Inside The Mesa

Inside the Mesa – Mixed media Inside the Mesa was conceptualized during a three day backpacking trip in Cedar Mesa, just south of The Bear’s Ears Buttes. The organic media used were collected from pieces of the Desert life cycle. The elk antlers were bleached by the sun, having been shed by the animal the previous year. I carried them on my back for over 20 miles. The Juniper berries had ripened and naturally dried. No animals or plants were harmed. That is important to me and to my process. I believe that the part I play in my interaction with the wilderness is that of a respectful observer, not an interloper. My endeavor in this piece is to bear witness to the landscape I encountered during my hike in Cedar Mesa; the billowing clouds, the twisted Junipers, the wind and ceaseless movement of the parched ground, all set at the base of the static out line of the Bear’s Ears. I saw a continuity and equivalency between my own life experience and the cycle of life and death playing out around me there. I spent my childhood in the desert camping and hiking with my late father, where he had spent his childhood hiking and camping with his father. My father died in the desert, and was buried there. It is a part of me, and I hope, respectfully, that I am a part of it as well.