Desert Installations
2021
My photographs of my desert installations To Summon the Desert Spirits were selected to be included in the National Association of Women Artists online exhibition: Beyond the Frame.
These assemblages were constructed on my property in Vail, Arizona. The elements I used were found randomly on the property. I collected pieces of dried mesquite, cholla, saguaro cactus spines, saguaro boots ( a hard shell of callus tissue that the saguaro cactus creates to protect the wound created by a bird's nesting house) rusted metal, verdigris metal leaves, twigs and other natural elements. I wired the pieces together to secure the structures from the Vail Gale.... We get some high winds out here. So far I have constructed about 9 different structures.
The structures are very spiritual to me.
They were a meditative experience with the beauty around me!
As the Navajo prayer goes:
~May it Be Beautiful before me
~May it Be Beautiful behind me
~May it Be Beautiful below me
~May it Be Beautiful above me
~May it be beautiful all around me
~In Beauty it is finished