Nulato: “The place we are tied together.” —Koyukon Indian

Mar 31

“Nulato: The place where we are tied together.” — Koyukon Indian
The spines of the books the students made in our class in Taos, New Mexico: Anita Barni, Romy Colonius, Louise Grunewald, Chris Kellogg, Ann Langston, Sydney McDonnell, Happy Price, Hollis Sutherland, Andie Thrams, Stacey Warther and Cathy Young.

Stitching the books always reminds me of the place we are tied together. Some part of each person is woven into each book, as a part of each of us was woven together. Being in a beautiful place for a week in a workspace without screens was compelling, it deepened the work, and what you see here is testimony to the budding ability and exuberance of this creative collaboration.

Our subject was Inscape and Landscape.

The subject of inscape is inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins’ idea of the need for contemplation in order to perceive the essence of a tree or a bird or the sea….or even perhaps to recognize our own purpose, as he declares in his poem As Kingfishers Catch Fire — “Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.”

The magnificent cottonwood tree outside our classroom.

Everyone brought something into the classroom from the landscape. We did blind contour drawings that later became the structure for enlarged abstract paintings.

Abstract paintings (about 4” square) from gesture drawings and limited palette, as studies for larger paintings. — Anita Barni (left) and Cathy Young (right)

Blind contour drawings from the New Mexico landscape.
— Romy Colonius (left) Ann Langston (right)

New Mexico is a place where landscape demands your attention; we saw snowflakes, sun, rain, hail, open desert and brilliant blue sky. On a clear night the open sky was studded with stars, and the crescent moon sat next to the Evening Star, Venus.

I introduced a new alphabet, designed to be accessible to calligraphers and non-calligraphers. The writing also became an abstract landscape: