My original idea was to find and capture four scenes, each representing one wilderness element – earth, sky, wind, and water. Once in the wilderness, I realized no single scene could represent any of those elements, so my work became composites of many scenes.
CLUSTERS
This cluster of art works represents an artist’s experience in the Bob Marshall/Great Bear Wilderness. I am so grateful for having had this opportunity to visit an untamed part of Montana and to have the privilege of capturing my experience and sharing it through art. My work depicts the four elements of the wilderness – earth, sky, wind, and water. Each piece of art addresses these elements in a different way. Viewed collectively, this cluster of work provides an overall composite of the wilderness. Viewed for each represented element, the works offer three interpretations of a single element. Viewed individually, they represent distinct experiences of the wilderness, each experience having value in and of itself, and the overall experience having many, many xxxxx.
Earth
The earth in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was breathtaking. Its scope, mood, color, intimacy, and vastness are captured in an acrylic painting, a composite of several places. Its microcosms and its patterns are captured in fused glass to show each layer of earth has a story to tell about the conditions of its creation. And earth’s essence is captured in circular form in earthenware clay to remind us of earth’s cyclic nature – how it will renew itself, repeat itself, and reinvent itself through time.
Sky
The sky in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was ever-changing. Its many variations are captured in an acrylic painting, a composite of the sky’s many moods, from puffy clouds to mist and fog. Its patterns are captured in fused glass, showing its changes from morning to night. And sky’s essence is captured in a circular earthenware sculpture to show the elevated way in which we see the dome above our heads, layer upon layer of clouds, with the sun eventually dominating the heavens.
Wind
The wind in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was from upstream each morning and from downstream each evening. It is visible in the hardwoods along the river as seen in this composite acrylic painting. Wind’s effect, resulting in patterns of blowing leaves, is captured in this fused glass piece. And its essence is depicted as a force moving through the wilderness, temporarily disturbing the order of things, transporting particles and life itself from one place to another.
Water
The water was everywhere in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. This acrylic painting represents the many streams that come from melting snow in high places. The patterns, created by water-worn stones in streams and the river, are captured in this fused glass piece. And water’s essence, in this earthenware clay sculpture, includes the individual streams that braid themselves across the land, eventually emptying into a river or lake, supporting life forms beneath the combined waters’ surface.
PAINTINGS
The paintings reflect the wilderness in its vastness, its splendor, and its majesty. Each includes all four of the elements, but focuses on and emphasizes one. The canvases highlight the fact that we only have a window, in one place at one moment, to experience a part of the wilderness. But we comprehend its vastness beyond what we experience. Each scene is a composite of several locations and is unique to the area near Granite Cabin, but each scene also represents what we might experience anywhere in the Bob Marshall/Great Bear Wilderness.
Earth
The earth in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River had both an intimacy and a vastness. The intimacy comes from seeing small parts of a scene; the vastness from seeing the overall expansiveness of cliffs, ledges, mountains, and valleys. This composite painting shows the high cliffs of Trinity Mountain, the rock ledges near Granite Cabin, and the valleys that are the hallmark of the area.
Sky
The sky in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was ever-changing. It moved mysteriously from clear, brilliant blue expanses, to puffy clouds, to thunderheads, to mist and fog. The mountains and valleys in the Granite Cabin area create a microclimate that is often difficult to predict. This composite painting incorporates the innocent cumulus clouds that floated over the river valley almost daily and the mist and fog that brought the sky to the earth.
Wind
The wind in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was from upstream each morning; in the evening it changed and came from downstream. You could hear the wind pushing through the conifers (pine, hemlock, spruce, fir, larch, and cedar), but you could “see” the wind in the hardwoods (aspen and cottonwoods). This composite painting incorporates a single Cottonwood on a ledge near Granite Cabin, the conifers on hillsides all along the river valley, and hardwoods that dotted the riverbanks.
Water
The water in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River came from everywhere: small streams, large creeks, and of course the river itself. Two days and nights of rain caused the streams, creeks, and the river to rise from their late summer levels. This composite painting incorporates Twenty-Five Mile Creek as it flows from mountains high above the river, the steep dirt banks that many creeks carve, and the rocks (large and small) that have been rounded over time by the constant force of water and are visible in many locations.
Glass
The complementary fused glass pieces are microcosms of the wilderness, bringing the focus closer, showing us details we often miss because we are captivated by the bigger, vibrant landscape. The wilderness is a compilation of thousands upon thousands of these smaller landscapes.
Earth
The earth near Granite Cabin included ledges made of layer upon layer of sediment that have become rock over eons. Each layer has a story to tell about the conditions of its creation: During this period it was dry or during this period it was wet; for this period, sediment came from glacial movement or from this period sediment came from flowing water; and so on. Each layer is unique, took time to form that is beyond our comprehension, and yet each layer plays only a small, single role in the overall earthscape.
Sky
The sky in the in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River is ever-changing. But, regardless of the actual conditions, the sky is always an unreachable dome high above the narrow valley. It was often partially obscured by the mountains and trees that stretched upward, yet failed to obscure the blue, endless beyond.
Wind
The wind in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River is audible in the conifers and visible in the hardwoods. It comes from upstream each morning and from downstream each evening. The leaves in this piece came from the trees and bushes along the riverbank and tumble across the surface of the glass to reflect the activity the wind generates endlessly.
Water
The water in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River is everywhere, literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, water from melting snow from far up the mountains moves along streams, creeks and the river itself, going toward the valley and lower terrain. In the figurative sense, stones in streams, creeks and the river itself show the ongoing effects of water, moving the stones, smoothing them, mixing them with other stones, and fitting them together in a pattern of amazing colors.
Clay
The complementary earthenware clay pieces depict the elements of this special place in a stylized, universal fashion. They bring the wilderness back to its terrestrial essence and remind us of our collective understanding of the wilderness elements. Through their circular forms, they remind us of the cyclic nature of the elements of the wilderness — they will renew themselves, repeat themselves, and reinvent themselves through time. No matter the details of a particular day, the elements of the wilderness are timeless. But unlike our everyday landscapes, where we may have piecemeal glimpses of these elements, in the wilderness earth, sky, wind, and water unite, collaborate, and dominate our senses and our experience.
Earth
The circular form of this earthenware clay sculpture is to remind us of earth’s cyclic nature – how it will renew itself, repeat itself, and reinvent itself through time. This stylized depiction of earth represents its essence, what would be true about earth anywhere in the wilderness — the ruggedness of the terrain, the high and low layers of rock and dirt, and some of the life forms that cling to the earth for survival.
Sky
The circular form of this earthenware clay sculpture is to remind us of sky’s cyclic nature – how it will renew itself, repeat itself, and reinvent itself over time. This stylized depiction of sky represents its essence, what would be true about sky anywhere in the wilderness – the elevated way in which we see the dome above our heads, layer upon layer of clouds, with the sun eventually dominating the heavens.
Wind
The circular form of this earthenware clay sculpture is to remind us of wind’s cyclic nature – how it will renew itself, repeat itself, and reinvent itself over time. This stylized depiction of wind represents its essence, what would be true about wind anywhere in the wilderness — the unseen force that moves through the wilderness, temporarily disturbing the order of things, transporting particles and life itself from one place to another, and then moving on to touch other parts of the landscape.
Water
The water in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River is everywhere, literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, water from melting snow from far up the mountains moves along streams, creeks and the river itself, going toward the valley and lower terrain. In the figurative sense, stones in streams, creeks and the river itself show the ongoing effects of water, moving the stones, smoothing them, mixing them with other stones, and fitting them together in a pattern of amazing colors.
I am so grateful for having had this opportunity to visit an untamed part of Montana and to have the privilege of capturing my experience and sharing it through art.
If you would like more information about the Artist Wilderness Connection, please visit The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation’s website at www.bmwf.org/awc.