Floating Artists

Ancient markings on the cliff walls tell a story through art. Hillerman wove a new tale from the imagery. In this petroglyph there is a goat playing a flute.

Not all who wander are  lost. 
-Tolkein

I have been wandering.
Not alone, but with a group of students from Castleton State College. We’ve been all over the southwestern US.

Studying art and anthropology, we are finding both in abundance. The markings left by ancient people resonate with their ancestral traditions. Art is what we have left from them. It tells their story in architecture, pictographs, petroglyphs, weavings and ceramics.

Our Castleton State College Southwest Semester group spent three days floating down the San Juan River in search of Hillerman and found both him and Andrew Goldsworthy.

We had all read Hillerman’s Thief of Time. The San Juan River trip was with the same company that  he used for his explorations: Wild Rivers Expeditions. Our guides were terrific: knowledgeable about the river, the ecology, geology, petroglyphs and human history.

On our way to the alcove that Hillerman used as a setting for his mystery Thief of Time. We had all read the book. It was quite a hike from the river.

We added art.

One aspect of our artful exploration was a “leave no trace” Goldsworthy project. Students were given a few hours to work in groups creating their own earth inspired sculpture. The results were diverse and lovely. While they were working I had a little time to do a quick plein air painting as well.
Then of course we took the work down to leave the river and its surroundings for someone else to discover.

One group worked on a wall of rounded river stones.

In the foreground is a figure made out of rocks and water.

A migration spiral made out of painstakingly pierced cotton wood leaves.

Twin Alcoves San Juan River plein air painting

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