journal includes watercolors, drawings, photographs, and written text.

Kauai Book

Heliconia page

RECENT COLLAGE PLACEMENT -THE ATHENAEUM

Encore 1

While visiting The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla this April, I was very pleased to place the Encore series of collage (3 works) in their collection.

RECENT ART PLACEMENT- UCSD

While in Southern California, I visited the UCSD Special Collections in La Jolla and was very rewarded with 3 placements in their Collection.

Language Found

Gradations of Grey

Leaf 4 (a collage)

CALIFORNIA ART HAPPENINGS

In April I visited the San Diego Book Arts' "Edge to Edge" Exhibit in the
Japanese Friendship Garden, San Diego, CA. My book, "Shrines, Prayers, Offerings" was included in the exhibit.

The Garden Gallery

The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA has 7 of my artists' books in their collection and they were displayed during the month of April. It was nice to see my old friends again in their current home.

Collection of Mary Ellen Long in the Reading Room Cabinet (one example)

The Reading Room
The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA

WESTERN JOURNEY

Kauai Bird of Paradise

Paper Offering at Lihue, Kauai

Pier Pilings on Del Mar Beach

Most of April was spent in Southern California with a lovely week on the Hawaiian island of Kauai which included snorkeling, beach walks, and exploring. Visits with friends and family and some beach combing walks on the beach in Del Mar comprised the California part of our time away from Colorado.

RESURRECTIONS: ECO-logy and ECO-nomy

...A Functional Trash Exhibition. I am participating in this exhibit that runs May 1 to June 30 at the Boulder Public Library Canyon Art Gallery, 1000 Canyon Blvd, Boulder, CO. Off on vacation in a week so my contribution is being packaged and sent to Boulder early. Here is a preview with my accompanying statement.

Blue History Sustained (front view)

Blue History Sustained (back view)

Blue History Sustained (close-up)


I have a history of patching, recycling, and reinventing almost everything around me
...clothing, crockery, art.
My first inspiration was a Japanese farmer's coat patched with indigo fragments,
photographed in Japan.
An old kimono-style robe was the beginning.
Worn-out jeans, from Colorado cowboys and California beach boys,
...memory fabrics and antique fragments all come together.
A recycle, a resurrection, a non-disposable,
...tea bags with stories and secrets.
A meditation on the experience of thrift and survival,
...a message to save it all.
Who knows when you will need it.

33 IDEAS -DIA

If you are going through the Denver International Airport this spring, don't miss this exhibit. Opening March 15 and continuing until June 13, Colorado Art Ranch has installed the exhibit "33 Ideas" in a grouping of 33 cases in the Airport.

My case entitled "Mapping: Knowing the Land" is an exploration into nature's process in both an ecological and historical sense with the location being the forest in the San Juan Mountains adjacent to Durango, Colorado. The book art shown deals with narratives of time and place, the many elements within the forest, and seasonal change.

The exhibit is located on the walkway bridge from the Terminal to Concourse A, just before the Security area.

For more information about the exhibit and the other artists please see coloradoartranch.org.

Mapping: Knowing the Land (bottom shelf)

Mapping: Knowing the Land (top shelf)