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Back to the Earth
Local artists interpret relationships with the environment in ‘Reflections of the Land’
By Eric Engel
Published on 07/02/2009
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Adorning the walls of the Northern Arizona University Art Museum are pieces of the environment. They hang in a harmonious balance—sewn, sketched, painted or captured into existence by a camera lens. The reasoning behind the collaboration of artwork is to ignite the imagination, offering credibility to the visual and mental senses. But the purpose behind these pieces of perception stands for much more.
The third annual “Reflections of the Land” exhibit opened in June at the NAU Art Museum, put on by the Diablo Trust, a northern Arizona collaborative grassroots land management team. The exhibit presents the work of a number of artists involved with the Diablo Trust, displaying a diverse collection of artwork inspired by the minds of those intrigued by the collective efforts to sustain the environment of the Southwest.
The Diablo Trust was initiated in 1993 by two northern Arizona ranch families, the Prossers and the Metzgers. The families were responding to increasing pressures on the historic uses of these century-old homesteads and the ranchers associated with them. In creating the Diablo Trust, the families were trying to promote the social, biological and economic sustainability of 426,000 acres of federal, state, and private lands southeast of Flagstaff. The phrase “learning from the land and sharing our knowledge, so there will always be a West” captures the mission of the Diablo Trust.
“Diablo Trust began 15 years ago with a simple invitation. Two ranching families, the Metzgers, of the Flying M, and the Prossers, of the Bar T Bar, invited anyone interested in supporting the open space, dark skies, watershed health and wildlife habitat of this intermingled ownership land area to join in a land management process that was forged in the fire of true collaboration,” says Derrick Widmark, Diablo Trust communications and program coordinator.
Ranchers, environmentalists, federal and state land managers, scientists, recreationists and other volunteers are working together to achieve a variety of shared goals, including sustaining open space, living in balance with biodiversity, producing high quality food, restoring watersheds, creating stable, living soils and achieving community.
David T. Osborne, who has been a photographer for over 50 years, is one of the featured artists in the exhibit, and uses his photography to gain access to what he refers to as a window to the soul.
“I look at photography as a Zen art,” says Osborne, whose photo titled “The Light Inside the Dark I” showcases the stretching desert landscape and a range of mountains holding up the blue sky through a single window of an old, darkened mining building. It was chosen for the cover of the “Reflections of the Land” catalogue this year to represent the show.
“Photography keeps you in the present moment,” says Osborne. “You have to listen to the subject and be present, or it won’t reveal itself to you.”
Speaking of the photographs he chose to display at the exhibit, Osborne reflects on the beauty of perception felt by both the artist and the observer.
“These two images, ‘The Light Inside the Dark I & II,’ speak to the quietness of this present moment. Suspended in time at the Silica Mining Shack on the Bar T Bar Diablo Ranch, one can feel the sacredness of the inner and outer spaces,” says Osborne. “There is the metaphorical inner space where our souls reside and the inviting outer space of the great path, where thousands of life journeys enter. I invite you to rest briefly in these inner spaces, and then to pass through the gateless window, or the secretive cracks, to walk freely between heaven and earth.”
Rachel Wilson, another artist featured in the exhibit, displays a mixed media monotype titled “When There is Water,” which portrays cattle grazing above a small stream. The piece is a hybrid between painting and printmaking. She uses very earthy colors in her art to magnify the presence of the environment, and is attracted to the ambiguous style of her craft.
“There are a lot of color shifts and surprises, so I don’t throw anything away for a few days,” says Wilson, who has been painting for a large part of her life and became involved with the Diablo Trust because of their commitment to the land.
“They are aware of the precarious balance of the environment,” says Wilson. “They preserve a traditional ranching lifestyle, and don’t want to sell off the land into tracks and houses.”
The title of her piece has more to do with the public’s awareness of the Trust’s efforts than with sustenance for the animals described in the artwork. “I’m hopeful that the balance will shift in the right direction,” says Wilson.
Darcy Falk, who has been involved with the Diablo Trust for the last decade and is good friends with Diablo Trust President Mandy Metzger, is also a member of the Grand Canyon Trust, which in part restores springs. Accordingly, she decided to display a stitched textile collage titled “Springs Restoration,” which is a painting on dyed fabric.
“I took a very challenging trek through the canyon, and the stitching on the collage mimics the space that surrounded me,” says Falk, who wanted to document the feeling of the experience. A writer as well as a painter and outdoor enthusiast, Falk included poetic words on her collage to grasp the sensations she felt, with phrases like, “my thoughts wander as I become the trail.”
“I enjoy documenting the way a place feels in an abstract way,” says Falk. “As a visual pun, I used my photo of discarded bedsprings at Wolfolk Well as the basis for this piece. The image was printed on hand-dyed fabric and then hand embroidered to suggest the lines of the water gap at the bottom of the Diablo Canyon. The words printed in the margins refer to the restorative experience of walking across this extraordinary land.”
Throughout the “Reflections of the Land” exhibit are artistic interpretations of individual relationships with the environment. Each artist has their own take on those relationships, but the collaboration of artwork is a wonderful example of what the artistic community of the Diablo Trust envisions.
“Now, in 2009, we are one of the oldest collaboratives in the West, working on behalf of the ecological, economic and social sustainability of this land for the next 100 years, not just the next five or 10 years. Our science and monitoring is set up to serve that 100-year perspective, as is the artists’ program,” says Widmark. “The idea is that, 100 years from now, along with the scientific data, future generations will be able to look at the images from this exhibit and gain a sense not only of what the land looked like, but of what it represented for the greater Flagstaff community.”
“Reflections of the Land” will be on Display at the NAU Art Museum on the corner of Knowles and McMullen in the Old Main building on campus through July 31. Exhibit hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information about the exhibit or the Diablo Trust, call 523-3471 or visit www.diablotrust.org.
Additional photos for this story:
"Strata II: Canyon Diablo" by Brenda Smith.
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"Annual Gramma: Head" by Matilda Essig.
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"Untitled," a series of three photos by Derrick Widmark.
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